Handbook of Middle American Indians, Volumes 7 and 8: Ethnology 9781477306703

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HANDBOOK OF MIDDLE AMERICAN INDIANS, VOLUME 7 Ethnology, Part 1

HANDBOOK OF MIDDLE AMERICAN INDIANS, VOLUME 8 Ethnology, Part 2

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HANDBOOK OF MIDDLE AMERICAN INDIANS EDITED A T MIDDLE AMERICAN RESEARCH INSTITUTE, TULANE UNIVERSITY, BY

General Editor A. L. HARRISON, Associate Editor PICKETT, Administrative Assistant

ROBERT WAUCHOPE, MARGARET INIS

ROBERT FINK, ARDEN E . ANDERSON, JR., FRANK SCHNELL, Art Staff JAMES C . GIFFORD and CAROL A. GIFFORD, Indexers

ASSEMBLED

WITH

T H E AID O F A GRANT

FROM

T H E NATIONAL

FOUNDATION, AND UNDER T H E SPONSORSHIP O F T H E NATIONAL COUNCIL C O M M I T T E E ON LATIN AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGY

Editorial Advisory Board IGNACIO BERNAL, HOWARD F . CLINE, GORDON F . E K H O L M , N O R M A N A. M C Q U O W N , M A N N I N G NASH, T. DALE STEWART, EVON Z. VOGT, ROBERT C. WEST, GORDON R. WILLEY

SCIENCE RESEARCH

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HANDBOOK OF MIDDLE AMERICAN INDIANS R O B E R T W A U C H O P E , General Editor VOLUME

SEVEN

VOLUME EIGHT

Ethnology EVON Z. VOGT, Volume Editor

UNIVERSITY

OF

TEXAS

PRESS

AUSTIN

Copyright © 1975 by the University of Texas Press First paperback printing 2015 All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America The preparation and publication of The Handbook of Middle American Indians has been assisted by grants from the National Science Foundation. Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to:  Permissions   University of Texas Press   P.O. Box 7819   Austin, TX 78713-7819  http://utpress.utexas.edu/index.php/rp-form

Library of Congress Catalog Number 64-10316 isbn 978-1-4773-0669-7, paperback isbn 978-1-4773-0670-3, library e-book isbn 978-1-4773-0671-0, individual e-book

CONTENTS 1. Introduction Evon Z. Vogt

3 SECTION I: THE MAYA

2. The Maya: Introduction Evon Z. Vogt

21

3. Guatemalan Highlands Manning Nash

30

4. The Maya of Northwestern Guatemala Charles Wagley

46

5. The Maya of the Midwestern Highlands Sol Tax and Robert Hinshaw

69

6. Eastern Guatemalan Highlands: The Pokomames and Chorti. Ruben E. Reina

.

.

.

101

7. Chiapas Highlands Evon Z. Vogt

133

8. The Tzotzil Robert M. Laughlin

152

9. The Tzeltal Alfonso Villa Rojas

195

10. The Tojolabal Roberta Montagu

226

11. Maya Lowlands: The Chontal, Chol, and Kekchi Alfonso Villa Rojas

230

12. The Maya of Yucatan Alfonso Villa Rojas

244

13. The Lacandon Gertrude Duby and Frans Blom

276

14. The Huastec Robert M. Laughlin

298

vn

SECTION Π: SOUTHERN MEXICAN HIGHLANDS AND ADJACENT COASTAL REGIONS 15. Southern Mexican Highlands and Adjacent Coastal Regions: Introduction Ralph L. Reals

viii

315

16. The Zapotec of Oaxaca Laura Nader

329

17. The Chatino Gabriel DeCicco

360

18. The Mixtec Robert Ravicz and A. Kimball Romney

367

19. The Trique of Oaxaca Laura Nader

400

20. The Amuzgo Robert Ravicz and A. Kimball Romney

417

21. The Cuicatec Roberto J. Weitlaner

434

22. The Mixe, Zoque, and Popoluca George M. Foster

448

23. The Huave A. Richard Diebold, Jr.

478

24. The Popoloca Walter A. Hoppe, Andrés Medina, and Roberto J. Weitlaner

489

25. The Ichcatec Walter A, Hoppe and Roberto J. Weitlaner

499

26. The Chocho Walter A, Hoppe and Roberto J. Weitlaner

506

27. The Mazatec Roberto J, Weitlaner and Walter A. Hoppe

516

28. The Chinantec Roberto J. Weitlaner and Howard F, Cline

523

29. The Tequistlatec and Tlapanec D. L. Olmsted

553

30. The Cuitlatec Susana Drucker, Roberto Escalante, and Roberto J. Weitlaner

565

V0LUME.8 SECTION III: CENTRAL MEXICAN HIGHLANDS 31. Central Mexican Highlands: Introduction Pedro Carrasco

579

32. The Nahua William Madsen

602

33. The Totonac H. R. Harvey and Isabel Kelly

638

34. The Otomi Leonardo Manrique C.

682

SECTION IV: WESTERN MEXICO 35. The Tarascans Ralph L. Beals

725

SECTION V: NORTHWEST MEXICO 36. Northwest Mexico: Introduction Edward H. Spicer

777

37. The Huichol and Cora Joseph E. Grimes and Thomas B. Hinton

792

38. The Southern Tepehuan and Tepecano Carroll L. Riley

814

39. The Northern Tepehuan Elman R. Service

822

40. The Yaqui and Mayo Edward H. Spicer

830

41. The Tarahumara Jacob Fried

846

42. Contemporary Ethnography of Baja California, Mexico Roger C. Owen

871

43. Remnant Tribes of Sonora: Opata, Pima, Papago, and Seri Thomas B. Hinton

. . . .

879

References

891

Index

931

ix

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HANDBOOK OF MIDDLE AMERICAN INDIANS, VOLUME 7 Ethnology, Part 1

GENERAL

EDITOR'S

NOTE

The manuscripts for the following articles were submitted at various dates over a period of several years. Because of revisions and minor updatings made from time to time, it is difficult to assign a date to each article. In some cases, an indication of when an article was completed can be had by noting the latest dates in the list of references at the end of each contribution.

1. Introduction

EVON Z. VOGT

T

HE PURPOSE of the seventh and eighth volumes of the Handbook of Middle American Indians is to provide descriptive summaries of what is now known ethnographically on the contemporary cultures of the Indian tribes and communities of Middle America. The key to good ethnographic work has always been the first-hand observation of cultural behavior in the field, supplemented by careful interviewing of informants. By this method ethnographic study among the Indians of Middle America began in a limited way with the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century and has continued to the present through the fieldwork of contemporary ethnologists. Although I include a brief historical sketch of this long record of ethnological research to provide an overview of what has been accomplished, the focus of the summaries in this volume is on the patterns of Indian culture described by contemporary, or relatively recent, Middle American ethnologists. For a description of "contact ethnography"—that is, the patterns of Indian culture as these existed at the time of the conquest and as

they have been reconstructed from historical accounts—the reader is referred to volumes 2, 3, and 10. Some attention is paid in this volume to the prehistoric roots and historical backgrounds of the Indian cultures, but more complete information can be found in volumes 11,12, and 13, which deal systematically with the ethnohistorical materials on Indian culture during the long period between the time of conquest and the arrival of modern ethnographers on the scene. Since the focus of this Handbook is on American Indian peoples and cultures, no attention is given in these volumes to the interesting and scientifically important anthropological fieldwork in Mexican or Guatemalan communities that are Mestizo or Ladino in basic culture. Many of the peoples of Middle America who now live in communities and regions with cultures that are mainly national and modern in character have come from Indian backgrounds, both genetically and culturally. We could not do justice to the Indian materials if we tried to include ethnographic summaries of the rich and varied data available on these Mestizo

3

ETHNOLOGY

and Ladino communities. For an understanding of this process of Mestizoization or Ladinoization in Middle America, the reader is referred to volume 6, where comparative or functional analyses of the Indian cultures are made.1 HISTORY OF ETHNOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION IN M I D D L E A M E R I C A 2

The earliest descriptions of Indian cultures of Middle America were written by eyewitnesses to the Spanish conquest. There were many such descriptions, but five accounts by Spaniards and two by Indian writers deserve special mention. Foremost member of the former group was Bernal Díaz del Castillo. Born in Medina del Campo, northern Spain, in 1492, Bernal Díaz as a young man participated in the three main voyages of discovery and conquest to Middle America. He accompanied Francisco Fernández de Córdova in 1517, Juan de Grijalva in 1518, and Cortés in 1519. Late in life this veteran of over 100 battles recorded in a simple straightforward fashion his recollections of the conquest. Historia verdadera de la conquista de la Nueva España, an extraordinarily detailed and vividly dramatic account, reflects the acute perception of its author and reveals an intimate contact with events of the day. The chronicle of Bernal Díaz is generally considered to be accurate ethnography and a faithful report of the conquest by an active participant. Hernán Cortés, leader of the conquest, has contributed the second most significant body of information on Mexican culture at the conquest in his often published "Five Letters."3 These briefs, written between 1519 and 1526 to the Spanish king, contain a wealth of ethnographic data. In contrast to the plebeian charm of the Bernal Díaz account, the literary expression of Cortés suggests the refinement of a courtier and of an educated product of the Spanish Renaissance. Three additional eyewitness accounts, all

brief, should also be mentioned. The Relación of Andrés de Tapia was written between 10 and 20 years after the conquest. Although the quantity of ethnography is relatively small, it is concise and accurate. This early, but incomplete, chronicle written in a sober, educated style tends to glorify the acts and personality of Cortés, but it is, nevertheless, an important source on the cultures encountered by the Cortés expedition from its departure from Cuba until the defeat of Narvaez in 1520. Far superior from an ethnographic standpoint is the celebrated El conquistador anónimo. This brief account provides one of the most reliable keys to life in Mexico at the conquest. On returning to Europe, the anonymous conqueror probably dictated a description of things as he had observed them in the New World. The result is an excellent record of the geography, botany, zoology, economy, commerce, warfare, religious and marital behavior, funeral customs, diet, and general material culture of central Mexico at that time. Of this group, the last and certainly least important is the chronicle of Francisco de Aguilar, a soldier-turned-friar, who at age 80 dictated his recollections of the conquest. His Historia de la Nueva España contains very little of ethnographic importance and is generally inferior to the previously mentioned works even as a historical account of the events of the conquest. Mention must be made of two important 1 For research assistance in compiling data for this introductory article, I am indebted to Dr. Olga Linares de Sapir and Dr. Ronald Spores. Dr. Ignacio Bernal and Dr. Manning Nash read a preliminary draft and offered helpful suggestions for additions and revisions. 2 For more complete bibliographic data on the history of ethnology in Middle America see Bernal, 1962. 3 The first letter of Cortés has been lost and has been supplemented in all editions by the letter written by the "justicia y corregimiento de la Rica Villa de la Veracruz" on July 1, 1519. This letter is probably in many respects similar to the one Cortés himself wrote.

INTRODUCTION

documents which present something of the "inside view" of the conquest by Indian writers. Of historical interest, and of considerable linguistic value, is the Cédula de Cuauhtemoc, the oldest known source of the Nahuatl language written in European script. Now part of the Aubin Collection, this decree issued by Cuauhtemoc in 1523 in affirmation of certain fishing rights for Tlatelolco describes briefly the founding of Tenochtitlan by the Mexica, the partition into two towns, the defeat of Tlatelolco by Tenochtitlan, and other historical events leading to the conquest. The Anales de Tlatelolco, written between 1524 and 1528 by an anonymous Indian observer of the fall of the TenochtitlanTlatelolco, depicts 376 years of history, from 1152 to 1528. The ruling lineages of Tlatelolco, Tenochtitlan, and Azcapotzalco are given, together with a history of Tlatelolco. Perhaps more important than the historical and ethnographic data in this document is the reflection of Mexican attitudes toward the conquerors and toward the events of the disastrous conquest. Shortly after the conquest five Catholic friars—Bernardino de Sahagún, Toribio de Benavente (Motolinía), Gerónimo de Mendieta, Diego de Landa, and Bartolomé de las Casas—who came to engage in the conversion of the Indians made important contributions to the early ethnology of Middle America. Of these five, the work of Sahagiin was the most momentous. Sahagun has, in fact, been considered the first field ethnologist in Middle America. Shortly after his arrival in New Spain in 1529 he developed a mastery of Nahuatl and a deep appreciation for native culture. He did fieldwork with the Indians of Tlalmanalco, Amecameca, Xochimilco, and the Valle de Puebla. His methods were in some respects similar to those of modern ethnographers and linguists. For example, he gathered texts on many subjects by having the same concepts repeated in two different languages; he constructed a

detailed questionnaire (his "minuta") of all matters pertaining to the spiritual and material culture of the people under study; he carefully selected Indian informants to contribute whole paragraphs verbatim and to discuss and clarify his data; drawings were collected from informants to illustrate certain customs; and, finally, he cross-checked the data he collected in Tepepulco by working with other informants in Tlatelolco. Sahagún wrote several items, but his major contribution to Indian ethnology is Historia general de las cosas de Nueva España, which is now available in the excellent Anderson and Dibble translation. Motolinía arrived in New Spain in 1524 and traveled widely in Mexico and Guatemala. His major work. History of the Indians of New Spain, was completed in 1541. It is divided into three treatises: the first deals with "idolatries, rites and ceremonies which the Spaniards encountered in New Spain when gaining possession of it"; the second considers the "conversion and progress of these Indians and how the Sacraments began to be administered to them"; the third contains 20 chapters without orderly sequence, ranging over such topics as prehistory, history, geography, and botany. Although somewhat disorganized and at times showing a certain gullibility, his writings constitute a mine of early Indian ethnography, particularly for the TlaxcalaPuebla area. Possibly more perceptive in his research and writing was Gerónimo de Mendieta, who arrived in New Spain in 1554. His Historia eclesiástica indiana, completed in 1596, focuses on the conversion of the Indians to Christianity. It was based on writings and verbal accounts of the friars of the Franciscan Order and from his own observations, rather than on systematic first-hand fieldwork. The most comprehensive ethnological treatise to emerge from the Maya zone in the 16th century was Relación de las cosas

5

ETHNOLOGY

de Yucatán, written in 1566 by Diego de Landa, another Franciscan, who arrived in Yucatan in 1549, learned to speak Maya, and in 1572 became Bishop of Yucatan. His sources were the codices of the Indians (which he ordered destroyed), Indian informants (some of them Maya priests), and direct observations of Maya life. Tozzer, who translated and edited Landa's Relación, writes of it (1941, p. vii): The source material presented by Landa includes practically every phase of the social anthropology of the ancient Mayas, together with the history of the Spanish discovery, the conquest and the ecclesiastical and native history, with the first accurate knowledge of hieroglyphic writing. It is especially complete on Maya religion and rituals and, with the exception of Sahagun, there is no other manuscript of New Spain which covers adequately a similar range of subjects. The fifth friar of note in this early period was a Dominican, Bartolomé de las Casas, who settled in the New World in 1502. Some years after his arrival he underwent a moral and spiritual rebirth, joined the clergy, and dedicated himself to a life-long defense of the Indian. The main purpose of his great work, Historia de las Indias, was to air his humanitarian convictions, namely that the Indians were rational human beings who were capable and worthy of being converted to the faith through patient teachings of Christian precepts. Other members of the clergy were also making significant contributions to the ethnology of Mexico in the 16th century. Diego Duran wrote the well-known and important Historia de las Indias de Nueva España. Often overlooked in the literature is the name of Antonio de Ciudad Real, a Franciscan who R. L. Roys believes was author of the monumental Motul Dictionary of Yucatec Maya. In 1585-86 Fray Antonio accompanied the Commisary General of the Order, Fray Alonso Ponce, on a tour of inspection of the various Franciscan foun6

dations from Mexico to Lake Nicaragua. Ciudad Real's observations give an excellent record of the relative position and relationship of many linguistic groupings in Mexico and Central America. Don Alonso de Zurita, oidor of the Royal Audiencia of Mexico, arrived in New Spain in 1545 or 1546 and did not return to Spain until 1564. In his capacity as a Spanish official this well-educated man traveled widely and was afforded the opportunity of collecting large quantities of first-hand information on native life in the colonies. Much of his collection has been incorporated into his Breve relación de los señores de la Nueva España. He wrote excellent ethnography and discussed the deplorable conditions which existed as a result of the reckless exploitation by the conquerors. Mention should also be made of four 16th-century writers who either did not visit New Spain or came only briefly, but who wrote important works for the ethnology of Middle America. These are José de Acosta, who wrote Historia natural y moral de las Indias; Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdes, who was the author of Historia general y natural de las Indias, islas y tierra •firme del mar océano; Peter Martyr d'Anghiera, whose series of letters was published ultimately as De orbe novo; and Antonio de Herrera y Tordesillas, whose classic work was Historia general de los hechos de los Castellanos en las islas i tierra firme del mar océano. Finally, there are several notable native Indian writers of the 16th and 17th centuries. In this class is Hernando Alvarado Tezozomoc, who wrote Crónica mexicana and Crónica mexicayotl. Although written nearly 80 years after the conquest, these works show the intense localism of the Mexican Indian, as evidenced by Tezozomoc's identification with Tenochtitlan and hatred of the people of Tlatelolco. Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl (b. 1577), a direct descendant of Nezahuapilli and the Tetzcoco kings, wrote Historia chichimeca and several

INTRODUCTION

relaciones. Don Domingo de San Anton Muñon Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin (1579-1630?), of a noble family of the Amecameca-Chalco area, contributed various relaciones, some of which remain unpublished in the Aubin Collection in Paris. An excellent source for the Tlaxcala area is the work of the Indian Diego Muñoz Camargo, entitled Historia de Tlaxcala. Although the author makes no effort to conceal his admiration for Spanish culture, the history and ethnological data are abundant, and there is a wealth of Chichimec historical and ethnological information. Important regional materials were also being produced during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. One of the most significant sources of ethnology for the 16th century is the so-called "Relaciones" of King Phillip II from around 1580. Many of these specific and very localized accounts have been published in the series Papeles de Nueva España and constitute an invaluable resource for the anthropologist. One of the most important was the relación for Texcoco, written by Juan Bautista Pomar. Instead of the small paragraphs dedicated to many subjects in the other relaciones, Pomar wrote a whole book on the social and political organization of Texcoco. He was a grandson of Nezahualpilli of Texcoco through his mother; his father was a Spaniard. His deep interest in Texcoco was due not only to his great ancestor, ruler of Texcoco, but also to his claims to the inheritance. This relación was first published by J. Garcia Icazbalceta in his Nueva colección de documentos para la historia de Mexico (1891). The Relaciones de Yucatan, published in volumes 12 and 13 of the Colección de documentos inéditos relativos al descubrimiento, conquista, y organización de las antiguas posesiones españoles de ultramar, segunad serie, Madrid, 1900, deserve special mention.

varado also stand out among the more obviously important repositories of native ethnography. Many other materials, such as writings of Cogolludo, Remesal, and the several offerings of Ximénez, are also mentioned as important contributions to Maya ethnology. For Oaxaca there are available the relaciones of 1580 and the 17th-century Geográfica descripción of Fray Francisco de Burgoa. These most closely approach the fieldwork norm. In addition to Muñoz Camargo there are several other sources for Tlaxcala-Puebla, the most prominent being the untranslated materials in Nahuatl of Juan Buenaventura Zapata located in the Aubin Collection and the published (1945) Historia Tolteca-Chichimeca, a first-class local source for Puebla. The letters of Nuño de Guzmán, the Relación de Michoacán, and Beaumont's Crónica de Michoacán constitute the most important regional sources for Michoacan. The other areas of western Mexico, Jalisco, Durango, and Nuevo León are best described for the 16th and early 17th centuries in the Descripción of Bishop Alonso de la Mota y Escobar. Ampie information is available for the northern borderlands area. The Naufragios de Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, describing a journey from Florida to Culiacan, Mexico, in the 1520's, contains great ethnographic information and is the first source on many tribes in the north. The writings of Andrés Pérez de Ribas (1576-1655), as contained in Los triunfos de Nuestra Santa Fé, are excellent for Sinaloa, Sonora, and Durango; Historia de la Compañía de Jesús by Francisco Javier Alegre is standard for the 18th-century Seri, Yaqui, and Tarahumara. Also very important for the borderlands are the published writings of Father Kino. A classic work of ethnography is Johan Jacob Baegert's Noticias de la península americana de California, written during the middle 18th century.

For the Maya zone the Books of Chilam Balam, the Popol Vuh, the Annals of the Cakchiquels, and the letters of Pedro de Al-

In general the 17th century witnessed a marked decline in the quality and quantity of writings on Mexican culture. Torque-

7

ETHNOLOGY

mada, writing very early in the century, is the last of the great chroniclers of the conquest period. The trend was toward the regional accounts previously discussed. Thomas Gage, arriving in the New World in the early 1600's, was the first nonSpaniard to travel widely and report on life in New Spain. His major work was A new survey of the West-Indies (1665). The book contains some excellent first-hand data on Indian communities and customs, with particular emphasis on southern Mexico and Guatemala. After Gage, the number of foreigners writing on Middle American cultures increased. The 18th century was a period of enlightenment. A new concept of history was born with Lorenzo Boturini (1702-49), whose panoramic exposition, Idea de una nueva historia general de la América Septentrional, was first published in 1745. Veytia also wrote his Historia antigua de Mexico during the century. Of even more importance is the work of Francisco Javier Clavijero (1731-87), the first really great historian in the New World and the first writer on Middle American culture to conscientiously cite sources and to be concerned with the obvious inconsistencies appearing in the materials. Heavily influenced by the writings of Rousseau, his Historia antigua de México, although a splendid source of ethnological information, clearly reveals Clavijero's native bias. The trend toward writing on more limited areas continued. Francisco Ximénez wrote Historia de la Provincia de San Vicente de Chiapa y Guatemala covering the conquest, the founding of Guatemala, the conversion of the Indians, the labors of the Dominicans, and other events of the colonies until 1720. Ximénez also rendered the first version of the Manuscript of Chichicastenango, or the Popol Vuh. Juan D. Villagutierre Soto Mayor's Historia de la Provincia de Itzá, 1699-1700 is a chronicle of the conquest of the Peten, based in part on fieldwork with the Itzas in the Laguna de Flores area. José de Ortega, a Jesuit friar 8

who lived in the missions of Nayarit for 30 years, wrote the Historia de Nayarit, Sonora, Sinaloa y ambas Californias. In the 19th century there were three developments of crucial importance to the ethnology of Middle America. The tradition of writing histories continued but with a "serious search, gathering, interpreting, and editing of the old anthropological sources of the Chroniclers and even the documents prior to the Conquest" (Comas, 1950, p. 99). There was a series of European and North American scholars who engaged in serious research and publication on the Indian cultures, some of them basing their books on extensive travel and some fieldwork in Mexico and Guatemala. Finally, toward the end of the century came the beginnings of intensive ethnographic fieldwork with various tribes by a number of notable European, North American, and Mexican scholars. There were in the 19th century the great archivists, compilers, and historiographers such as Manuel Orozco y Berra (1818-81), author of Historia antigua de México (1880). José Fernándo Ramírez, who had at his disposal vast documentary collections, was possibly the individual best equipped to write a truly great cultural history of Mexico, but in fact he left very few written works. Joaquin Garcia Icazbalceta stands as one of the greatest of all the research historians and bibliographers of the period. His compilations Colección de documentos para la historia de México (1858-66) and Nueva colección (1886) and his Bibliografía mexicana del siglo XVI established a high standard of thorough and exacting scholarship. Carlos Maria de Bustamante was the first to publish, among other items, the works of Sahagún. Of enormous consequence are the writings of Francisco del Paso y Troncoso. Among his important published works were Papeles de la Nueva España and Epistolario de la Nueva España, both magnificent repositories of Mexican ethnography and history, and Indices de documentos de Nueva

INTRODUCTION

España existentes en el Archivo de Indias de Sevilla. It was during this period that the great archives of Europe and the New World began to yield their rich ethnographic contents. Prescott wrote The conquest of Mexico (1844) largely from unpublished materials gathered by an army of archival investigators. There were the abovementioned attempts to classify and describe documentary sources available to the student of New World culture. The document collectors and copyists, following the lead of Boturini and Juan Bautista Muñoz, were hard at work during the century. Ramirez, Aubin, and Brasseur de Bourbourg were three of the more prominent individuals engaged in collecting and copying. Brasseur de Bourbourg went far beyond mere acquisition of documents in his translation of the Popol Vuh (1861), the first published edition of Relación de las cosas de Yucatán by Landa (1864), the Histoire de nations civilisées du Mexique et de VAmérique-Centrale (1857), and his Quatre lettres sur le Mexique (1868). Early in the century Alexander Von Humboldt, famous Prussian scientist, explorer, and scholar trained in botany, geology, and the natural sciences, spent a year in Mexico. The observations he made were included in his Vue des Cordillères et monuments des peuples indigènes de l'Amérique (1810). This work is of more interest to the archaeologist than to the ethnologist but contains his notes on the resemblances between the "mongul" nations and the American Indians and his conclusions concerning the multiplicity and complexity of the Indian languages and his postulations concerning the main streams of migration being north to south—at a time when the Lost Tribes of Israel theory for the origin of the American Indians was in vogue. It is of interest that Sir Edward B. Tylor, the "father" of anthropology in England and one of the greatest anthropologists, carried out his one and only field trip in Mex-

ico and the American Southwest. He traveled in Mexico for four months, for the most part on horseback, in 1856. The major work resulting from his travels in Mexico was Anahuac, or Mexico, and the Mexicans, ancient and modern (1861). The book is essentially a travel book, but Tylor made a number of interesting and valuable observations on Mexican communities and customs. Although he did no actual ethnographic fieldwork in Mexico, Adolphe Bandelier, the Swiss archaeologist, archivist, and historian, wrote three classic papers on Aztec society—"On the social organization and mode of government of the ancient Mexicans" (1879), "On the art of war and mode of warfare of the ancient Mexicans" (1877), and "On the distribution and tenure of lands and the customs with respect to inheritance" (1878)—that are landmarks in the ethnology of Middle America. Many of his interpretations, based in large part on the theories of Lewis Henry Morgan, have subsequently proved to be incorrect, but they had a stimulating and lasting effect on ethnological research in Mexico. Daniel Garrison Brinton was more a library researcher than a fieldworker but he published prolifically on the aboriginal cultures and languages of Middle America during the latter part of the 19th century. Of special note are the volumes in his "Library of aboriginal American literature," which contained work composed in the native tongue by natives with translations, glosses, and notes. Of the six volumes which Brinton himself contributed to this series there are several on Mexico, including The Maya chronicles (1882), The annals of the Cakchiquels (1885), Ancient Nahuatl poetry, (1890a), and Rig-Veda Americanus (1890b). Mention should also be made of his Nagualism: a study in native American folklore and history (1894). Finally, there appeared Hubert Howe Bancroft's The native races of the Pacific states (1882), and an interesting regional 9

ETHNOLOGY

report on the Indians of Sonora by Fortunato Hernandez, Las razas indígenas de Sonora (1902). The beginnings of intensive ethnographic fieldwork, however, are found in the field expeditions of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It is interesting that most of this study did not occur in the central Mexican area, on which the bulk of the earlier works were published, but instead in southern Mexico and Guatemala, on the one hand, and in western and northern Mexico, on the other. The fieldwork in southern Mexico and Guatemala was done by four notable German scholars and one American scholar. The first of the German group was Carl Hermann Berendt, who was trained as a physician at the University of Konigsberg. He came to America in 1851, living first in Nicaragua and later in Orizaba and Veracruz, in Mexico, and in Coban in Alta Verapaz, Guatemala. During the 1850's, 60's, and 70's he traveled extensively in southern Mexico and Guatemala. The special field that absorbed Berendt was the "ethnology and linguistics of the great Maya family," and he was convinced that many of the problems concerning ancient American civilizations would be solved by research on this linguistic stock. He left unfinished a considerable number of works; his publications were only letters, short articles, and addresses. Among his works may be mentioned: an Analytic alphabet for the Mexican and Central American languages (1869), Apuntes sobre la lengua Chaneabal, con un vocabulario (1870), and "Remarks on the centers of ancient civilization in Central America and their geographical distribution" (1876). Otto StoU, a distinguished doctor, zoologist, and ethnologist who studied at Zurich, came to Guatemala in 1877. He first lived in Guatemala City, where he established himself as a physician, then moved to Retalhuleu and later to Antigua where, in order to increase his resources, he engaged 10

in coffee growing. He returned to Switzerland in 1883 where he helped found the Geographical and Ethnological Society. He was professor of geography and ethnography in Zurich (1891-1913) and curator of the zoological museum (1898-1922). Aside from his publications concerning the flora and fauna of Middle America, StoU published a number of anthropological items of importance, the first being his "Zur Ethnographic der Republik Guatemala" (1884), which is primarily an investigation of the Indian languages of Guatemala, using data gathered both by Berendt and by himself. Several of Stoll's later publications pertain to the same linguistic studies, but some of them also contain ethnographic information, as, for example, his "Die ethnische Stellung der Tz'utujil Indianer von Guatemala" (1901) and his "Über die Ethnologic der Indianer-Stamme von Guatemala" (1889). The numerous observations which StoU made on his field trips in Guatemala stimulated him to develop a number of theories concerning the collective psychology of native peoples, and he wrote several books on the subject, including Suggestion und Hypnotismus in der Völkerpsychologie (1894) and Das Geschlechtsleben in der Völkerpsychologie (1908). Even more important for our purposes were the field trips and publications of Karl Sapper whose specialities were geography of the tropics, vulcanology, and ethnography. After receiving his doctorate in philosophy in Germany, he came in 1887 to join an older brother who had a coffee finca in Coban. Here he became acquainted with the Kekchi Indians and learned their language fluently. In 1889 and 1900 he traveled, mostly on foot, throughout much of the Guatemalan and southern Mexican regions of Middle America. He was the first scientist to travel through Yucatan from south to north; he also became well acquainted with the Peten. Sapper was one of the first scientists to study the European impact on the Indians

INTRODUCTION

and the problems of their assimilation to the national economy. He also collected prayers of the Kekchi and studied their religion, observing witchcraft and ancient ceremonial customs. In 1900 he returned to Germany, where he eventually taught geography and anthropology at Tübingen. In 1923-24 and 1927-28 he returned to Middle and South America. By this time he had become interested in general problems, such as the origins of the American Indians, the size of Indian populations and the level of cultural development in pre- and postconquest times, and the adaptation of Indian agricultural techniques to local conditions. His most notable ethnological publications include "Das tagliche Leben der Kekchi-Indianer" (1913) and "Die Indianer und ihre Kultur einst und jetzt" (1912). A contemporary of Sapper, Eduard Seler, also belongs in this 19th-century group of field investigators. Seler trained at the University of Breslau and was appointed to the chair of American archaeology, ethnology, and linguistics at the University of Berlin in 1889. Between 1887 and 1891 Seler made six field expeditions to Mexico, in 1895-96 he visited Guatemala as well, and in 1910 he made a trip to Yucatan. Much of his research was on chronology and picture writing, but he did some publishing in linguistics on Nahuatl and Maya, and in ethnography, on the Huichol (see Seler, 1901a,b). Throughout his work he adhered to two main hypotheses concerning origins that are of interest to later ethnologists: (1) that the origins of Mesoamerican civilizations are not to be sought in the Old World; and (2) that the Mexicans and Maya had a common cultural base. The American scholar who did fieldwork and early publishing on the Indians of southern Mexico and Guatemala was Frederick Starr, who was appointed curator of ethnology at the American Museum of Natural History in 1889. Three years later he was selected to organize the teaching of anthropology at the University of Chicago,

where he served out his career. In 1896 he made his first field trip to Middle America, followed by five additional field seasons from 1897 to 1901. His fieldwork focused on physical anthropology, but he also collected a great deal of ethnographic data which were eventually issued in two basic publications: The Indians of southern Mexico (1899b) and Notes upon the ethnography of southern Mexico (1900-02). Meanwhile, field research was also being undertaken in northwest Mexico by an even more cosmopolitan group of investigators. The American W. J. McGee, who was trained as a geologist and served in the Bureau of American Ethnology under Major Powell, studied the Seri on Tiburon Island and on the mainland. Although he also did some fieldwork with the Papago and Cocopa, his major contribution was The Seri Indians (1898). In 1890 the Norwegian naturalist Carl Lumholtz was placed in charge of the American Museum of Natural History explorations in the Sierra Madre Occidental. Between 1890 and 1910 he made a series of remarkable journeys on horseback in the Sierra and lived with and made ethnographic observations on the Papagos, Tarahumara, Tepehuan, Cora, Huichol, and Tepecano. His major works were Unknown Mexico (two volumes published in 1902), The Huichol Indians of Mexico (1898), and New Trails in Mexico (1912). On his field expedition of 1898 to the Sierra Madre Lumholtz was accompanied by the famous Ales Hrdlicka, who took charge of the work in medical and physical anthropology. This field trip brought Hrdlicka into contact with the Tarahumara, Tepehuan, Cora, and Huichol. He later made a series of field trips in southern Mexico. Although Hrdlicka's principal study was physical anthropology, on most of his field expeditions he also collected ethnographic data, presented in two long articles, "The region of the ancient 'Chichimecs' with notes on the Tepecanos and the ruin of la 11

ETHNOLOGY

Quemada, Mexico" (1903) and "Notes on the Indians of Sonora" (1904a), and in two brief notes, "Cora dances" (1904b) and "A Cora cradle" (1905). During the period 1889-1904 the French Léon Diguet, trained as a chemist but deeply interested in ethnology, made a series of field trips in Mexico, and published two notable items: La Sierra de Nayarit et ses indigènes (1899), and Le Chimalhuacan et ses populations avant la conquête Espagnole (1903). Just after the turn of the century, the footsteps of Lumholtz in the southern Sierra Madre Occidental were followed by the German Konrad Theodor Preuss, who felt that Lumholtz had not recorded enough texts or paid enough attention to the ceremonial life of the Cora and Huichol. In 1905-06 he spent 19 months among the Cora, Huichol, and nearby Mexicano Indians, collecting some 300 myths and tales and making observations of ceremonial life. His major publication is Die Nayarit-Expedition; Textaufnahmen und Beobachtungen unter mexikanischen Indianern (1912). A Mexican scholar of note during this same period was Nicolas León, who was trained as a physician and who studied for a time with Hrdlicka on one of the latter's expeditions to Mexico. In ethnology, León's main studies were on the Tarascans, with whom he did fieldwork intermittently between 1886 and 1906. His main works on the Tarascans were Los Tarascos (1903b) and Los Indios Tarascos del Lago Patzcuaro (1934). He also did some work with the Popolocas. Although there was an understandable hiatus in ethnological fieldwork in Middle America during the decade of the Mexican Revolution (1910-20), this period was followed by a steady and remarkable growth in the number and quality of field expeditions, both by teams of investigators and by individual ethnographers. The many individual ethnologists will be mentioned in the summaries which follow, but I shall list 12

here six major institutional programs and their investigators. 1. Between 1917 and 1920 Manuel Gamio was director of an integrated anthropological research program in the Valley of Teotihuacan. The results were published in his monumental three volumes on La población del Valle de Teotihuacán, which covered pre-Hispanic, colonial, and contemporary populations. It was the first major project dealing with the culture of a Middle American region as a continuous phenomenon through time, and was a landmark in the history of anthropological research. 2. Between 1914 and 1958 the Carnegie Institution of Washington carried out its well-known and far-reaching project of research in Maya archaeology and ethnology under the successive direction of Sylvanus G. Morley, A. V. Kidder, and H. E. D. Pollock. The major ethnological work was done between 1930 and 1950, when Kidder was director. The principal research on the ethnological side of the project was done by Robert Redfield, Sol Tax, and Alfonso Villa Rojas, besides contributions made by J. Eric S. Thompson and others. Ralph L. Roys and France V. Scholes issued monographs in ethnohistory. 3. Since 1940 the Mexican Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, especially via the Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia (founded in 1942), has been active in training field ethnologists and in sponsoring ethnological work in many parts of Mexico: Roberto J. Weitlaner's field trips in Oaxaca and Guerrero, Fernando Cámara Barbachano's studies in Chiapas and Oaxaca, Calixta GuiterasHolmes' fieldwork in Chiapas, the ethnohistorical research of Wigberto Jiménez Moreno and Barbro Dahlgren de Jordan, among others. 4. Between 1940 and 1946 the Tarascan area of Michoacan was the scene of a series of field investigations by Ralph Beals, George Foster, Donald Brand, Pedro Carrasco, and others who were sponsored by

INTRODUCTION

the Escuela Nacional de Antropología of Mexico, the Institute of Social Anthropology of the Smithsonian Institution, and the University of California. The monographs emanating from this fieldwork were published mainly by the Institute of Social Anthropology of the Smithsonian Institution. 5. In 1948 Mexico established its Instituto Nacional Indigenista under the directorship of Alfonso Caso to utilize the principles of applied anthropology in helping the Indians of Mexico make adjustments to and take advantage of modern improvements in education, science, and technology. The Instituto now has operating field centers in Chiapas, Oaxaca, Chihuahua, Yucatan, and Jalisco, and is engaged in a longrange program of education and community development. Although the emphasis has understandably been on "action" rather than "basic research," the Instituto has sponsored a great deal of field research in the areas in which it is operating and has published a notable series of monographs by Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán, Ricardo Pozas, Alfonso Villa Rojas, Francisco Plancarte, and others. 6. In the late 1950's and early 1960's the emphasis of projects has shifted to the Tzeltal-Tzotzil area of highland Chiapas where three universities are engaged in long-range ethnological research. The University of Chicago project is currently directed by Norman A. McQuown, the Harvard University project by Evon Z. Vogt, and the Stanford University project by A. Kimball Romney. Among the smaller-scale field studies utilizing more than a single investigator are: Oscar Lewis' restudy of Tepoztlan, John Gillin's study of San Luis Jilotepeque, Isabel Kelly's study of the Totonac, the Soustelles' study of the Lacandon, and Guy Stresser-Péan's work among the Huastec. Details of these cooperative expeditions, as well as of individual field research, are given in the appropriate regional and ethnographic summaries in this volume.

ORGANIZATION AND SCOPE OF THIS VOLUME

In providing a systematic summary of what is now known ethnographically on the contemporary Indian cultures, we have chosen the regions and communities to be included on the basis of whether or not the inhabitants still speak a native American Indian language. According to this basic index, there are five major regions of contemporary Indian culture in Middle America: (1) the Maya-speaking peoples of Guatemala, Chiapas, and the Yucatan Peninsula; (2) the southern Mexican highlands of Oaxaca, Guerrero, parts of Puebla and Veracruz, and adjoining coastal regions; (3) the central Mexican highlands; (4) western Mexico; and (5) northwest Mexico. Main sections of the volume are devoted to each of the five regions.4 Each region differs in the extent of cultural diversity within the region and in the amount of good ethnographic data available on the Indian tribes and communities in the area. Some variation therefore exists in the organization of materials and the space allotted from region to region. Section I, "The Maya," includes all the contemporary Μayance peoples of Middle America. Except for the outlying Huastec who live in northern Veracruz, all the Mayaspeaking peoples are found in relatively contiguous sections in Guatemala, Chiapas, Tabasco, and on the Peninsula of Yucatan. There are gaps in the distribution, especially in the Peten, which was abandoned by the Maya in the late Classic and Postclassic times, and in certain other areas of the lowlands and highlands which are now inhabited exclusively by Ladinos. But compared to other regions of Middle America, this large Μayance region still contains an impressively large and solid block of Indian communities, all of which have probably differentiated linguistically and culturally 4 Regional and tribal maps are provided in this volume; for overall distribution of Indian groups in Middle America see maps in volume 5.

13

ETHNOLOGY

from a proto-Maya group with prehistoric roots in the Formative horizon in this area of Middle America. The main division culturally and linguistically within the Maya region is between highland and lowland groups. The highland Maya are further subdivided between Guatemala and Chiapas. In the Guatemalan highlands coverage is provided in terms of three environmental areas which also manifest close cultural and linguistic similarities: (1) the northwest highlands, including the Mamean, Kanhobalan, and Chuh communities; (2) the midwestern highlands, including all the Quichean-speaking communities; and (3) the eastern highlands, including the Pokoman and Chorti communities. In the Chiapas highlands, on the other hand, where more ethnological fieldwork is currently under way and where a great deal of still unpublished data has been collected in the past few years, a somewhat finer subdivision has been made in order to cover the necessary materials. Here separate articles cover the Tzotzil, the Tzeltal, and the Tojolabal, which form the three large Mayance groups remaining in central Chiapas. In the articles on the Maya lowlands we have concentrated on three Mayance groups: the Yucatec Maya, who live in Yucatan, Campeche, and Quintana Roo; the Lacandon Maya of eastern Chiapas, who are now dwindling in population but are an especially interesting group much studied by anthropologists; and the Huastec, who now inhabit an area far from the other Mayance groups but are clearly Maya in language and, to a great exent, in culture. The scanty ethnological materials available on the contemporary Chontal, Chol, and Kekchi are summarized briefly in Article 11 by Alfonso Villa Rojas. Section II, "Southern Mexican Highlands and Adjacent Coastal Regions," clearly contains Indian cultures that have much

14

more linguistic and cultural diversity than any others in Middle America, and cultures that have been studied, in many cases quite recently, by many different ethnologists. While all the linguistic and cultural interrelationships in this complex region have not by any means been determined, the Indian cultures have been grouped together by linguistics, rather than by environment. This choice was based on two major considerations: (1) the linguistic relationships indicate which Indian communities have differentiated from common proto-stocks in the past, and although much diversity is now found from community to community within given language families, a coverage along these lines provides the groundwork for eventually understanding how this differentiation took place over time; (2) the linguistic relationships provide a means of making certain that all Indian communities within this complex area are included in the coverage without subdividing the area into a very large number of small geographical areas. Even s, Section II contains a relatively large number of articles, a fact that reflects the cultural diversity in the region and the numbers of ethnologists who have recently worked in the area and have still unpublished materials available. Section III, "Central Mexican Highlands," includes the remaining Nahuatl communities and the various Otomian-speaking groups. Although the Totonac live partly in the highlands and partly along the Gulf Coast in central Veracruz, they are somewhat arbitrarily included in this part of the volume rather than given a separate section. The ethnographic richness of this vast and important region of Middle America has not yet been fully exploited in the recent ethnological work in Mexico. Ethnohistorical work is reported in volumes 11, 12, and 13, especially as this area was the heartland of late prehistoric cultural developments, such as the rise of the Aztecs to

INTRODUCTION

power and greatness. But in view of the size of the Indian population and the geographical extent and diversity of the Indian cultures, the amount of recent and intensive ethnographic work has been confined to very few communities. Hence, it was possible to provide coverage in four articles: one introductory and one each on the Nahuatl, Totonac, and Otomian groups. Section IV, "Western Mexico," concentrates on the one major group remaining in this region, the Tarascans centered around Lake Patzcuaro in Michoacan. This region has been subjected to heavy pressures for acculturation with the result that the Tarascans are the only contemporary Indian peoples of note, and even they are somewhat more acculturated than most of the Indian groups of central and southern Mexico and Guatemala. Section V, "Northwest Mexico," includes all the contemporary Indian peoples between the Cora and Huichol of Jalisco and Nayarit and the northern boundary of Mexico. Strictly speaking, much of this area falls outside what is generally recognized as Mesoamerican in culture, but these tribes have been included to meet the limits set by F. W. Hodge's Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. The present Handbook of Middle American Indians will thus complete the coverage of the New World. Most of the Indian tribes of northwest Mexico are Uto-Aztecan-speakers, namely the Cora, Huichol, Tepehuan, Yaqui, Mayo, Tarahumara, Pima, Papago, and Opata. The Tepehuan are closely related linguistically and culturally but have been separated into northern and southern branches for some time and have been recently studied in the field by two anthropologists who have as yet unpublished data; hence there are two articles here. The Yaqui-Mayo are closely related Cahita tribes and are discussed in one article. Because the Tarahumara are a relatively large and still quite unaccul-

turated tribe in the Sierra Madre, they are given separate treatment. Finally, two short articles are devoted to the other remaining Indian groups near the Mexican-United States border: Baja California and Other Tribes (including the Pima, Papago, Opata, and Seri). The introductory article on northwest Mexico by Edward H. Spicer contains what has been regarded as "contact ethnography" and for other areas has been presented in volumes, 2, 3, and 10, on the archaeology. This was done for two reasons: (1) the period of contact came relatively late in this region and hence has a somewhat more direct bearing on contemporary Indian cultures; (2) Spicer has good control of materials and it was therefore suggested that he include them in his introductory regional article. PRESENTATION OF MATERIALS

The ethnographic materials are presented in four forms: (1) introductory regional articles, (2) ethnographic summaries, (3) maps, and (4) illustrations. The introductory regional articles offer an overview of the whole region, giving perspective on the geographical, cultural, and linguistic interrelationships in this area and thereby setting the stage for the more detailed ethnographic summaries that follow. Each author of an introductory regional article was asked to provide information on four points: (1) a description of the geographical setting; (2) the cultural positions and linguistic distributions of the major groups (with maps); (3) inferences about probable genetic relationships (e.g., Are all cultures now found in the area derived from one or more prototypes? If so, what were the probable points of origin and dispersal? How do you account for the variations in culture observed today?); (4) a description of the major events and their impact on native cultures during the Colonial period.

15

ETHNOLOGY

The purpose of the ethnographic summaries is to give, in as much detail as the size of this volume permits, descriptive materials on the communities or tribes within

the large regions of Indian culture. Each author was asked to follow, when relevant and possible, the following outline as a basic guide for the summaries.

OUTLINE FOR ETHNOGRAPHIC SUMMARIES I.

16

Introduction 1. Cultural and linguistic distributions (with maps). 2. Very brief geographical sketch (complete environmental data appear in volume 1). 3. Brief history of major post-contact events. 4. Population. 5. Brief description and evaluation of the history of ethnological investigation of the tribe or area and of the major ethnological sources.

II.

Subsistence systems and food patterns.

III.

Settlement patterns, including the whole range from rooms in houses to inter-village relationships.

IV.

Technology 1. Tools. 2. Techniques of processing and manufacturing. 3. Crafts. 4. Houses and other buildings, including furniture. 5. Dress and adornment. 6. Transportation. 7. Weights and measures.

V.

Economy 1. Division of labor. 2. Specialization. 3. Property, including land tenure. 4. Production and consumption units. 5. Trade and markets. 6. Labor export. 7. Wealth and its uses.

VI.

Social organization 1. Family and kinship, including ritual kinship. 2. Local and territorial units. 3. Political and religious organization (in combination, where relevant, or as separate topics). 4. Relationship of village units or tribes to state or nation.

VII.

Religion and world view 1. Myth and ritual. 2. Folklore. 3. Sickness and curing. 4. Cosmogony and cosmology.

INTRODUCTION

VIII. Aesthetic and recreational patterns 1. Arts and crafts. 2. Music, dance, and drama. 3. Humor, games, and gossip. 4. Patterns of etiquette. 5. Narcotics and stimulants. 6. Fiesta patterns, especially recreational aspects. IX.

Life cycle and personality development, including socialization and education,

X.

Annual cycle (annual rhythms of work, play, ceremonial calendar).

REFERENCES Acosta, 1590 Aguilar, 1579 Alegre, 1841 Alva Ixtlilxochitl, 1891 Alvarado, P. de, 1838 Alvarado Tezozomoc, 1949 Ancona, 1878 Anghiera, 1912 Baegert, 1773 Bancroft, 1882 Bandelier, 1877, 1878, 1879 Beaumont, 1855-56, 1932 Berendt, 1869, 1870, 1876 Bemal, 1962 Biart, 1885 Boturini, 1745 Brasseur de Bourbourg, 1857, 1861, 1864, 1868 Brinton, 1882, 1885, 1890a, 1890b, 1894 Burgoa, 1674 Busierre, 1863 Carlo, 1951 Carrillo y Ancona, 1881 Chavero, 1887 Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, 1889 Ciudad Real, 1930 Clavijero, 1780-81 Codice Monteleone, 1925 Comas, 1950 Conquistador Anónimo, 1556 Cortés, 1870 Díaz del Castillo, 1632 Diguet, 1899, 1903 Durán, 1867-80 Gage, 1648 Gamio, 1922 Garcia Icazbalceta, 1858-66, 1886 Hernández, 1902

Herrera y Tordesillas, 1601-15 Hrdlicka, 1903, 1904a, 1904b, 1905 Humboldt, 1810 Keane, 1908 Kingsborough, 1831-48 Kino, 1913-22 Landa, 1864 Las Casas, 1875-76 León, 1903b, 1905, 1934 Lumholtz, 1898, 1902, 1912 McGee, 1898 Mendieta, 1869 Mota y Escobar, 1940 Motolinia, 1541 Muñoz Camargo, 1892 Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, 1906 Orozco y Berra, 1880 Ortega, 1887 Oviedo y Valdés, 1943-45 Paso y Troncoso, 1905-06, 1939-42 Pérez de Ribas, 1645 Pomar, 1891 Prescott, 1844 Preuss, 1912 Ramírez, 1949 Remesal, 1932 Sahagún, 1829, 1938, 1950-66 Sapper, Κ., 1912, 1913 Seler, 1901a, 1901b Starr, F., 1899b, 1900-02 Stoll, 1884, 1889, 1894, 1901, 1908 Tapia, 1866 Tozzer, 1941 Tylor, 1861 Villagutierre Soto-Mayor, 1933 Ximénez, 1720, 1944-45 Zurita, 1891

17

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2. The Maya: Introduction l

EVON Z. VOGT

C

ONTEMPORARY MAYA-SPEAKING Indians of Middle America occupy a virtually continuous territory in southern Mexico, Guatemala, and British Honduras. This distribution is broken only by: (a) the now abandoned regions of the Peten of Guatemala; (b) the intrusions of Ladinos or Mestizos, especially in lowland regions and in favorably situated upland basins, such as the valleys in which Guatemala City, Quezaltenango, Huehuetenango, and San Cristobal de las Casas are located; and (c) the existence of one major outlier, the Huastec who live in northern Veracruz and in adjacent San Luis Potosi. In size of population (at least 2 million) and in solidity of distribution, the Maya clearly rank next to the Quechua-speaking peoples of Peru and Ecuador in being the most impressive surviving American Indian culture in the Western Hemisphere. GEOGRAPHICAL SETTING

The approximate distribution of Mayaspeaking Indians is shown in Map 1. They occupy the highlands of Guatemala, the

central highlands of Chiapas, the lowlands of the Yucatan Peninsula, including parts of British Honduras and part of the lower Usumacinta drainage in Tabasco and Campeche, and the mountains of northern Veracruz and San Luis Potosi. The Guatemalan highlands run the length of Guatemala from northwest to southeast, constituting a high and rugged extension of the Andean cordillera. This deeply dissected mountain plateau has many elevations up to 10,000 feet and an average elevation of 4000 feet. It can be subdivided topographically, and to some extent culturally, into (1) the northwest highlands centering around the Cuchumatanes, (2) the midwest highlands around Lake Atitlan, and (3) the eastern highlands lying east of Guatemala City. Farther to the northwest, across the high Cuchumatane mountain massif, lie the central Chiapas highlands, which are also called the "Chiapas Plateau" or the "Meseta Central de Chiapas." This upland region is smaller than the Guatemalan highlands, but is as rugged and remote from modern 21

FIG. 1 — S C H E M A T I C MAP OF DISTRIBUTION OF MAYA-SPEAKING INDIANS. (From Morley, 1956, pl. 7.)

MΑΥΑ: INTRODUCTION

influences as the less accessible parts of Guatemala. The highest elevations are some 9200 feet, and there are many small upland valleys of 5000-7000 feet above sea level. The lowlands of the Yucatan Peninsula are much less complex topographically. With the exception of a few mountain spurs extending into the Peten and of the Sierra Maya de Belize, the rest of the region forms a vast rolling limestone plain which gradually descends toward the sea. The Guatemalan and Chiapas highlands are similar in topography, geology, climate, and vegetation, but the lowlands of the Peten and the Yucatan Peninsula present a stark contrast. The highlands are deeply dissected and wrinkled mountain masses composed of limestone with volcanic intrusions; the climate is cool with slight winter rainfall and heavy summer rainfall; the vegetation is predominantly pine and oak. The lowlands, on the other hand, have a flat topography; the climate is hot and has a rainfall pattern that varies from very heavy precipitation in the south to much less in the north; vegetation varies from heavy tropical rain forest in the south to scrub jungle in the north. There are three major river systems in the Maya area, all with headwaters in the western highlands of Guatemala. The Rio Motagua flows east from the midwest highlands and empties into the Gulf of Honduras near the Guatemalan-Honduras boundary. The Rio Usumacinta flows north from the midwest and northwest highlands and empties into the Gulf of Mexico. The Rio Grijalva also heads in the northwest highlands, flows west through the central depression of Chiapas, and then turns north to empty into the Gulf of Mexico. Whether or not these river systems were of importance for travel and migration in aboriginal times is still undetermined, but it is worth pointing out that the headwaters of all three systems are near the location of the postulated proto-Maya community (McQuown, 1964). Details on the geographical setting

are provided in the regional articles that follow. CULTURAL DISTRIBUTION AND POPULATION1

The cultural subdivisions utilized in the following regional treatment of the Maya are based partly on geographical areas and partly on contemporary linguistic groupings and distributions as outlined by McQuown (1956, 1964) and by Diebold (1960). The Guatemalan highlands are subdivided into the northwest highlands, the midwest highlands, and the eastern highlands. The northwest highlands contain the Mamean peoples, including Mam proper and Aguacatec and Ixil; the Kanhobalan peoples, including Kanhobal proper as well as Jacaltec and Solomec; and the Chuh. The total population of Mayan-speakers found in this region is 277,618. The midwest highlands contain the Quichean peoples, including Quiche proper, and Cakchiquel, Tzutuhil, Rabinal, and Uspantec, with a total Mayan-speaking population of 537,434. The eastern highlands contain the Pokoman and Chorti with a total population of 23,482 Maya-speakers. On the northern fringes of the eastern highlands are found the Kekchi and Pokonchi, with a population of 171,517 living partly down in the rolling hills to the north and into the lowlands. The scant ethnographic data available on them are summarized in Villa Rojas' Article 11. The highlands of Chiapas contain the Tzotzil, Tzeltal, and Tojolabal, with a total approximate population (1950) of 160,000 Maya-speakers. The Maya lowlands contain the large block of Yucatec Maya found in Yucatan, Campeche, and Quintana Roo, with a population (1950) of 321,795; very small remnant groups of Lacandon west of the Usumacinta and having a total population of 1 The populations given for Guatemala are from Whetten, 1961, and include population over three years of age who speak a Mayan language in the home as reported in the 1950 census.

23

FIG. 2—THE PROBABLE ΟΙΡΡΕΚΕΝΤΙΑΉΟΝ OF THE MAYA. (After McQuown, 1964, p. 74.)

less than 200; and a few scattered groups of Chol and Chontal in northern Chiapas and Tabasco lowlands. The outlying Huastec inhabiting the tropical coast and interior highlands of northern Veracruz and adjacent San Luis Potosi have a total 1950 population of 56,989. ORIGINS MAYA2

AND

DIFFERENTIATION

OF

THE

The present evidence from comparative Maya linguistic data (see McQuown, 1964; Vogt, 1964b) indicates a point of dispersal in the area that is now the Department of Huehuetenango in northwestern Guatemala, where a protocommunity (with cultivated maize) can be postulated for a period around 2600 B.C. This proto-Mayan com2 The materials in this section are drawn in revised form from Vogt, 1964d, with permission of the publishers.

24

munity is presumed to have been relatively small in population, perhaps on the order of 5000. It may have had various dialect groups within it, but the dialects were not very diflEerentiated and hence it is assumed that the community was an integrated unit of some type. Because the Mayan languages showing the greatest differentiation are Mam, Huastec, and Yucatec, we infer that these three were the first separations from the protocommunity. The first expansion seems to have been the Mam (see Figure 2). This was not a migration from the protocommunity but rather an expansion more or less in situ, since Mam proper remained in this area. It is not possible to date this expansion, except to say that it occurred after 2600 B.C. About 1800 B.C. the Huastec migration left the protocommunity and moved north-

MAYA: INTRODUCTION

east, perhaps to lower country in the Usumacinta drainage. Soon after the Huastec exit, the Chicomulceltec separated and settled just southwest of the Huastec. About 1600 B.C. the Yucatec migration moved in the same direction. By about 1400 B.C. the Lacandon had separated from the Yucatec and had settled down in their historic habitat. The Yucatec seem to have been located west of the Lacandon at this time because they were in close touch with the Huastec. This connection between Yucatec and Huastec was broken by about 1200 B.C., probably by the northwest movement of the Huastec toward their present habitat. The Chicomulceltec must have moved along with the Huastec, finally splitting off about A.D. 1000 and returning to southern Chiapas where they were located in historic times. McQuown (1964) stresses how close Chicomulceltec is to Huastec linguistically; in point of fact, the divergence between the two branches of Huastec (Potosino and Veracruzano) is about as great as the divergence between Chicomulceltec and Huastec as a whole. Although these postulated migrations may seem unlikely, they are still the most probable inferences to be drawn from the linguistic data. The fourth exit from the protocommunity was the Chontalan, which occurred about 900 B.C. They probably also moved into the Usumacinta drainage, for the linguistic evidence suggests they were in touch with the Yucatec and Lacandon in this area for about 1000 years. The separation of the Chol and Chorti from the Chontal did not occur until A.D. 700 and 900, respectively. Hence the appearance of the Chorti in eastern Guatemala is relatively recent. The fifth migration was Tzeltalan about 750 B.C., with a stop somewhere between the Yucatec, Chontalan, and Lacandon. Between A.D. 500 and 750 they moved west into the highlands of Chiapas, where Tzeltal differentiated from Tzotzil about A.D. 1200. Each of the five postulated migrations moved northeast into the Usumacinta drain-

age and would have brought Maya for greater or lesser periods of time into the central region (the Peten and lowlands of eastern Chiapas), the very area where Maya culture developed so vigorously in the Classic period between A.D. 300 and 900. If the linguistic inferences are correct, then the Huastec could not have participated in these Maya Classic developments; they had already moved off toward their present homeland. But the Yucatec, Lacandon, Chontalans, and Tzeltalans presumably occupied some part of the central region during this period, were in touch with one another, and hence are all candidates for some type of participation in the Classic Maya cultural growth in the area. McQuown estimates that the Yucatec probably moved farther east and north beginning about 750 B.C, eventually inhabiting most of the Yucatan Peninsula. During the late Classic period the major sites in the central region could have been either Yucatec or Chol-Chorti; alternatively the Yucatec may have been in the northern lowlands with Chol-Chorti occupying the Peten. The implications of these inferences for research on such crucial problems as deciphering the Classic Maya hieroglyphics are obvious. If the glyphs could have been carved by either Yucatec or Chol-Chorti-speakers, or both, it will be necessary to collect more linguistic data from both the Yucatec and the CholChorti, reconstruct the forms that were probably used during the A.D. 300-900 period, and then try to match the syllabic forms in both languages with the glyphs— assuming, of course, that the hieroglyphic writing was at least partly phonetic. The sixth migration from the protocommunity were the Tojolabal, who made their exit about 400 B.C. They were followed by the seventh migration of Kekchian, which McQuown thinks was a slow movement to the east with the divergence between Pokonchi and Pokomam occurring about A.D. 900. The next exits were the Chuh, moving to the north, and the Quichean, 25

ETHNOLOGY

moving to the southwest beginning about 200 B.C. The Quichean case is interesting because this group apparently remained together until about A.D. 1200, the time at which internal divergence in the Quichean languages begins. Perhaps the most interesting implication of these inferences is the possibility that sites like Kaminaljuyu in the valley of Guatemala were not occupied by Maya peoples until late Preclassic times, and hence the earlier occupations were nonMaya peoples of some type (see below). The two final exits from the protocommunity were made by the Kanhobalan (about A.D. 100) and the Motozintlecan (about A.D. 1000), who stayed close to the original homeland for a long time. The possibility arises as to whether or not the "point of dispersal" could have been a moving point. McQuown (see Vogt, 1964d) argues that a moving point before 2600 B.C. is conceivable, but that after this time the various subgroups have to be considered as keeping relative arrangements and that it is difficult to imagine this with a moving point. He further argues that if one follows out the logical implications of the data in the lexicons, then the relative arrangements of subgroups that he presented is forced upon the analyst. The postulation of a proto-Maya community with a subsistence system based on fully cultivated maize at 2600 B.C. comes as no surprise to archaeologists. The new data of McNeish from the Coxcatlan and other caves in Puebla indicate the presence of what may be wild maize about 5000 B.C., with successive overlying levels revealing gradual domestication (Willey, 1964). There is still a question as to where the line between incipient agriculture and subsistence agriculture can be drawn for southern Mesoamerica. The picture is one of slow increase in the process of hybridization to the point where agriculture is economically profitable. Although we have no data for these early periods from the area of the postulated Maya homeland in northwest 26

Guatemala, there are the significant data from the Santa Marta Cave and the early Cotorra phase at Chiapa de Corzo in Chiapas on the western edge of the Maya area. As Willey (1964) points out, the Santa Marta Cave stratigraphy offers a continuity from the preceramic and incipient Santa Marta complex (comparable to artifact series of the Puebla caves) into the early horizon and village agriculture represented by the overlying Cotorra phase, which is believed to have begun sometime after 1500 B.C. By the Early Preclassic (1500-1000 B.C.) the evidence for successful village agriculture is unequivocal, and Willey (1964) even suggests that this achievement was native to southern Mesoamerica. By the end of the Preclassic (A.D. 300), and perhaps much earlier in selected areas, many of the basic Maya patterns are reflected in the archaeological data. There is still a problem as to the extent to which these patterns were particularly or specifically Maya, but at least some art motifs and hieroglyphic forms, of distinctive complexity, can be traced from this early period into later Maya sculpture. And there is still hope that we may define meaningful ceramic traditions within Mesoamerica on an early Preclassic level. If, for example, the early ceramic decorative strain that seems to relate Chiapas, the Guatemalan highlands, and the Huasteca (Willey, 1964) proves on further investigation to have been some kind of historical unit, we may have an approximate correspondence with Maya distributions as postulated by McQuown for this period. It is possible that the early Preclassic horizon along the Gulf Coast may represent the Huastec migration northward to their historic homeland, and that the Middle Preclassic horizon (e.g., Chiapas II and III) may represent an early Mixe-Zoque expansion that separated the Huastec from the rest of the Maya block. There are special problems in the Late Preclassic in the Guatemalan highlands, as

M A Y A : INTRODUCTION

represented, for example, by the Miraflores phase at Kaminaljuyu. This is a very complex and differentiated cultural period, and requires further exploration of the linguistic data for hypotheses that might explain this unusual diversity. McQuown has suggested (see Vogt, 1964d) that the valley of Guatemala might have been occupied in succession by (1) ancestors of the Xinca-Lenca; (2) the Mixe-Zoque, who had undergone an expansion that occupied the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, southern Chiapas, and the Pacific coast of Guatemala, and spread into the valley of Guatemala at a time when the Maya were located mainly in northwestern Guatemala and the adjacent lowlands of eastern Chiapas, the Peten, and the Yucatan Peninsula; (3) the Kekchian and Quichean Maya groups who left the protocommunity relatively late and presumably could not have arrived at sites like Kaminaljuyu until the Late Preclassic. In other words, the cultural diversity in the Miraflores phase may represent genuine ethnic diversity—remnants of Xinca-Lenca, the end of a MixeZoque occupation, and the arrival of the first Maya in the valley of Guatemala. The most important historical question of all for the Preclassic period is whether the archaeological data confirm or refute the inferences from comparative linguistics that the Maya protocommunity was located in the highlands and that the lowlands Maya were derived from a homeland in northwest Guatemala. Willey (1964) concludes that Preclassic data do indeed suggest a highland-to-lowland sequence of events in village agricultural settlement, platform mound construction, calendrics and hieroglyphics, and monumental art. There are, however, still many unsolved problems, such as the role of Olmec art in Maya artistic origins. This raises the question whether La Venta, which flourished from 800 to 400 B.C., was Mayan or a manifestation of the postulated Mixe-Zoque expansion. It could have been Chontalan since this branch of the Maya presumably made

its exit from the protocommunity at 900 B.C. But too little is known about Mixe-Zoque to rule them out as a possibility, especially since there are strong stylistic similarities between La Venta and the early art styles of Pacific and highland Guatemala sites and of Chiapa de Corzo—all possible manifestations of the postulated Mixe-Zoque expansion in the Preclassic. It is also obvious that the archaeological problems of Maya origins and differentiation will require more research in the postulated homeland in northwestern Guatemala and in eastern Chiapas and the western Peten, areas that the early Maya were presumably occupying as they left the protocommunity. Willey's archaeological work at Altar de Sacrificios is strategically located from this point of view, but much more research should be done both up and down the Usumacinta River and its branches. For the Maya Classic the problem of most consuming interest is, of course, the reasons for the brilliant growth of Maya civilization in the lowlands. Turning to linguistic evidence, one finds no clues in McQuown's (1964) reconstruction that would bring any new migrations into the lowlands at this time. Rather, the area seemed to have been occupied by the ancestors of the Yucatec, the Lacandon, the Chol-Chorti, and the Tzeltalan, with the last perhaps on the western edge in lowland Chiapas. There is increasing evidence of some Teotihuacan influence during the Early Classic, but it is impossible to state yet how important these influences might have been. It was certainly important in Guatemalan highlands and may have been important also in the Peten. On the basis of present evidence, the cultural growth during the Classic appears to derive from a favorable combination of environmental and socio-political factors within the Maya genetic unit. It is difficult to accept the interpretation offered by Meggers (1954) and others that the tropical forest environment posed critical problems 27

ETHNOLOGY

for the Maya. Rather, it would appear that the lowland Maya had occupied a relatively plush environment and that their agricultural system was viable and productive, capable of supporting large populations over long periods. It is also quite clear that some kind of socio-political system evolved that was capable of efficiently articulating ceremonial centers without outlying hamlets in the sustaining areas and harnessing human energy for the development of Maya "high arts." Two major events in the Postclassic are recurring problems: (1) the "collapse" of Maya civilization in the central region, and (2) the "invasion" of the northern region by Mexican Toltecs. According to Willey (1964), there was not mass abandonment of the region at this time, and it is likely that the "collapse" may be related to either Mexican intrusions or the repercussive effects of Mexicanoid influences along the western border. The new data from Altar de Sacrificios give strong indications of this influence. There seems to be general agreement that northern Yucatan sites, especially Chichen Itza, were under heavy Mexican influence, if not outright conquest or colonization, during the Postclassic. Although Kubler (1961) has recently suggested that the influences may have flowed from Chichen Itza to Tula, Ruz (1962) takes sharp issue with Kubler's interpretation and feels that the weight of evidence is still in favor of a flow of influences from Tula to Chichen Itza. SPANISH CONQUEST

The Spanish conquest of the Maya extended from 1524 to 1697. The conquest and reduction of Guatemala began with the fall of Utatlan in 1524 and ended with the surrender of the Itza in 1697. The conquest of Yucatan lasted from 1527 to 1546, the capital city of Merida being founded in 1542. The Chiapas highlands were conquered between 1523 and 1528.

28

As soon as possible after open hostilities ceased, the Spanish proceeded to establish encomiendas, which granted both large tracts of land and the services of Indian residents on the land to the conquerors. They also soon began to practice policies of reducción and agrupación to bring dispersed rural Maya populations into manageable administrative units and facilitate the conversion of the Indians to Christianity. Although the more remote areas, like the Cuchumatanes, the isolated regions of the Chiapas highlands, and tropical rain forests of Quintana Roo, did not feel the full force of the conquest to the same extent as the communities near the centers of Spanish power, like Guatemala City, Quezaltenango, Merida, and San Cristobal de las Casas, there were marked changes in social, political, and religious systems almost everywhere. The ceremonial centers were converted into the cabeceras of municipios that tended to follow aboriginal boundaries. The cabeceras, with their Catholic churches and cabildos facing on a central plaza and with streets laid out in a grid pattern, became the new control points as the Spanish assumed political leadership. New types of civil-religious hierarchies evolved from the combination of aboriginal Maya and Spanish elements; new religious beliefs brought by the Catholic priests were added to or fused with Maya beliefs; new domestic animals, notably sheep, chickens, horses, and mules, and new crops were added to the economy. LaFarge (1940) points out how the period from the end of the conquest to the abolition of encomiendas in 1720 was a time when Spanish and Christian elements were absorbed rapidly and many Maya elements were destroyed. After 1720 came a relaxation of Spanish control and an emergence of suppressed Maya elements along with an integration of Maya and Spanish-Christian elements into a new pattern that gradually evolved into a

M A Y A : INTRODUCTION

smooth and well-stabilized culture that persisted into the 19th century (LaFarge, 1940). The 19th century brought many new pressures on the Maya, especially in the form of henequen plantations in Yucatan and coffee plantations in Chiapas and Guatemala. The henequen industry did not affect the Maya who isolated themselves in the tropical rain forests of Quintana Roo, but it had a major impact on the Maya communities in northern Yucatan. The new machinery and the development of a new economic system brought about a marked change in customs, as Villa Rojas points out in Article 12. Similarly, the development of the export coffee industry in Guatemala and Chiapas began to affect the highland Maya communities, especially after 1870. The great demand for Indian labor led to the development of methods, official and unofficial, to force increasing numbers of Maya onto the coffee plantations as laborers. Recent trends have been toward greater respect for Indian rights to land and for Indian customs in Guatemala and Mexico. This direction has been especially marked in Mexico where the land reforms stemming

from the Mexican Revolution have restored to the Indians as ejidos much of the land taken earlier by Ladinos, and where the Instituto Nacional Indigenista is now maintaining an impressive program of education and community improvement for Indians in both Chiapas and Yucatan. One of the most important results of the recent modernization of Maya Indian life has been the lowering of the death rate by the control of epidemics and of infantile diseases through the increased practice of modern medicine. This has led in turn to an explosive rate of population growth throughout most of the Maya area, with the consequence that population tends to outrun economic opportunities and educational facilities in both Mexico and Guatemala. Far from becoming a "vanishing race," the contemporary Maya-speaking peoples are some of the most vigorous in all of Middle America. Further data on the Spanish conquest and subsequent changes in Maya culture are provided in the regional articles that follow, and in even more detail in volumes 2 and 3 on the archaeology of southern Middle America and in volumes 11, 12, and 13 on the ethnohistory of Middle America.

REFERENCES Diebold, 1960 Kubler, 1961 LaFarge, 1940 McQuown, 1956, 1964 Meggers, 1954 Morley, 1956 Ruz, 1962 Vogt, 1964d Whetten, 1961 Willey, 1964

29

S.Guatemalan Highlands

MANNING

S

INCE PRE-COLUMBIAN TIMES the

Gua-

temalan highlands have been one of the great Mesoamerican heartlands of Indian population and Indian culture. The highlands provide a particularly suitable geographical framework for the preservation and continuity of these Indian societies. Running the length of Guatemala from the northeast to the southwest is a broad, rugged mountain plateau, an extension of the Andean cordillera making a deeply dissected, wrinkled mountain fastness. Lying to the east and north of it is the Usumacinta valley, a jungle area now virtually uninhabited. On the northwest are the high Cuchumatanes and a steep valley with some mountain and valley passes into Chiapas, Mexico. On the western edges a belt of young volcanoes breaks the steep descent into the narrow Pacific plain. To the east and south of the plateau the country rolls out into a broad Atlantic drainage, and into the low country of the southeastern frontier (Higbee, 1947). Viewed as a unit, the plateau is a relatively self-contained highland mass with 30

NASH

limited means of access from the west and north and with few natural paths or traverses across it or along it. It is barranca country. The deep gorges divide the region into uneven, small pockets and make map distances deceptive guides for travelers. For every 2 or 3 miles forward a traveler must walk or ride at least that many up and down the crumpled terrain. Outside of the level stretch of the valley of Quezaltenango and some relatively open stretches in the southeastern plains, the highlands of Guatemala offer a broken, mountainous landscape, one of the hard-to-negotiate vaults of the continent (McBryde, 1947). Through the center of the highlands runs the continental divide, up to 10,000 feet in some places but giving the area an average elevation of about 4000 feet. West of Guatemala City, which lies almost in the center of the highlands, are the western highlands; east of the capital the lower hills are called the eastern highlands; and the region around the Cuchumatanes is the northwest highlands. These three subdivisions of the highlands contain topographical peculiari-

FIG. 1—GEOGRAPHIC REGIONS OF GUATEMALA. (From Higbee, 1947, fig. 1.)

FIG. 2—PRESENT-DAY MAYA LANGUAGE BOUNDARIES OF GUATEMALA. (From Whetten, 1961, fig. 9.)

ties which have affected the flow of population and the formation of social and cultural patterns. The midwest highlands have a cool climate, volcanic ash of great depth, grasslands and trees, sedge, and meadows for sheep. They offer good ecological possibilities for small-plot, subsistence Indian agri32

culture but not for European agriculture, and therefore stand as the stronghold of Indian settlement. The density of population is higher, the local administrative units (municipios) are smaller, than in lower, warmer country. Lake Atitlan dominates the physical geography. Around its shores are 14 Indian communities, exhibiting such

FIG. 3 — E T H N O G R A P H I C STUDIES OF GUATEMALA HIGHLAND COMMUNITIES.

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 4 — W O M A N AND CHILD, SANTA MARIA CHIQUIMULA, TOTONICAPAN. (Photographed by Matilda Gray, 1935. Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University.)

extraordinary cultural and economic variability in small compass as is seldom known to anthropology. In this region, as elsewhere in the highlands, it is the microvariation in geographical feature which is relevant to the understanding of ecological adaptation, for within a short space a number of exploitative possibilities are available to a community; and conversely, within the same ecology, technological and economic specialization allows communities to seize on different niches of the setting. The range of geographical variation, together with the diversity of economic skill and knowledge, weave an interdependence between communities. Although each community has some specialization based in part on ecology and in part on cultural tradition, they 34

are connected in a network of exchange markets. Local Indian societies, then, show a dual rhythm in ecological adjustment: inward-facing for production and specialization, outward-looking for consumption items and exchange. As each Indian community is a local culture, it has constant connections with other local cultures; most Indians could, because of their continual travel to market, to pilgrimage, to plantation work, to fiestas, write a reasonable ethnography of the region (fig. 1). The eastern highlands have lower ranges of altitude, more open country, and fewer Indians. About 100 miles east of Guatemala City the fincas are smaller than in the west, the plow (absent in the western highlands) is used by both Indian and non-Indian, and cattle raising is part of the economic adjustment. The lower altitudes and open lands have attracted more Ladinos (non-Indians). The cattle industry, reducing the space for Indian agriculture, has caused greater migration of Indians out of the highlands. In the southern part of the eastern highlands, at the 2000-4000-foot ranges, the municipios become larger and hence have greater tendency to self-sufficiency than in the midwest highland region. Here we find many of the commercial crops of Ladino agriculture, and an Indian population more "countrified" than that in the upper reaches of the plateau (Gillin, 1951). North toward Coban, with its karst topography and sinkhole conformation, the area is well suited to European commercial agriculture, especially coffee. Consequently the pattern of Indian life is a striking variant from the rest of the highlands. Here, only one of the 14 municipios of the Verapaz is an Indian local society and culture in the sense of the western highlands. European (chiefly German) coffee planters have been dominant in the region for about 80 years; the Indians live in a dispersed rural settlement, lacking in community organization. They are the bottom layer of the threeclass system which has developed in the

GUATEMALAN HIGHLANDS

area, on the basis of large-scale coffee growing (Silvert and King, 1957). In the third area, the northwest highlands, climate and vegetation are similar to the midwest, but with greater extremes of altitude in the Cuchumatanes. It is a region of high ridges, deep valleys, and isolated pockets. There are fewer opportunities for European agriculture, and hence fewer Ladinos, than in other areas of the highlands. The land is given over chiefly to Indian subsistence agriculture, and the same sort of microvariation existing in other parts of the highlands is found here. A few deep gorge mountain passes between the region and Mexico have not been overlooked by smugglers (LaFarge, 1947). In brief, then, the Guatemalan highlands form a relatively self-contained plateau of broken topography, a difficult terrain suitable more to the foot travel of the Indian than the wheeled vehicle of the European. It is an area of great microdiversity in ecological possibility. It falls naturally into three subregions of midwest, east, and northwest highlands, the first and last constituting the heartland of Indian population and culture. Paralleling the great diversity of the geography within a plateau region is the diversity of culture within a broad pattern of similarity. A single type, or major tradition, of culture dominates the highlands when viewed as a unit, but the tradition varies in endless, minute ways from one local society to another (Tax, 1937). In the manner of a kaleidoscope, the same elements combine and recombine from village to village into different patterns of culture and social arrangement. Guatemalan highland communities differ not so much in the presence or absence of certain traits as in the way these traits are combined, emphasized, adapted, and integrated in a particular setting. The inventory of general characteristics of Mesoamerican Indians specified by Redfield and Tax (1952) fits, with modifications, the Guatemalan highlands. This is a

FIG. 5—INDIAN WOMAN, SAN LUCAS TOLIMAN, SOLOLA. (Photographed by Matilda Gray, 1935. Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University. )

peasant culture. Indians are everywhere agriculturalists; their chief crops are the preconquest trinity of maize, beans, and squash. Agriculture is small plot, with a simple technology of hoe, digging stick, machete, iron bar, and net bag. Land is held by individuals or family units, is not easily alienable, and does not often pass from hand to hand by market exchange. There are communal reserves of land for 35

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 6—INDIAN MAN AND WOMAN, SAN LUCAS TOLIMAN, SOLOLA. (Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University.)

gathering firewood, pasturing animals, or making milpa. A community feeling is involved in the identification of the people and culture with a territory. Each community is organized around a civic center, whether or not the civic center is occupied. The civic center houses both civil and religious ofiBces. There is an image of a saint, who is patron to all the people in the community, which takes the saint's name as part of its designation. The community tends toward endogamy, and those few who marry into it remain foreign Indians. The family is the basic unit of organization; each family, whether nuclear or compound, has a separate structure. The houses are without windows; yards tend to be walled off, with a great emphasis on pri36

vacy and seclusion. The family is bilateral. Clans, moieties, or kinship units larger than the family are not found. A general vagueness about kinship relations prevails—no strict rules of residence, a leaning to equal inheritance. Kinship relations depend much on proximity, and relatives of wider consanguine degree may have closer sentimental ties than those of narrow degree if they live nearby. Whatever tendency there is in the kinship organization, it stresses the patrilineal line. Formal control rests in the hands of men; surnames follow the male line. Relative age is an important organizing principle: seniority means respect and deference, and usually power. Age-grading and locality, together with kinship, organize most of the social life. The family units are knit into a single society by the operation of a civil and religious hierarchy (M. Nash, 1958). In this hierarchical system of public ofiBces men as representatives of household units take turns serving in community posts and discharge political, administrative, religious, and festal activities of the community. Since men spend most of their adult life alternating between hierarchically graded posts in communal service, the system serves to rank households, to age-grade them, and to allocate community burdens. The principle of selection is age and previous service combined with ability to pay. Occupying posts is costly, and operation of the hierarchy levels the wealth of a household and drains the community as a whole. Although the economy of the region is based on subsistence agriculture, no community is self-sufiBcient and so relies on a network of trade. Market relations are monetary or, if barter, oriented to a pecuniary standard. Economic activity tends to be of the free, open, competitive kind common to market-organized societies (Tax, 1953). Taboos or rituals do not much circumscribe economic opportunities or activities. Specialization tends to be by community, though individual artisans or specialists in variety or number depend on the popula-

GUATEMALAN HIGHLANDS

tion of a given community. Business enterprise in the form of firms, credit institutions, or cooperatives is lacking. Social life in general has the cast of impersonality, formality, and little spontaneous display of affection or emotion. This is reflected in the life cycle, with little organized play for children, little recreation for adults outside the functional contexts of market and fiesta. Gossip and envy are primary means of social control. In the realm of the supernatural there is a large number of powerful beings and sacred places. The supernatural beings are arranged in vague hierarchical order, with Christian-derived deities at the top, and the powers of saints, owners of hills, deities of wind, rain, earth, sky, sun and moon below. The world view shows the general characteristics of smallness (spatially and contentually restricted), animistic (parts of nature and the supernatural are thought to act and feel much like men), and metaphoric (one part of the content comes to be associated with another by the process of linguistic extension rather than by logical nicety) (Tax, 1941). The church edifice is the locus of formal Catholicism and the practice of folk Catholicism. The folk Catholic system tends to be organized around cofradías, brotherhoods dedicated to the upkeep of an image of a saint. There is an esoteric element in the religious system tied into survivals of the ancient Maya calendar with its good and bad days, its propitious times for planting and harvesting. The three segments of the religion and world view are not segregated, but function in the same context and interpenetrate in ritual observances. Since the 20th century, some Protestant conversions have been made in Indian communities, and the community of Protestant believers tends to form a subcommunity within the municipal unit (J. Nash, 1960). Spiritualism has not had wide appeal among Indians, and is used only as part of the curing ceremonies. There is an elaborate native herbal phar-

FiG. 7—DUGOUT CANOE W I T H BUILT-UP SIDES, LAKE ATITLAN. (Photographed by Matilda Gray, 1935. Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University.)

macopoeia, and many curanderos who use cupping, bleeding, sucking, candle lighting, and bean-casting divination as means of cure. Witchcraft is widespread and curers often have the double aspect of healer and death dealer. Mythology is not extensive, though each community tends to have its origin myth and some tales about its patron saint. Proverbs, jokes, pithy sayings, long narrative legends, and fiction are virtually absent. In describing, in this broad gauge, some of the cultural components of Indian life, I have attempted to get at some of the generalizations which cover the whole of the highlands. This is the typical or traditional culture; it exists as an organized entity rather than as an inventory, only in a local society, with a territory and a feeling of being a people. The ethnic unit in the highlands is virtually coterminous with a municipio. As elsewhere in the world, culture and language do not have coincidental boundaries. Suppose a trait list, somehow representative of the inventory of the typical culture of the highlands, were assembled, particular items traced for their distributional continuity, and clues to origin and development 37

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 8 — W O M E N AT MARKET, SANTIAGO ATITLAN, SOLOLA. (Foto Sport, Guatemala, in Osborne, 1945, fig. 4.)

sought. As example, the sweat bath is found in the northwest and midwest, but not among the Chorti in the southeast nor in the Verapaz; grinding on a table occurs in the northwest (but not among the Ixilspeaking Indians) and in the Verapaz but not in the midwest, and occurs again among the Chorti. The luk (an L-shaped machete) is found in the northwest and among the Chorti only in the highlands. The backstrap loom is used everywhere except among the Chorti. The northwest and the Chorti orient milpa and altar to the four directions, the other regions do not. Communal rain planting rites are observed everywhere except in the midwest highlands. Different parts of the aboriginal calendar survive in different combinations in the highlands (M. Nash, 1957). The 260-day tzolkin of divinatory use is most widespread, but in parts of the midwest only the day names without the numerical interdigitation exist (Panajachel), in other parts of the midwest both the 20 day names and the 13 numbers exist. 38

In the northwest in some communities the month names exist, in others the five-day period plus the month names and the 20day counts exist. In short, trait distributions underline the microvariety of combinations of the traditional heritage in local societies, and underwrite the fact that an organized local society is the unit of ethnological analysis. It is apparently true, but needs further documentation, that a natural region like the valley of Quezaltenango is more culturally uniform than the broken shores of Atitlan, or that the lower altitude Chorti municipios (Wisdom, 1940) are more alike than those of Huehuetenango. It is not yet clear whether, for example, there is more cultural variation from one end of the Quichéspeaking area to the other than, say, between a Quiché- and a Mam-speaking community. Linguistic distributions shed some light on cultural positions and afford broad clues to the historical puzzles of the highlands (fig. 2). With the exception of Xinca and Lenca on the southeastern frontier of the highlands near the Rio de Esclavos, spoken only by a few hundred bilinguals of Ladino culture, no indigenous language except Mayan tongues is found in Guatemala. At the turn of the 20th century some remnants of the Pipil populations in the Motagua were reported, but time has eroded from the highlands all but Maya dialects and all but Maya-derived cultural patterns. Along the plateau from northwest to southeast the language groupings form a pattern which has apparently been of long standing. Chuh is spoken in the northwest and is conservatively classified as unrelated to other dialects in the area. South from the Chuh is the Kanhobalan group which includes Jacaltec, Kanhobal, and Solomec. Covering the western ends of the highlands are the Mamean languages of Mam, Aguacatec, and Ixil. In the midwest highlands is the Quichean group of Rabinal, Uspantec, Quiché, Cakchiquel, and Tzutuhil. In the

GUATEMALAN HIGHLANDS

northern part of the eastern highlands and down to the rolling hills are the Kekchian languages of Kekchi, Pokonchi, and Pokomam. Chorti, of the Cholan family in the eastern highlands, completes the roster of Mayan languages in highland Guatemala. Several historical inferences are fairly well substantiated from the language distributions. The Chorti have close affinities with the Chol and Chontal of Mexico and probably had much more contact with lowland Maya culture than did the other linguistic groups of the region. The first obvious split in Maya is between a highland group and a lowland group, and the Chorti are intermediate with respect to this division. An inspection of the cultural inventory of the Chorti, as compared to the midwest and Yucatec Maya, buttresses the linguistic indicators of close connection of the Chorti to the lowland complex. From a reconstructed proto-Mayan (McQuown, 1956) it appears that the highland core of Mayan languages has long been conservative, and is probably the homeland of Maya (Diebold, 1960). The Mamean group tends to retain the greatest number of proto-Mayan contrasts. From the evidence now in hand Quichean and Kekchian are more closely linked than are Mam and Quichean. Further subdivision and synthesis of the highland languages depend on grammatical and lexical studies of Chuh, Ixil, Tzutuhil, and Pokonchi. Current language distributions reflect locality and are formed in the context of the municipal level of cultural organization and its concomitant rules of endogamy. There is no cultural or social solidarity based on linguistic affiliation beyond the municipal level. Apparently this is a long-standing fact of the Guatemalan highlands, for the ancient chronicles tell of Quiché warring against Quiché or Mam against Mam. Indians of any given community do not speak of themselves as Quiché or Cakchiquel and do not identify other Quiché-speakers as closer or farther than other intelligible lan-

FiG. 9—WOMAN CARRYING WATER JAR, SANTIAGO ATITLAN. (Photographed by F. Webster McBryde, 1932. Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University.)

guages. Where Quiché, Cakchiquel, and Tzutuhil abut in the midwestern highlands they are mutually intelligible, although distinct and with some lexical items peculiar to each community. Mam and Quiché are not mutually intelligible, nor are the other Maya languages. Indians of today can tell where a person comes from by his style of speech—intonation pattern, speed of delivery, and other features. The striking fact of language in the highlands is that the 39

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 1 0 — W O M E N BATHING AND WASHING CLOTHES, SAN SEBASTIAN, RETALHULEU. (Photographed by Matilda Gray, 1935. Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University.)

present-day distributions are the same as in former times, as far back as the scanty documentary sources go (Miles, 1957, fig. 1, p. 737). With the exception of the penetrations of Ladinos in the eastern highlands, separating the continuous Pokom bloc and the spatial contraction of Indians throughout the highlands to make way for the Ladinos, a linguistic map of, say, 1575 is virtually the same as that of today (with of course the non-Maya Pipil absent and the 40

Xinca much reduced in territory and numbers). The distribution of culture in the highlands, a pattern of nearly infinite microvariation, seems to go back into preconquest times, but is historically understandable as a result of the series of events since the advent of the Spanish conquerors. The Spaniards, in overthrowing the native hierarchies, wrought four major changes in the Guatemalan highlands, and the pattern of traditional Indian culture was stabilized in much its present form during the colonial period of Guatemalan history. The first chief result of the conquest was the elimination of Indian principalities, and with it the pattern of warfare between them. Indian organization above the local level was replaced by the single Spanish hierarchy. Regional nobles and lords, together with rural Indians and commoners, were all reduced to the level of subordinate peasants under Spanish hegemony. Second, the content of the overarching political and religious institutions was utterly altered. The notions of market, citadel, and altar of 16thcentury Spain became the models for social and cultural organization. Settlement pattern of the reducción and agrupación was to bring an essentially dispersed rural population into manageable administrative units, on the one hand, and "under the sound of the bells" for the conversion of souls, on the other. The plaza was the civic center with civil and religious buildings in a grid-planned settlement. The encomienda and repartimiento were the instruments of economic exploitation, and the large-scale agricultural enterprises resting on a subsistence peasantry were the basis of economic organization. Finally, the self-administering "republica" of the Spanish town with its hierarchy of officers, its communal lands, its local expression of Catholicism, and its direct and hierarchical ties with larger political units was to be the substance of local political life. This is the content of formal "conquest culture" (Foster, 1960) which set

GUATEMALAN HlGHLANDS

FIG. 1 1 — W O M E N AT CHICHICASTENANGO

MARKET, EL QUICHE. (Foto Sport, Guatemala. )

FIG. 1 2 — W O M A N AND CHILD AT CHICHICASTENANGO MARKET, EL QUICHE. (Foto Sport, Guatemala.)

the stage of local adaptation of the several Indian heritages to Spanish colonial culture and society. Third, as a major reorientation, ethnic differences became associated with class lines, and Indian came to mean the style of life of the subordinated peasantry without citizen-like participation in the formal economic and political structures of the larger society. Social mobility now meant movement from one culture to another as well as the accumulation of wealth, power, and prestige. On the other side, Indian communities developed defensive postures against further encroachment on their lands

and personnel and the whole series of devices for insuring internal homogeneity and the democracy of poverty which characterizes Indian societies. Fourth, and in the wake of these other three restructurings of Indian society and culture, came an increase in the heterogeneity of Indian culture—a breakdown into many more Indian cultures, each a local entity. The heterogeneity grew on two interrelated fronts: (1) the differential pressure of Spanish control in the regions of Guatemala and hence differential acculturation or absorption of the Spanish complex; and (2) with the 41

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 1 3 — T Z U T U H I L WOMAN WEAVING, SAN LUCAS TOLIMAN, SOLoLA. (Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University.)

fracturing of Indian society into local ethnic units a pattern of communication and exchange between many different cultures was initiated. This large sketch accounts in general for the observed facts of the great microvariation in the highlands, for the organization into municipal units, for the rise of the corporate community, for the closed and defensive nature of Indian communities, and for much of the content of any local Indian culture. But it is possible, by looking more closely at the sequence of events in colonial times, to understand more fully the building 42

of cultural patterns in the highlands of Guatemala. The classic model for the analysis of the sequence of Maya cultures in the highlands of Guatemala is that proposed by LaFarge (1940). The first period is from 1524 to about 1600, the period of the conquest and shattering of Indian culture as a hierarchical and political system. What the conquest wrought is suggested by the paragraphs above. The next epoch in highland history is the "colonial Indian" period which lasts until about 1720. This is the period of the absorption of most of the Spanish heritage,

GUATEMALAN HIGHLANDS

FIG. 1 4 - T Z U T U H I L WOMEN AND CHILDREN WATCHING JAGUAR DANCE, SAN PEDRO DE LACUNA, SOLOLA. (From Paul, 1950b.)

and alteration of elements of the Maya heritages. But the process was not one of simple substitution. Within the new framework of the municipality, and the Catholic definition of the supernatural, local Indian communities had wide latitude for selection, and several simultaneous processes of change went on. (1) Reinterpretation: Maya deities became, in part, interpreted to coincide with Christian, as the widespread identifications of Moon, Virgin Mary, Our Grandmother, or the Devil, Judas, Maximón correspondences in the evil figure in many communities. (2) Transference: the giving of Indian meaning to European traits, like making distilled liquor a part of the sacred and ceremonial life, or using cocoa beans and coins together, or taking the

Spanish-introduced chicken and making of it a sacrificial animal. (3) Incorporation of old Indian traits into new structures, like the caponizing of chickens during certain phases of the moon, or the use of garlic in the entrance of a house to ward off evil. (4) But the largest process set off in acculturation was that of the stimulation of new traits and the incorporation of new traits into new complexes and structures, with meaning and function, which had not existed earlier in either Indian or European culture: the cofradía system as it developed in Indian communities, the efflorescence of compadrazago, the adaptation of the municipal organization to age-grading and prestige allocation, the development of vacant-town centers, or curing complex and 43

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 15—MARKET SCENE, SANTIAGO ATITLAN, SOLOLA. (From Paul, 1950b.)

witchcraft notions. This colonial Indian culture was not, of course, uniform throughout the highlands, but Gage, traveling in 1603, saw many uniformities throughout the region. From about 1720 to 1800 a period of relaxation of Spanish control came in both the political and religious spheres. It is the period when the encomienda and repartimiento fell into disuse, when it became clear that mineral wealth was not to be found in Guatemala, when the European immigration slowed to a trickle, and when the Spanish colony fell to virtual subsistence levels. During this time the Indian communities were virtually free to work out their own cultural integration, and it is probably the time of major innovation of local cultural

44

elements and social structures. Already broken into small societies, local inventions in culture and social organization would tend to stay local, and Indian societies in the face of weakened Spanish hegemony would tend to differentiate more and more. This is apparently what in fact did take place. In the light of this broad historical process, the facts of whether Mercedarians (the order in the Cuchumatanes), Franciscans, Dominicans (to the midwest) or peaceful conquest (as in the Verapaz) played important roles in forming the content of Indian cultures, take on very minor and secondary significance. The constriction of Spanish control, although general, was in part uneven, so that the western and northwestern highlands

GUATEMALAN HIGHLANDS

were left freer from Spanish influence than were the lower sections of the eastern highlands. Guatemala dates her independence from 1821, and until that period the Indian was left alone in the highlands and the trends accentuated toward local differentiation and adjustment to an ecological niche within the competitive framework of local societies. Toward the middle and the end of the 19th century economic liberalism and rationality came to Guatemala as political movements, and with them a new tide of pressure and European involvements with Indian cultures. Ladinos began to spread throughout the highlands in appreciable numbers, culminating with the rise of the coffee-export economy around 1880. Government decree made all land alienable and freehold, and Indians became labor elements in the new plantations. It was the liberal tide which brought new acculturative pressures in the form of schools, labor export, spread of Ladinos, access to many more European-made communities, and the opening of tourist possibilities and road networks throughout the highlands. LaFarge calls the Indian cultures affected by the liberal reforms in the nation and the new coffee-plantation economy the "recent Indian." Later research has, on a typological basis, divided the Indians of the highlands into "traditional," "modified," and "Ladino-

ized." The base of this continuum is the corporate community, with a civil-religious hierarchy, distinct costume, Indian language, and other cultural elements like the sweat bath or the cacaste carrying frame. The communities of Panajachel, Santa Eulalia, or Todos Santos fall into this type (fig. 3). Modified Indian communities have lost their integral hierarchy and are bilingual; their men, but not women, have adopted Western-style clothing. San Luis Jilotepeque or Magdalena Milpas Altas are examples of this. Finally, the Ladinoized community tends to be a barrio or aldea of a Ladino organization. Language is a survival, everybody is in Ladino costume. The Indian barrios of Guazacapan and Chiquimulilla, or the surviving Indians of San Agustin Acasaguastlan are in this category ( R . N . Adams, 1956). But what the Indian population of the highlands as a whole exhibits is a remarkable tenacity of a series of local cultures derived from the interaction of distinct heritages, but in their present forms distinct from the strains that gave them birth. With the range of microvariation, the highlands of Guatemala present one of the world's ethnological laboratories for the study of cultural evolution and the exploration of social process.

REFERENCES Adams, R. N., 1956 Diebold, 1960 Foster, 1960 Gage, 1702 Gillin, 1951 Higbee, 1947 LaFarge, 1940, 1947 McBryde, 1947 McQuown, 1956

Miles, 1957 Nash, J., 1960 Nash, M., 1957, 1958b Paul, 1950b Redfield and Tax, 1952 Silvert and King, 1957 Tax, 1937, 1941, 1953 Whetten, 1961 Wisdom, 1940

45

4. The Maya of Northwestern Guatemala

CHARLES

T

HE HIGHLANDS of northwestem Guatemala, which are contained roughly within the boundaries of the Department of Huehuetenango, form a natural physical and cultural region often referred to as "Los Altos Cuchumatanes" and are set off in many ways from other Maya areas. This region of high rugged ridges and precipitous valleys is surrounded on all sides by relatively low country, sparsely inhabited by Ladinos, which isolates it from the other highland Indian areas of Guatemala and Mexico. To the north the Cuchumatan highlands descend almost abruptly into the thinly populated tropical lowlands of the Usumacinta Valley; to the east lies the Ixcan Valley; to the west the land dips along the Mexican frontier, then rises again into the Chiapas highlands; to the south the Selegua River separates the Cuchumatan highlands from those of the Department of San Marcos, which is not considered in the present article.1 1 I am deeply indebted to the late Oliver LaFarge for comments on the original draft of this article.

46

WAGLEY

Within the Cuchumatan highlands, the native peoples speak several closely related languages of the Mayan stock: Mam, Kanhobalán (including Jacalteca, Solomec, and Kanhobal proper), and Chuh. Mam is the most widespread of these languages. It is spoken throughout the southern part of the Cuchumatan highlands, in such municipios as San Juan Atitan, Santiago Chimaltenango, Todos Santos, San Martin Cuchumatanes, Colotenango, San Pedro Necta, San Ildefonso Ixtahuacan, San Rafael Petzal, and Chinatla, and it extends south into the Department of San Marcos. Kanhobalán is spoken in the central part of the Cuchumatan highlands: in San Juan Ixcoy, San Pedro Saloma, Santa Eulalia, San Miguel Acatan, San Rafael Independencia, San Marcos Huehuetenango, and San Andres Huehuetenango. Chuh is spoken in the northernmost municipios of the Cuchumatan highlands: San Benito Nenton, San Mateo Ixtatan, and San Sebastian Coatan. Jacalteca, often classified as a Kanhobalán language, is spoken along the western slopes of the Cuchumatan highlands and in the rel-

FIG. 1—NORTHWESTERN HIGHLANDS O F GUATEMALA. (From Wagley, 1941.

47

ETHNOLOGY

atively low-lying valley along the Mexican frontier, in such municipios as Petatan, San Antonio Huista, Jacaltenango, parts of San Marcos Huehuetenango, San Andres Huehuetenango, parts of Nenton, and San Jose Montenegro (in Mexico). Ixil-speaking peoples live to the east of the Cuchumatan highlands, beyond the Ixcan valley, and there is an "island" of Aguacateca-speaking peoples in the municipio of the same name, just west of the city of Huehuetenango. Despite its linguistic diversity, this area enjoys a high degree of cultural unity, owing to its geographic isolation and perhaps to preconquest political and social unity. GEOGRAPHY: PHYSICAL FEATURES

The Cuchumatan highlands coincide roughly with the Department of Huehuetenango, a state-like subdivision of the Republic of Guatemala. Most of the region lies approximately between 1500 and 3000 m. above sea level. Deep valleys drop abruptly below 1000 m., and high peaks and mountain passes rise well above 3000 m. The climate is characteristic of tropical highlands. Temperatures vary with the altitude rather than with the season. In the warm, protected valleys, the mercury rises to 88° or 90° F.; at high altitudes it falls below freezing. In the typical tierra fría of the Cuchumatan region (i.e., between 1500 and 3000 m.), temperatures range from 45° to 85° F., with 50°-60° F. as the mean. Of the two yearly seasons the dry, known locally as "summer," lasts from November through April; the rainy season, or "winter," includes the rest of the year. The vegetation varies with the altitude, ranging from lush tropical growth in the valleys to clumps of pine, fir, and hemlock on high mountain slopes. Centuries of cultivation have denuded the mountainsides of high vegetation, and the slopes either lie fallow or are planted with gardens. Erosion is a serious modern problem. The irregularity of the terrain makes travel difficult. Until recent times, motor roads 48

penetrated only a few miles into the Cuchumatan highlands, and all travel was by foot, horse, or mule over tortuous mountain trails that were all but impassable during July and August, at the height of the rainy season. POPULATION

The Department of Huehuetenango had 200,101 inhabitants in 1950. Of these, 73.5 per cent were classified as Indians and 26.5 per cent as Ladinos (i.e., non-Indians). Since only 12,960 people in the whole department were classed as urban dwellers, both Indians and Ladinos may be regarded as rural dwellers, although characteristically the Ladinos live in the small pueblos (village centers) of the municipios. Only 37.5 per cent of the Ladinos in Huehuetenango were classed as literate in 1950, and their standard of living was not appreciably higher than that of the Indians. The largest numbers of Ladinos live in the relatively lowlying municipios, such as Jacaltenango, San Antonio Huista, San Pedro Necta, and Cuilco. The core of the Cuchumatan highlands is overwhelmingly Indian in population. In San Miguel Acatan, for example, there were only 167 Ladinos in 1950 among 10,279 Indians. For the Mam group as a whole the Guatemala census gives 277,618 (three years of age and over). The breakdown is: Aguacateca 8,401, Chuh 10,771, Ixil 25,025, Jacalteca 13,491, Kanhobal 41,622, and Mam proper 178,308. Thus, in this northwestern region of Guatemala, the Indians have not been faced with a markedly superior culture, and until now they have remained vastly superior in numbers. Along with the isolation of the Cuchumatan highlands, these factors have allowed the people of the region to retain a greater share of their aboriginal heritage than any other group in the Maya area. ETHNOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS

Although references to the ethnology of the region appear in the publications of Karl

MAYA OF NORTHWESTERN GUATEMALA

Sapper, Seler (1901a,b), Stoll (1884), and Termer (1930), and in the excellent historical and descriptive survey by Recinos (1913), the first modern ethnographic research in the region was carried out by Oliver LaFarge and Douglas S. Byers (1931). Their research in Jacaltenango in 1927 is perhaps the first intensive study of a Guatemalan Indian community, although its aim was chiefly the surviving Maya calendar system and associated beliefs and ceremonials. LaFarge's study (1947) of Santa Eulalia in 1932 is focused on religious survivals, but it contains excellent data on material culture, social organization, mythology, and other aspects of the culture. The results of my researches in Santiago Chimaltenango in 1937 appeared in two monographs (Wagley, 1941,1949), both of which were translated into Spanish (1957). In 1937 and 1938 Raymond Stadelman (1940) carried out intensive studies of Indian maize agriculture in Todos Santos and extended his observations to 26 other communities in the Cuchumatan highlands. Bertha Button published her observations (1939) on All Saints' Day activities in Todos Santos. Here Maud Oakes lived in 1945 and 1947 and recorded her experiences in two volumes. The first (1951a), a popular account, contains considerable ethnographic data, but her later book (1951b), which attempts to provide a systematic description of the esoteric religion, is more useful to the ethnologist. Field research was carried out in Todos Santos by S. W. Miles in 1956, but most of her data are still unpublished. Over a period of 15 years (1938-53), Morris Siegel undertook field research in San Miguel Acatan on three occasions. His chief monograph is not yet published, but a series of important articles (Siegel, 1941a, 1941b, 1941c, 1942a, 1942b, 1943, 1954a, 1954b) treat the subject of culture change. In 1958, Francis Grollig, S.J., spent several short periods in San Miguel Acatan and presented the results of his inquiries as a

doctoral dissertation at Indiana University (Grollig, 1959). His data, although scattered and superficial, provide some information on recent socio-cultural change in the region. In 1953, Henri Lehmann of the Musée de I'Homme, Paris, and León A. Valladares, a social psychologist, carried out intensive field research in the Mam-speaking community of Colotenango. Valladares (1957) published a study which emphasizes the psychological aspects of life in Colotenango, but which also contains a wide range of data on other facets of the culture. The more detailed ethnographic materials collected by Lehmann in Colotenango still await publication. An article of theoretical importance concerning the region (and Maya ethnology in general) was contributed by LaFarge (1940). The studies on which this article is based cover the period from 1927 to 1958. During these 30 years, many important changes occurred in the Indian society and culture of the Cuchumatan highlands, as through the rest of Guatemala. This poses a problem as to what is meant by the descriptive present tense. In general, it seems that culture change was slow in the region until approximately 1945, when the Ubico dictatorship was overthrown and outside influences such as the missionary activities of the Maryknoll Fathers and work on the Pan-American Highway began to be felt. The best descriptions of Cuchumatan culture date roughly from a decade or so before 1945. It is this period, 1932-45, to which I shall refer chiefly in the description that follows, but I make use of more recent sources such as Oakes (1951a, 1951b), Valladares (1957), and Grollig (1959). Much of what I describe still holds true, but there have been important socio-cultural changes in the Cuchumatan highlands since 1945. These changes are the same which are being felt by Indian groups in other parts of Guatemala, but the Cuchumatan region remains relatively conservative owing to its 49

ETHNOLOGY

greater isolation, and such changes are felt less intensely than elsewhere. Some idea of the social changes occurring in the region is given by Siegel (1954a), Grollig (1959), and Wagley (1957, pp. xv-xxvii). SUBSISTENCE

The great majority of Indians in the Cuchumatan region are farmers. There are few house industries in the region, as compared with the midwestern highlands of Guatemala. Woolen jackets are woven and cut in Saloma, San Miguel Acatan, San Mateo Ixtatan, and Santa Eulalia; some pottery is made in San Miguel Acatan; and secondgrade blankets are woven in Saloma; but most Indian-made craft products and manufactured items come from the outside. There are few full-time traders and artisans in the area. The differences in altitude, however, permit considerable variations in crops; plants from tropical and temperate zones are grown within a few miles of each other. This variety of agricultural products makes for interdependence and for lively interchange at the weekly markets maintained by most villages. Exchange is usually in monetary terms and money does change hands, but barter is often practiced (in Santiago Chimaltenango in 1937 two oranges or three onions were traded for one ear of corn). As elsewhere in the Maya area, the principal crop and staple food of the region is maize. Some communities, such as Santiago Chimaltenango, may be regarded as specialists in maize production. They raise only enough beans, chilacoyotes (squash), and peppers for their own consumption, and depend on the sale of surplus maize (and income from labor) to secure other commodities by trade. Other communities, such as Santa Eulalia, Todos Santos, and San Juan Atitan, although producing maize, export highland crops: potatoes, apples, wheat, and peaches. Others, closer to the lowlands (such as San Pedro Necta, Jacaltenango, Nenton, and Colotenango), spe50

cialize in onions, coffee, bananas, tomatoes, oranges, peanuts, cacao, and the like. In the Chuh-speaking community of San Mateo Ixtatan, there are communally-owned salt deposits (Termer, 1957, p. 70). Maize production, however, is the predominant activity in the Cuchumatan highlands. Maize is planted on slopes which often rise almost at a 45-degree angle. It is planted at altitudes varying from 2,750 m. above sea level to low valleys only 1200 m. above sea level. Stadelman (1940, p. 112) found at least 166 varieties of maize cultivated in the region, but in general there are two types of cornfields, the "winter" and "summer" milpas, each of which demands its special type of seed. The summer milpas are planted high, usually above 2000 m., whereas the winter milpas are planted on the lower slopes and in the valleys. The summer fields grow more slowly and yield less. The clearing of the fields for both types of gardens is done in February and March. The summer fields are planted first, in March and early April, and the winter fields about a month later. From May through November, there is the steady round of weeding and cleaning the cornfields; four weedings seem usual for each field. The summer milpas begin to be harvested late in December, the winter milpas in late January. As may be seen from Stadelman's report (1940), this yearly cycle of maize production varies from place to place, but the approximate dates given above are representative. The cultivation is done almost entirely with hand implements: hoe, axe, bushknife or machete, and steel-pointed digging stick. The plow cannot be used on the steep slopes of most Cuchumatan communities, but Valladares (1957, p. 49) reports the use of a locally manufactured plow pulled by oxen which is used on less steeply inclined lands such as those at Colotenango. Stadelman (1940, p. 106) lists other communities where the plow is used in favorable loca-

FIG. 2—BOYS OF TODOS SANTOS. (Photo by Hans Namuth.)

ETHNOLOGY

tions. As a rule, each man cultivates his own fields, usually with the help of his sons, although exchange labor is reported (LaFarge, 1947, p. 38) and men with large fields use hired help (Wagley, 1941, pp. 74f.). Harvest takes the form of a cooperative work party. "As a general rule, lands are cultivated for two or more years, and then left fallow for four, five, and even seven years." (Stadelman, 1940, p. 119). Thus, each man must have several fields, some in cultivation and others fallow. The very high communities where sheep are raised, such as Santa Eulalia, Todos Santos, and San Juan Atitan, use manure as fertilizer by moving their sheep folds periodically and allowing the sheep to graze on fallow lands. This is the only form of fertilizer used traditionally in the region. Despite many centuries of continual cultivation, the soils, blessed with calcareous material, porous clays, and volcanic dust, are fertile. The maize yields vary greatly. Stadelman (1940, p. 117) gives an average of 100 lb. of shelled corn per cuerda (or 16.5 bushels an acre), but the range is from 8 or 10 lb. per cuerda (1.5 bushels an acre) on really poor land, to 200 lb. per cuerda (33 bushels an acre) on recently cleared forest land. The cultivation of maize, the sacred crop (Santo Maís), is not simply a mechanical process to the Indians of the Cuchumatan highlands. It also involves the help of supernatural agencies. A series of family rituals is required for the protection of the fields and the growth of maize. These rituals, which include prayers by the owner of the field and his wife, often require the burning of candles and incense (sometimes soaked in the blood of a sacrificed chicken). They are performed in the cornfields and at the church. In San Miguel and Santa Eulalia there are ceremonies before the family cross. Planting must take place on a favorable day of the Maya calendar. In several communities there are public ceremonies for rain in March and May (Valladares, 1957, pp. 52

179 ff.; Wagley, 1949, pp. 118 ff.). There are also supernatural taboos and proscriptions attached to maize cultivation. A wife may not touch her husband's seed corn before the planting, nor may the husband and wife have sexual relations before any of the rituals connected with maize. In Santa Eulalia it is reported that a flute is played in the fields in July when the ears of corn are ripening, so that "the holy corn grows happily" (LaFarge, 1947, p. 77). These supernatural aspects of maize agriculture are as important to the people as knowledge of the land and agricultural techniques. Other crops do not seem to be surrounded by religious observances. LaFarge's statement (1947, p. 78) would hold for the region as a whole: "The agricultural ritual which dominates the religion is primarily directed to corn." Other crops, such as potatoes, wheat, and sugar cane, however, have acquired local importance. Foods Maize is the staple food as well as the principal crop. It is eaten in the form of tortillas at nearly every meal of the year. Tortillas are usually eaten with bean paste, some chile, and some squash. Meat is consumed infrequently—perhaps once a week by prosperous Indian families, and on feast days. It consists largely of chicken, turkey, pork, and mutton, more rarely of beef. Indians drink coffee almost every day; it is sweetened with panela, a brown unrefined sugar. Posol, made by mixing a handful of nixtamal (a ball of boiled maize wrapped in leaves) with cold water, is the basic Indian lunch while working in the fields and it is taken by men on journeys. Atole is a thin gruel made with cornmeal and is generally served hot. It can also be made with wheat flour. Bebida, similar to atole but made with cacao as a flavoring, is drunk on various ceremonial occasions. Sweetened bread, usually baked by Ladino women, is also a ceremonial food. There are three meals a day. The early

MAYA OF NORTHWESTERN GUATEMALA

morning repast may be only tortillas left over from the previous night, sometimes accompanied by coffee. The midday meal is often taken in the fields and consists of tortillas with a little bean paste and chile. The principal meal comes in late evening, after the men have arrived from work, bathed, and rested. It may include some boiled leafy vegetables such as cabbage or herbs. Sometimes there may be roasted green corn, raw scallions, lowland fruits, or even some meat. Foods are classified as frío (difficult to digest) and caliente (easy to digest) (Valladares, 1957, p. 88). MATERIAL CULTURE

Dress and Ornaments Traditionally, each ethnic unit in the Cuchumatan region wore a distinctive costume, by which it was possible to tell the community to which men and women belonged. The cotton cloth for those garments was woven on hand looms with home-spun thread by the women of each community. Likewise, the heavy dark-brown woolen material for the men's tunics, characteristic of the Cuchumatan highlands, was woven by men with local wool on European-style foot looms in several communities (e.g., Santa Eulalia and Saloma). Imported cotton thread, however, is being used increasingly in hand weaving; machine-made textiles, such as those from Cantei and elsewhere, are replacing locally woven cloth; and even manufactured clothes are being worn instead of the traditional costume. Men have given up their folk dress faster than women; but as early as 1932, LaFarge reported (1947, p. 35) that the women of the highly conservative community of Santa Eulalia had stopped weaving and were wearing imported fabrics and manufactured clothing. Yet even as late as 1956 and 1957 (and certainly even today), weaving was a living craft, and a majority of people in many Cuchumatan communities continued to wear their traditional costumes (Valladares, 1957, p. 738; Wagley, 1941, p. 9). As a rule, the

FIG.

3—GIRL

WEAVING,

SAN

ANTONIO

AGUASCALIENTES, SACATEPEQUEZ.

right, Paul Sittler, Guatemala.)

(Copy-

traditional female dress consists of a sacklike blouse which may hang well below the waist; a skirt made of a rectangular cut of cloth sewed at both ends; a broad sash, sometimes 10 feet long, wound about the waist; and sometimes an undershirt. A bright-colored, thin strip of woven cloth is braided into the hair. Women wear only cotton clothes in spite of the cold and usually go barefoot. As ornaments, they wear strings of bright imported beads, sometimes a necklace made of old coins, and copper rings on their fingers. The basic costume of the male consists 53

ETHNOLOGY

of trousers held up by a narrow sash, a shirt, and the woolen tunic called capixaij in Mam. In many communities, men carry a large kerchief which serves as a muffler and often as a head covering. They customarily wear sandals, made in the past with thick leather soles and more recently with soles of used automobile tires. Hats were formerly woven locally of palm leaves, but nowadays they are usually purchased. A rain cape is made of strips of palm leaves. The traditional dress of the Cuchumatan communities is colorful, and varies from community to community in design, color, and cut. In Colotenango, for example, the women's skirt is dark blue with fine yellow and red stripes. Their blouse is white with yellow stripes and an elaborate embroidered red design. The narrow strip of cloth braided into their hair is bright red (Valladares, 1957, p. 74). The women of Santiago Chimaltenango wear a solid navy-blue skirt and a bright red blouse with a thin yellow stripe, tucked into the skirt. Around the waist goes a woven belt of elaborate design about 4 inches wide and from 6 to 10 feet long. A well-known example of the men's traditional costume is the so-called "Uncle Sam" suit of the men of Todos Santos: trousers of red and white striped cotton, and usually a blue coat. Over this is placed the characteristic woolen tunic, cut in the form of a pullover reaching almost to the knees. The men wear a large red kerchief wrapped about the head, and on top of this often a wide-brimmed straw hat. Other typical costumes are described by Oakes (1951b, pp. 38ff., 242ff.), Wagley (1941, p. 9), LaFarge (1947, pp. 34ff.), and Valladares (1957, pp. 73ff.). Houses and Furniture The typical Indian dwelling in the Cuchumatan region is a rectangular, one-room structure. The roof is either hipped with four pitched sides, or it is only gabled. There is usually a corredor, formed by an 54

overhanging eave, which is used as a porch for lounging and storage. The house has a floor of hard-packed earth, swept clean, and has one door but no windows. Houses vary according to the economic resources of the family, to the materials used, and to the type of construction. The walls may consist of upright poles, wattle-and-daub, or adobe bricks. The walls of the better wattle-anddaub and adobe homes are often coated with white lime. Roofs also vary: the majority of hipped roofs are of straw thatch, but many houses are roofed with ceramic tiles. LaFarge (1947, p. 31) mentions houses in San Mateo Ixtatan with "bark roofs and walls of heavy horizontal boards chinked with mud." Nearly all Cuchumatan houses have a sweat bath as an annex. This small separate structure (chuj in Mam, chu in Kanhobalán) is made of rock and adobe walls, with a flat roof of planks covered with adobe, and it is protected from the heavy rains by a free-standing thatched roof. It is entered through a small door, just large enough to crawl through, which may be closed with a straw mat. Inside there is a low wooden bench. Steam is produced by throwing water over hot stones. In a ceramic pot near the fireplace water may be heated for washing after the sweat bath. Some sweat baths are large enough for two people; but LaFarge (1947, p. 31) gives measurements for one which was "2.00 by 1.50 meters by 1.20 to the roof tree." The furniture within the family dwelling is sparse and simple. The one room serves as kitchen, living quarters, and bedroom for a man, his wife, and their unmarried children. The kitchen is one corner of the room. The fireplace, usually on the floor, consists of three stones over which is placed the flat circular ceramic griddle to cook tortillas (comal in Spanish, xe'o'n in Mam). A waisthigh wooden platform may hold the metate stone over which the housewife spends much of her time grinding maize. Sometimes a higher platform or shelf stores food.

MAYA OF NORTHWESTERN GUATEMALA

Various gourd and ceramic utensils of various shapes are hung along the walls (cf. Valladares, 1957, pp. 68ff.). Near the fireplace, which also serves to give warmth on cold rainy days, there are often low wooden benches for men and guests; people also sit on the floor on straw mats. The family sleeps on a low, wide wooden platform (or on floor mats) covered with woolen blankets made in Saloma or Momostenango and purchased from Indian traders. Older boys sometimes sleep outside on the corredor or use the sweat bath as a dormitory. Clothes and miscellaneous belongings are hung along the walls, perhaps on hooks made of forked sticks, or stored in a box or trunk set on legs. Maize is often kept in the house, either in a bin in one corner of the room or hanging from the rafters. The house is lighted by the fireplace, sometimes by burning ocote (splinters of resinous pine), or nowadays by a kerosene lamp. Agricultural implements are stored under the corredor eave, where the housewife also stacks firewood she has brought in from the mountainside. SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

Local Territorial Units The largest effective social unit of Indian society in the Cuchumatan highlands, as in most of Guatemala, is the municipio, a county-like administrative unit recognized by the Guatemalan national government. The Indians of each municipio regard themselves as a separate people, distinct even from those who speak the same language. Each municipio has its own religious and political organization, its patron saint, its distinctive costume; formerly, the ownership of land was vested ultimately in the municipio community. Each municipio is endogamous; to marry someone from the outside is to marry a foreigner, and it is remembered for a generation or more that the descendants are not "of the group" on both sides of the family. The Indian municipio un-

doubtedly has considerable time depth and might be a continuation of the basic societal unit of preconquest society. The present municipal divisions of the Cuchumatan region do not correspond exactly to the same number of distinct Indian societal units as described above. This is due to the reformation of municipio units by the national government; some municipios have been split and others have been fused. For example, Quetzal and Barrillas were separated from Santa Eulalia (LaFarge, 1947, pp. 18, 131f.), and San Rafael Petzal was formed out of two aldeas (subdivisions) of Colotenango. For a period of over 10 years, Santiago Chimaltenango was fused with San Pedro Necta (Wagley, 1941, 1949). However, when such reformations of municipios occur, they do not modify the attitudes of the Indians or their social organization. During the period when they were a mere political appendage of San Pedro Necta, the people of Santiago Chimaltenango stubbornly retained their separate Indian organization, their endogamy, and their identity. Despite administrative separation from their parent villages, Miles (1952, p. 273n.) reports that the Indians of the newly created municipios did not establish "local religious organizations but maintained a ceremonial dependence on the parent municipio. . . ." Settlement

Patterns

Each municipio has a pueblo, a village that carries the same name and is the people's administrative and religious center. Typically, the pueblo in the Cuchumatan highlands is an "empty village" along the lines set forth by Tax (1937). It contains little more than a townhall (juzgado), a church, a prison, a school, a few shops, and the houses of a few Ladinos and Indians. The bulk of the Indian population live on farms and in small population aggregates (aldeas or even smaller caseríos) scattered over the municipio area. Colotenango is typical: the pueblo contained only 300 peo55

ETHNOLOGY

ple in 1950 (100 of whom were Ladinos) out of a total municipio population of 3,072 (Valladares, 1957, p. 27). San Miguel Acatan shows a greater pueblo concentration: 1,244 people in the pueblo-village out of a total of 10,395 in the entire municipio (Grollig, 1959, p. 23). An atypical situation prevails at Santiago Chimaltenango, where over 900 people occupy the pueblo center and slightly more than 600 live in the rural zone (Wagley, 1941, p. 9). Jacaltenango, named niman konop (Big Village) in the native language, is another exception to the rule of "empty villages" (LaFarge and Byers, 1931, p. 26). These probably represent successful attempts of the Spanish colonial administration, which failed elsewhere in the Cuchumatan region, to concentrate people in villages and towns. Even "empty" pueblo-villages have a plaza faced by the municipal buildings and by the church, with the homes of Ladinos and Indians radiating from it. The plaza, or a space nearby, is used for the weekly market attended by people from the rural zone and even from other municipios; and on Sunday, if it is not a market day, many people come to pray in the church. Indian officials must live in the pueblo center for part of their time of public service. Administrative, judicial, and economic activities bring people constantly to the pueblo. At least in Santiago Chimaltenango (Wagley, 1949, p. 10) and in Todos Santos (Oakes, 1951b, p. 239), the pueblo itself is divided into cantones: four in Santiago Chimaltenango and eight in Todos Santos. Although elsewhere in Guatemala the cantón is regarded as a territorial subdivision of the municipio, here at least it is a barriolike division of the pueblo. Oakes does not discuss the functions of the cantón in Todos Santos; in Santiago Chimaltenango, these functions are few. There are no cantón leaders, nor is there any esprit de corps among its inhabitants. The cantón serves only to organize the two festivals of Santa Cruz and Corpus Christi, and as a unit for 56

such practical purposes as census, tax collection, and communal labor. The administrative subdivisions of the rural zones are called aldeas (hamlets) and caseríos (even smaller aggregates of houses). The rural area of Colotenango is divided into eight aldeas (Valladares, 1957, pp. 36f.), that of Todos Santos into seven aldeas (Oakes, 1951b, p. 34), and that of Santiago Chimaltenango into two, one of which was small enough to be termed a caserío (Wagley, 1949, p. 11). There is little evidence in the literature as to the territorial boundaries of the aldeas in a municipio; at least in Santiago Chimaltenango people are vague as to their boundaries. Aldeas, however, have social importance. Each of them contains officials responsible for its administration and subject to the officials in the pueblo (see "Political and Religious Hierarchy," below). People are quite conscious of living in and belonging to a particular aldea; nowadays, there may be a school or a chapel there. It must not be thought, however, that these aldeas are nucleated settlements; they are sparse groupings of houses, normally scattered at regular intervals over the countryside. Kinship and Family Structure There seems to be general agreement among all writers that the basic social and economic unit in all Cuchumatan municipios is the patriarchal, patrilineal, patrilocal extended family which includes from two to four generations. It may consist of a patriarch, his sons, his patrilineal nephews, grandsons, and even patrilineal grandnephews. The unity of this group is based on continued control of the land by the oldest male, and sometimes on cooperative exploitation of that land. Sometimes the patriarch even controls the proceeds of labor of the younger males. The position of the family head also hinges on his responsibility to perform ritual for the entire group. Ideally, each nuclear family in the group occupies a separate household; these households,

MAYA O F NORTHWESTERN GUATEMALA

FIG. 4—INDIAN FAMILY AT HOME, CUCHUMATANES. (Copyright, Paul Sittler, Guatemala. )

however, are grouped close together, since they are often provided by the family head and built on lands ceded by him. On the other hand, Siegel (1942b, p. 56) reports multifamily households at San Miguel Acatan: "Parents and children and the families of married children frequently lodge under the same roof, while other households contain siblings, each with a wife and children." Similar multifamily households may be found among the less fortunate people in other communities. These patrilineal extended families have religious validation. In Santa Eulalia, in Jacaltenango, and possibly in San Miguel Acatan, "the Cross of our Fathers {Koman hu--s) more than any individual is the center of the family group" (LaFarge, 1947, p. 24). This family cross is "planted" in the house of the family head and it is the central object on the household altar; the family head prays to this cross for his entire group, and younger members come and pray to it. The family cross will continue to be respected even after the patrilineal extended family

has broken up, and sometimes it will be preserved under a small roof after the ancestral house has been abandoned. As the patrilineage divides, however, subordinate groups make their own crosses and these tend to become family crosses. LaFarge (1947, pp. 114ff.) provides a good description of the ceremonial activities attached to the establishment of these crosses. In Colotenango, the patrilineal extended family is given unity by the concept of the "Saintly Wells" belonging to each group. Each family has one or several wells whose supernatural owner protects the life of the family members. When a woman marries, a stone must be transferred from her family well to that of her husband's family. Likewise, her children must be introduced to her husband's family well. A family well is a place of prayer and becomes a supernatural power to which an individual may turn. When a man elopes with a woman without proper marriage ceremonies, her children will belong to her father's well (Valladares, 1957, pp. 203ff.). 57

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In Santiago Chimaltenango and in the Chuh-speaking region of San Mateo Ixtatan, the umbilical cord and the afterbirth are buried in the sweat bath (Termer, 1930, p. 108; Wagley, 1949, p. 23). This act ties the individual to the sweat bath and to the family; "even after a person is adult, he should return to the same sweat bath from time to time to burn a candle and to pray" (Wagley, 1949, p. 23). There is no doubt as to the strength of the patrilineal extended family in the region. There is less agreement among students of the area as to the wider kinship relations. Most observers state that Spanish kinship terms are used, yet there are indications that aboriginal concepts survive. I have indicated (1949, pp. 13f.) that father's brothers and mother's brothers are called by the same term as siblings. LaFarge (1947, p. 25) states that there is little recognition of kin beyond the limited patrilineal group. Although Spanish kinship terminology is widely used, more careful research on kinship might reveal the persistence of aboriginal patterns and relationships. GroUig (1959, pp. 73f.) gives a list of kinship terms for San Miguel Acatan which seem to add up to an Eskimo-type system, but he himself states that "this may be no more than a mirroring of the Spanish terms incorporated into the questionnaire." As in other Latin American communities, the institution of compadrazgo extends strong kinlike ties beyond the family and kinship group. Since baptism is the only sacrament in which the majority of Indians participate, the institution is limited to baptismal compadres and comadres. As a rule, non-kinsmen are invited to serve as godparents to the child; likewise, they should be members of the community, that is to say, neither Ladinos nor foreign Indians. The godparents are expected to provide clothes for the child and pay the Catholic priest at baptism, and even to adopt the child should its parents die (Wagley, 1949, pp. 18f.; Valladares, 1957, p. 94). In Colotenango, 58

when the godchild is about one and a half or two years old, he presents a turkey to his godparents (Valladares, 1957, p. 94). The relationship between comadres and compadres is close, intimate, but respectful, and involves mutual support. Sex relations between comadre and compadre are considered incestuous, even if both are widowed. At least in Colotenango and Santiago Chimaltenango, the children of people who stand in this relationship may not marry (Wagley, 1949, p. 47; Valladares, 1957, p. 94). It is quite certain that a kinship unit wider than the limited patrilineal extended family persists in the Cuchumatan region. In Santiago Chimaltenango there are large kinship groups which might be called patrilineages and which include from 6 to 22 households. These groups carry the same surname, which is Spanish with a Mam translation (e.g., "Aguilar" is "Liks" in Mam). Marriage is prohibited between those who have the same surname, as well as between those who have one parent by that name. The pueblo of Chimaltenango with its rural area contains but 17 such patrilineages, and their surnames are universally known (Wagley, 1949, pp. 12ff.). The existence of a larger kinship unit is indicated by the attachment to the family cross (in Santa Eulalia, San Miguel, and elsewhere) and to the family well (in Colotenango), and by other signs indicating that kinship is recognized beyond exact genealogical memory. Valladares (1957, p. 204) speaks of the "four wells of the Peréz clan." Earlier, Termer (1930, pp. 377f.) reports an extended patrilineage from the Chuh region which he calls "the cell of the ancient clan (chinamit)." He gives a series of nicknames by which outsiders call people of certain communities, suggesting that these may be remnants of clan names, but he overlooks the fact that clan names are selfgiven and self-applied. There are no named clans in the Cuchumatan region such as those described by Villa Rojas (1947) and

MAYA OF NORTHWESTERN GUATEMALA

other authors for Chiapas, but it would seem that such groups did exist in the past. Political and Religious

Organization

As indicated above, each municipio has its separate political and religious organization which is related to, but somewhat apart from, the formal political organization of the Guatemalan state. During Ubico's dictatorship, each municipio had two salaried officials, an Intendente (intendant) and a Secretario (secretary). Both were Ladinos and were appointed by and responsible to the Jefe Político (governor) of the Department of Huehuetenango. The 1945 constitution replaced the intendant with an elected Alcalde Municipal (mayor) and a Síndico (legal representative); a series of Regidores (councilmen) also were elected by popular vote. In most Cuchumatan communities, those elected have been mainly Indians, although in some communities such as Colotenango (Valladares, 1957, p. 40), Ladinos have generally been able to elect one of their own kind as Alcalde. The Alcalde and his councilmen appoint municipal employees, such as a Secretario and a Tesorero (treasurer), as well as auxiliary officers (i.e., Alcalde Auxiliar and Regidores) for every aldea. The Alcalde Municipal was paid $30 a month in 1946 (Oakes, 1951b, p. 36), but the other officials serve ad honorem. These officials, however, are but a fraction of the civil and religious hierarchy serving the Indian community. A pattern of municipal government, basically colonial Spanish in form but preserving many aboriginal elements, persists unrecognized by the national government. The number of officers, the titles they carry, and the functions they perform vary somewhat from community to community, but the general pattern is the same. Everywhere, the functions of these officers are a fusion of religious and civil duties to the community. Under new influences in Guatemalan national life, such as party politics and formal Catholicism,

these traditional Indian organizations seem to have disintegrated to some extent in recent years, but they persist in the Cuchumatan region as a powerful force of local unity. The political and religious systems of the Cuchumatan municipios are far too complex to be described in any detail. That of Todos Santos, which was depicted by Maude Oakes just after the 1945 governmental reform, will serve as a "model" to be sketched in its barest outline. In Todos Santos (Oakes, 1951b, pp. 35f., 53ff.), the following officials were recognized by the national government: Alcalde Municipal, Secretario, Síndico, Tesorero, 4 Regidores, Comisario de la Policía, 6 Policías and 22 Auxiliares (evidently Alcaldes Auxiliares of outlying aldeas), and 30 Mayores (aides to the Alcaldes Auxiliares). The Secretario and Tesorero were Ladinos; all others were Indians. The functions of these officials were at once administrative, judicial, and lawenforcing. Yet in Todos Santos there was a larger number of officials, of greater importance to the Indian community, who were not recognized by the Guatemalan government. In order of importance they were as follows. PRINCIPALES. Six old men who had served

at one time as Alcalde Municipal and in other important capacities. One of them, an exception to the rule of being an ex-Alcalde, is the Chiman Nam (or Chiman del Pueblo), the shaman-priest of the community. He is also called El Rey (literally, "The King"), and he has the final word on all public ritual, knowledge of the Maya calendar, and divination on public matters. His office is said to be hereditary, the knowledge being passed from father to son. The Principales as a group are the ultimate authority on all things civil and religious involving the community. They have important ritual obligations and they supervise the ritual performed by other officials. They nominate all other officials, and when one of their members dies they elect a new colleague. 59

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PRAYERMAKERS (REZADORES). There is an Alcalde Rezador and 12 Rezadores, numbered in hierarchical order from 1 to 12. These officials serve for one year and are installed annually, beginning their term of office on January 1st at dawn. Their function is to perform ritual (hacer costumbre) for the people, the crops, and the welfare of the community. The retiring Rezadores, along with the Principales, select the incoming officials each year. CHURCH OFFICIALS. In 1945 there were 40 officials attached to the church in Todos Santos: 2 Fiscales (caretakers), 6 Mayores (clerks), and 30 Escuelix (boys assigned to such duties as cleaning the church). In addition, there was an official drummer and a flutist for church processions and ceremonies. In other Cuchumatan communities, the religious and civil hierarchy varies somewhat from that of Todos Santos. Santiago Chimaltenango, for example, had four boys assigned to the civil side of the government and called Alguaciles (guards), who cleaned the town hall (Wagley, 1949, pp. 81ff.), as well as four Mayordomos on the religious side of the hierarchy who cared for the saints (Wagley, 1949, pp. 82f.). Santiago Chimaltenango did not have Rezadores; instead, there were 10 Regidores (councilmen) who acted as advisors to the Alcalde while also fulfilling the religious obligations of public ritual. Colotenango, to cite another example, has two Alcaldes de Costumbre (also called Alcaldes de Flor) in addition to the officials recognized by the national government. These two men are in charge of ritual. Colotenango also has a series of Cofrades who are responsible for the festival and prayers to a particular saint (Cofrade de San Juan, for example). and for the celebration of that saint's festival (Valladares, 1957, pp. 39ff.). LaFarge (1947, pp. 18ff.) describes in some detail the political and religious systems of Santa Eulalia; Siegel (1941a, pp. 67ff.) briefly describes these systems for San Miguel Aca-

60

tan. The situation in both municipios is similar to that of Todos Santos. ECONOMY

Land Tenure Since the Indian communities of the Cuchumatan region are overwhelmingly agrarian, land is by far the most important form of property. During the late 19th century, land seems to have been held in common by the various municipios and allotted to each family in accordance with its manpower and needs (Wagley, 1941, p. 61; Stadelman, 1940, pp. 102ff.). Several communities still guard their municipal land titles almost as sacred objects (Wagley, 1941, p. 62; Siegel, 1941a, p. 68), although they were voided long ago in favor of individual titles. As late as 1937 many communities continued to hold a large proportion of their land in common ejido, while elsewhere the common lands were limited to a small area of high, nonarable land (Stadelman, 1940, p. 102). The process of individualization of the landholdings noted in 1937 has evidently acquired momentum. As of about 1937, most agricultural land was already held privately by the heads of the patrilineal extended families as described above. Land was bought and sold among the members of the municipio and it changed hands and was divided by inheritance at the death of the family head. There was great pressure, however, to prevent sale of land to outsiders, namely Ladinos and foreign Indians. But even then a few Ladinos had bought land in several municipios, and the Indians of Todos Santos were renting, sharecropping, and even buying land in other municipios (Stadelman, 1940, p. 102). Although there are no recent studies of land tenure, there is no doubt that this process of individualization of landholdings and sale of lands to outsiders has continued since 1937. The sale and division of land by inheritance had already produced considerable disparity in the size of landholdings in 1937,

MAYA OF NORTHWESTERN GUATEMALA

and it is probable that this has been accentuated since. In 1937, out of 253 landholders in Santiago Chimaltenango, only 21 per cent controlled enough land to support their families entirely from agriculture (Wagley, 1941, p. 73). Stadleman (1940, p. 102) came to a similar conclusion for Todos Santos, stating that its inhabitants depended on maize from fields planted outside their own territory. As late as 1953, the average Indian farmer in Colotenango did not produce enough maize to support his own family (Valladares, 1957, pp. 60ff.). Specialized

Occupations

There are few occupations open to a man in the Cuchumatan region to overcome this deficit. The weaving of woolen goods for the traditional tunics has long been a specialty of Santa Eulalia and Saloma; hats are made in Jacaltenango and San Miguel Acatan; Colotenango was known for its workers in adobe brick and ceramic roof tile; and Santiago Chimaltenango had a few men who owned horses and mules and transported coffee from the lowland fincas to Huehuetenango. Each community had a few men who worked as carpenters. In recent times, San Miguel Acatan has developed a home industry by producing huipiles and other articles of clothing on foot-pedal sewing machines (Siegel, 1954a, p. 167). Since there is no specialization comparable to that of the midwestern Guatemalan highlands, there is no full-time trader class in the region. Indian farmers often take their produce to the periodic markets of other pueblos. As a rule, these markets offer products from local or nearby sources. Traders from San Marcos and from the midwestern highlands pass through the area offering blankets from Monstenango, cloth from Cantei and Totonicapan, and manufactured articles. Wage Labor and Labor Export The disparity in the size of landholdings, and the lack of specialized crafts and home

industry to provide income from nonagricultural activity, compel a large proportion of the Cuchumatan Indians to seek employment as wage laborers. Some of them find work locally with the few Indian landowners who have large milpas. The majority of those who must supplement their income, however, go to work on coffee plantations during the harvest period. There are several coffee fincas in the lowlands near the Mexican border, but these can absorb only a fraction of the labor supply. A much larger number of Indians sign up for work on coffee fincas situated near the Pacific coast of Guatemala. Formerly this involved an eight-day walk, but in recent years the men have been transported by bus and truck from the city of Huehuetenango. The period of the coffee harvest, when such Indian labor is sought, lasts from about mid-September until December: a time of relative inactivity in the local agricultural cycle. Most Cuchumatan pueblos have labor-recruiting agents, most of whom are Ladinos but some of whom are Indians (Oakes, 1951b, p. 37). Wage labor is now a necessary part of the local economy. RELIGION

Catholicism The Indians of the Cuchumatan region ostensibly practice Catholicism, to which they were converted in one way or another during the colonial period. Until recently, however, the Church exercised little control over their religion. Their concept and practice of Christianity was not orthodox. Of the sacraments, only baptism seemed important to them. They accepted belief in God, in Christ, in the Virgin Mary, and in a host of saints. Catholicism, with its procession, Masses, saints' days, ritual sponsors, religious brotherhoods, ritual and paraphernalia, had become an integral part of their lives. The Indian concept of Christian deities and of the saints differs widely from that of more orthodox Roman Catholics. To them, 61

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God is an omnipresent deity who is believed to have appeared on earth as a creator (LaFarge, 1947, p. 103). Christ is a culture hero and a secondary creator whose crucifixion took place in each local community (LaFarge, 1947, p. 103; Wagley, 1949, p. 52). The Virgin Mary and the various saints are local powers to each Indian group. The St. James (Santiago) of Santiago Chimaltenango is not considered the same supernatural figure as the St. James of Colotenango (Wagley, 1949, pp. 52f.). In recent years, Maryknoll missionaries have been working intensively in the Cuchumatan region. In most municipios they seem to have converted a group of Indians toward more orthodox Catholic practices. These converts are called Católicos de Misa ("Mass Catholics"). Protestant missionaries have made a handful of converts in several communities. Despite the efforts of these missionaries, however, the religion of the majority of the Indians in the area remains a fusion of folk Catholicism and aboriginal beliefs and practices. Traditionally, the Indians of the Cuchumatan region have made no distinction between aboriginal and Catholic beliefs and practices in their religious system. Siegel wrote (1941a, p. 76), "Every ceremony [and, he might have added, every concept] exhibits elements which, torn from the whole pattern, appear Catholic or Indian in nature, but the fact that these self-same elements, whatever their origin, stand as component parts of religious patterns without conflict or contradictions establishes the unity of the whole, in other words, of the system of religion, a product of acculturation." Catholicism is thus interwoven with a strong and persistent element of aboriginal belief, practice, and ritual. "Owners of the Mountains" As important as the saints, particularly in Mam-speaking communities, are the "Owners of the Mountains" (Dueños de Cerros 62

in Spanish, Tauwitz in Mam). These are primarily local deities, named after local peaks, and each has a mountainside shrine where prayers are offered. They are described anthropomorphically, sometimes as blond men wearing the costume of colonial Spaniards, and they are said to inhabit the mountains they "own." They are dangerous, for they attract the souls of the dead to work for them everlastingly inside the mountain. Even distant peaks have supernatural "owners." Both in Colotenango and in Santiago Chimaltenango, the "Owner of Paxil," situated in the distant municipio of Libertad, is the "Owner of Maize" (Valladares, 1957, pp. 196f.; Wagley, 1949, p. 59). The "owners" of the two volcanoes of Santa Maria (which controls smallpox) and Tajamulco are important supernaturais (Wagley, 1941, pp. 19, 59ff.; Valladares, 1957, p. 196). In Todos Santos, four "Owners of the Mountains" are identified with the four most important days of the Maya calendar (Oakes, 1951b, p. 71). Springs of water also have their supernatural owners (Oakes, 1951b, p. 75; Wagley, 1941, p. 63), and, as mentioned earlier, the "Owners of Wells" are family protectors in Colotenango. Cult of the Cross In the Kanhobalán-speaking area of the Cuchumatan highlands, the Cult of the Cross seems to overshadow the "Owners of the Mountains," although the latter are recognized as supernatural powers (LaFarge, 1947, p. 121). In many ways, the Cross is also a genius loci. The large cross (mimañ kuru or koman kuru) stands in front of the church; it ranges from 15 feet high in some pueblos to 70 feet high in Jacaltenango. In Santa Eulalia it is said to relate to an important day in the Maya calendar (ahau). In addition to the main cross at the church, there are also crosses of the "four directions," crosses at various places such as mountainsides and trail forks and, as mentioned earlier, family crosses.

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Minor Supernatural

Concepts

There are various minor supernatural beings, as well as numerous supernatural beliefs deriving both from aboriginal and from European sources. In Santiago Chimaltenango there is the belief in Chiapaneco, a supernatural who appears in anthropomorphic form to test the hospitality of men. He comes as a poor man begging for food and lodging, and he punishes those who refuse to help him (Wagley, 1949, pp. 62f.). Similar in concept are the "Watchers of Time" (ilum k'inal) reported for Santa Eulalia and Jacaltenango (LaFarge and Byers, 1931, pp. 116ff., 142f.; LaFarge, 1947, pp. 156ff.). These are men who "just go around the streets and look and in this way care for the welfare of the whole community" (LaFarge, 1947, p. 157). They are also known as Chiapas or Chiapanecos. There is the widespread belief in a companion spirit for each individual, called pican in Santa Eulalia (LaFarge, 1947, pp. 152f.) and T'kelel in Santiago Chimaltenango (Wagley, 1949, pp. 65f.). This "companion spirit" corresponds to the so-called nagual, but it is often fused with the European werewolf concept. As in other parts of Mesoamerica, there is the belief in the evil eye, in the whirlwind as a dangerous supernatural, and in sickness caused by susto (fright). Very important in this region is the concept of supernatural punishment or guilt called Il de Dios in Santiago Chimaltenango (Wagley, 1949, pp. 75ff.) and Ilya in Colotenango (Valladares, 1957, pp. 257ff.). A similar concept is mentioned for Santa Eulalia (LaFarge, 1947, pp. 107ff.). Illness, a difficult childbirth, the loss of a corn crop, almost any misfortune is attributed to such a "punishment" by the supernatural and to the "guilt" of the individual, which extends to his or her descendants. It is the task of the soothsayer {chiman in Mam) to discover the offended supernatural and in-

struct the guilty to beg for forgiveness through prayers and ritual. The Calendar The Maya calendar is central to the Indian religious system in the Cuchumatan region. The aboriginal calendar is remembered at least in part in most communities. In some communities (e.g., Santiago Chimaltenango) only the 20 day-names are known, but the haab cycle of 360 days plus a 5-day terminal period {uayeb) is recognized. In other communities, there are names for the uinal periods (Santa Eulalia, San Miguel Acatan, Todos Santos, etc.), and in a few communities the 13 numbers which intermesh with the 20-day uinal, producing the 260-day tzolkin period, are still remembered. LaFarge and Byers (1931) and LaFarge (1934) present detailed discussions of the calendric system as it works in Jacaltenango and Santa Eulalia. Miles (1952, pp. 273f.) provides detailed data on the calendric system as well as information as to where the different units of the calendar are in use. I have given (1949, pp. 69f.) data for Chimaltenango, as does Oakes (1951b, pp. 99f., 188f.) for Todos Santos. Wherever any part of the Maya calendar is remembered, it is used for divinatory purposes and for private and public ritual. Each day of the uinal is considered favorable or unfavorable for planting or hunting, for prayers, for the ill, and for almost every kind of human activity. Ceremonies, both public and private, must be carried out on favorable days. Ceremonies almost inevitably follow a 20-day cycle. Exceedingly important is the "year bearer's" ceremony at the end of the 360-day cycle of 18 uinal periods, during the extra 5 days (uayeb) before the new year begins (LaFarge and Byers, 1931, pp. 174ff.; LaFarge, 1947, pp. 123f.; Wagley, 1949, pp. 111f.; Oakes, 1951b, pp. 99f.). The five days of the uayeb are considered dangerous. The souls of children are generally thought to leave their bodies 63

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In Santa Eulalia and San Miguel Acatan they are thought to lodge in a nearby sacred cave (LaFarge, 1947, pp. 123f.; Siegel, 1941a, p. 73); in Santiago Chimaltenango they are thought to go away to God (Wagley, 1949, p. 111). During this period, even adults are in danger. In Santiago Chimaltenango and Todos Santos (Wagley, 1949, pp. 111f.; Oakes, 1951b, p. 192), the divinatory powers of shaman-priests are suspended and must be renewed on the eve of the new year. Religious Personnel Throughout the Cuchumatan region, native shaman-priests continue to direct ritual and to offer prayers for the laity. They are called chiman (literally, 'grandfather') in all Mam-speaking communities, ax-tcum ('one who casts lots') in Santa Eulalia (LaFarge, 1947, p. 150), and ahbe in Jacaltenango (LaFarge and Byers, 1931, p. 153). The powers of these shaman-priests derive from a combination of inborn qualities, supernatural revelations, and acquired knowledge. As a rule, a man becomes a shaman-priest as the result of a crisis in his life. He may be ill, or his son may be ill, for example. Divinations reveal that he will die unless he becomes a shaman-priest (Wagley, 1949, pp. 73f.; Oakes, 1951b, p. 91). Once he accepts his fate, he must study with an older shaman-priest. He must learn carefully the calendric system, the methods of divination, the prayers and rituals. Oakes, however, indicates (1951b, p. 91), that this profession is often hereditary. She also states that each shaman-priest has a pact with an" O w n e rof the Mountain" who gives the shaman-priest a "chain" to bind the agreement. Most shaman-priests are private practitioners acting as intermediaries between individuals and families and the supernaturais. It is their function to perform costumbre (literally 'custom' in Spanish, but 64

meaning prayer and ritual) for their clients in case of illness, marriage, or other occasions when the help of the supernatural must be sought. In most of these situations, the shaman-priest divines to learn the cause of the illness or bad luck, to prognosticate the success of a marriage or a trading trip. He then carries out the appropriate ritual— the sacrifice of a rooster or even a turkey (turkey eggs may be substituted). The blood of the animal is poured over pine incense which is burned in a ceramic censer, along with candles, at the large cross in the plaza, in the church, and at mountain shrines. The shaman-priest offers prayers for his clients at each of these places. The methods of divination vary. The most usual one revolves around the "table and beans" which, at least in the Mam-speaking region, are almost a symbol of the shamanpriest. The "table" is a small traylike structure bearing a wooden cross. The "beans" are red seeds from the pod of a local tree {Erythrina corallodendrum) mixed with a few fragments of quartz crystal. To divine by this method, the shaman-priest takes a handful of "beans" at random, asks his question, casts the seeds on his "table," and then divides them into pairs. If they divide equally, the answer is affirmative. An odd number indicates a negative answer (Wagley, 1949, pp. 71f.; Valladares, 1957, p. 217). The shaman-priest may also count the beans in the handful he has thrown, naming them by the days of the Maya calendar. If his count ends on a "good" day, the answer is affrmative; but if it ends on a "bad" day, the answer is negative (LaFarge, 1947, p. 182; Wagley, 1949, p. 72). Another method of divination frequently used involves the muscles in the shamanpriest's leg. He poses his question and then watches the calf of his leg. If it twitches, the answer is positive (Wagley, 1949, p. 72; Valladares, 1957, pp. 218f.). In most communities one of the shamanpriests holds the office of community priest

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and is responsible for divinations, prayers, and ritual for public well-being. This community shaman-priest is called Chiman del Pueblo in Santiago Chimaltenango (Wagley, 1949, p. 69) and Colotenango (Valladares, 1957, p. 212). Chiman Nam in Todos Santos (Oakes, 1951b, pp. 90f.), and Aqom be kalap in Santa Eulalia (LaFarge, 1947, pp. 160f.). In Colotenango the community shaman-priest has an assistant called the Chiman Fiador, and each cofradía (religious brotherhood) has its shaman-priest. These community shaman-priests are older men of great prestige. Sexual abstinence is expected of them during all ritual. This applies to all shaman-priests and covers most of the year for those who serve the community. The shaman-priests should not be confused with brujos (sorcerers) or curanderos (healers). There is a suspicion of witchcraft everywhere, and shaman-priests are often accused of performing evil magic. They all deny using their powers and knowledge for witchcraft, but a few "1bad" chiman are thought to make love magic and even sorcery (Valladares, 1957, pp. 219f.; LaFarge, 1947, pp. 153f.; Wagley, 1949, pp. 77f.). Curanderos (healers), also confused with the shaman-priest, make use of herbal remedies, charms, incantations, and mechanical processes such as bleeding and cupping which are probably of European origin. Likewise, concepts of European spiritualism have become fused with witchcraft, curing, and even with the traditional shaman-priest activities (Valladares, 1957, p. 218). ARTS AND CRAFTS

An important native art in the Cuchumatan region is the weaving of cloth by women for the distinctive costumes of each municipio, although such weaving is not as elaborate in design as in other areas of Guatemala. In some municipios, such as San Miguel Acatan, Ixtahuacan, Tutuapa, and Jacalte-

nango, women also make pottery, a relatively crude utility ware. Many men know how to weave wicker baskets, make twine bags, and plait hats. The practice of such crafts is limited, however, to a few men in certain villages. Jacaltenango and San Miguel Acatan are known for hats, Colotenango for twined bags. In all communities there are men who specialize in carpentry. Certain communities, such as Colotenango and Santiago Chimaltenango, are known for their marimba players, who play for hire both locally and in other pueblos. Except for these marimba companies, music is poorly developed. Some men play a simple six-stop flute made of cane or a double-reed wooden pipe. European-type snare drums are played during processions, to call attention to public announcements, and even for dancing. Gourd rattles are used during the pageant dances described below. RECREATION

There are few forms of recreation in normal day-to-day existence. Boys play with European-type tops and sling shots. People like to converse, sometimes late into the night. Young men serving as mayores in public office have time on their hands and engage in considerable joking and horseplay. Now and again, there is a housewarming party at which the owner serves coffee and sweet bread and hires a marimba company for dancing. Normally, daily life is filled with hard work for young and old alike. The monotony of life is broken periodically by festivals: Easter Week, saints' days, and the annual festival of the patron saint, which is the high point of the year in every community. Activity begins days before the actual fiesta. There is practice for the pageant dance company that will perform Los Toros ("The Bulls"), Venado ("Deer"), Conquista ("Conquest"), Cortez, or Moro ("Moors"), each of which spells out a story and involves the renting of costumes in Totonicapan. The fiesta of a patron saint

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lasts for several days. For example, that of Santa Eulalia de Barcelona, in the municipio of that name, lasts from February 8 through 12, that of Santiago (St. James) in Santiago Chimaltenango extends from July 23 through 25. On those days, the plaza market is crowded with people from the rural zones and from other municipios. In the homes, there are tamales, sweet bread, and other luxury foods. A cow or two and several pigs may be slaughtered to provide meat. Temporary estancas (bars) with marimba music are set up to sell food and drink (aguardiente) to the local people and to visitors. There are religious processions accompanied by the inevitable rockets; a Mass is said; and the visiting padre baptizes infants. In all Cuchumatan communities, the yearly cycle is marked by other festivals with recreative as well as ritual functions. Holy Week, All Saints' Day, All Souls' Day, ceremonies for the change of public officials just before Christmas, and various minor saints' days are celebrated. In Todos Santos, Indian horsemen compete in a "rooster pull" {corrida de gallos) during the festival to their patron saint, while in Santiago Chimaltenango this is done on Easter Saturday. There are comic dances such as the gracejo ('graceful' or Vitty'), which is performed in Santiago Chimaltenango and Santa Eulalia during Easter Week (Wagley, 1949, p. 117; LaFarge, 1947, p. 85). These fiestas, and even the weekly markets, break the monotonous existence of the Cuchumatan Indians. LIFE CYCLE

During the course of pregnancy, it is traditional for a woman and her husband to call a shaman-priest to carry out prayers for the successful delivery of the child and the health of the mother. A midwife is contracted to give advice during pregnancy and to assist at the delivery. During pregnancy a woman continues her normal activities.

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She is more likely to acquire the vice of clay-eating now than at any other time (Wagley, 1949, p. 21), no doubt as a result of dietary deficiencies. At birth the baby is bathed in warm water by the Indian midwife and the mother is cleansed in the sweat bath. In Santiago Chimaltenango the afterbirth is said to be buried in the sweat bath (Wagley, 1959, p. 23), and Termer reports that the umbilical cord is buried there in the Chuh-speaking area (Termer, 1957, p. 100). In Todos Santos and Colotenango the umbilical cord is said to be placed in the hollow of a tree or tied to a limb, "so that the boy, when he grows, will be able to climb trees" (Valladares, 1957, p. 93; Oakes, 1951b, p. 42). For 20 days (one uinal period) the mother should do little or no work. She takes sweat baths under the supervision of the midwife who attended her at birth. At the end of this period a costumbre (ritual) should be performed by a shaman-priest (LaFarge, 1947, p. 41; Wagley, 1941, p. 24; Oakes, 1951b, p. 42). Children are nursed for a year or more, but other foods such as atole are given to them very early. Infants are carried slung across the mother's back in a small blanket or shawl; their faces are often covered to protect them from the evil eye. In the house or on the open porch infants are allowed to crawl about on a blanket. They are sometimes swung in a circular hammock made of a piece of woolen cloth stretched over a hooplike frame. They are usually baptized during the first year, often at the festival of the patron saint, when the Catholic priest visits the pueblo. By the time they are three or four years old children are dressed in costumes which are miniatures of those worn by adults. The education of children begins early. Nowadays the Guatemalan school interrupts family education for a few years. By the time they are 10 or 12, however, most boys are helping their father in the field and

MAYA OF NORTHWESTERN GUATEMALA

girls are working alongside their mother. Childhood is short, and in adolescence males and females take on adult responsibilities. Marriage ideally takes place when a girl is between 12 and 16 years of age and when a boy is from 15 to 18 years old. A bride price is paid by the groom's family to the bride's father. The amount seems to vary considerably from place to place in the Cuchumatan region, from as little as 2-5 quetzales (one quetzal equals one dollar) in several communities, to as much as 50-100 quetzales, paid one third in cash and the balance in corn and animals, in Todos Santos (Oakes, 1951b, p. 43). The marriage is arranged by the fathers of the bride and groom. The prospective groom and his father, sometimes accompanied by a "gobetween" (parlamentero, literally 'speaker'), call on the girl's father to ask for her and to come to terms concerning the bride price and other details. Previously, the groom's father is supposed to have consulted a shaman-priest to cast lots as to the suitability of the marriage and the most appropriate day on which to approach the girl's father. If the marriage is acceptable to the girl's parents, the meeting often ends in a drinking bout. Generally, the groom comes to sleep in the bride's house on the following day, and continues to sleep there for 15 or 20 days. Then the newly married couple move to the house of the groom's parents, and in time a house is constructed for them near the parental dwelling. In Santa Eulalia the newly married couple must confess their sins to each other before the marriage is consummated (LaFarge, 1947, p. 43). In Colotenango, there is a feast of concierto, a series of ceremonies which formalize the union and which usually take place when the bride has become pregnant (Valladares, 1957, pp. 102f.). Otherwise, there do not seem to be any specific marriage ceremonies, and until recently, when the influence of the Maryknoll fathers began to be felt, few Indians had

gone through Catholic or civil marriages. Divorce is relatively frequent among newly married couples; it does not involve any litigation or ceremony. Children, however, stabilize a marriage. If a couple with children separate, the children remain with the father. Although a man may be married and established in his own home, he continues to live under the domination of his father, with whom he works in the field and on whom he depends for land. It is not uncommon for a man of 40 or 45, already a grandfather himself, to be dominated by an old patriarch. The sons and their families also depend on the old man for the family rituals. As a man grows older and his father either dies or becomes senile, he, in turn, assumes the patriarch's role. At death, the body is washed and dressed in the best clothes of the deceased; a woman often saves an especially fine huipil for her own burial. The body is stretched on a wooden bench, and candles are burned around it. In Santiago Chimaltenango the church bells toll three times to announce the death of an adult male, twice for a woman, and once for a child. At night there is a wake at which at least a locally made violin and a guitar are played, but wealthier families pay for a marimba company to play through the night. Coffee, chocolate, and aguardiente are consumed by the friends and relatives who come to express their sympathy and to sit through the night. The funeral is a simple procession from the home to the cemetery. The musicians accompany the mourners to the grave and sometimes play there for a while. Before the body is lowered into the grave, a professional Indian cantor recites Latin responses (Wagley, 1949, p. 48); sometimes coffee and sweet bread are served to the mourners near the grave. The family and close friends may sit for several hours near the body, which is encased in a crude wooden coffin. Just before dark, the coffin is fi-

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nally lowered into the grave and the mourners drift slowly back to their homes. Both Wagley (1949, p. 49) and LaFarge and Byers (1931, p. 89) noted that graves tend to be oriented roughly with the feet to the east.

REFERENCES Dutton, 1939 Grollig, 1959 LaFarge, 1927, 1930, 1940, 1947 and Byers, 1931 Miles, 1948, 1952 Oakes, 1951a, 1951b Recinos, 1913 Seler, 1901a, 1901b Siegel, 1941a, 1941b, 1941c, 1942a, 1942b, 1943, 1954a, 1954b Stadelman, 1940 Stoll, 1884, 1928 Tax, 1937, 1952b Termer, 1930, 1957 Valladares, 1957 Villa Rojas, 1947 Wagley, 1941, 1949, 1957

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There is a 20-day mourning period for relatives, at the end of which prayers must be offered for the deceased. Offerings of food are made to the dead on All Souls' Day.

5. The Maya of the Midwestern Highlands

SOL TAX and ROBERT HINSHAW

A

HIGH AND RUGGED PLATEAU runs t h e

length of Guatemala from northwest to southeast. On an east-west line Guatemala City is almost in the center of this highland plateau; to the west of it lie the western highlands. The central area of this region, here labeled the midwestern highlands, is shown in figure 1. This area includes three traditional linguistic divisions —Quiche, Cakchiquel, and Zutuhil—and includes 40 municipios that have been studied to some extent, of which 24 are Quiche, 11 Cakchiquel, 4 Zutuhil, and one (San Pablo) either Cakchiquel or Zutuhil. Small settlements of Uspantec- and Rabinalspeakers lie on the northern periphery of this area; they, as well as Quiche and Cakchiquel communities lying outside the midwestern highlands have received comparatively little ethnographic attention. GEOGRAPHY

The continental divide runs diagonally through the center of the region, ranging in altitude from 8000 to over 10,000 feet.

North of the divide the fall is gradual; south, the descent to the Pacific coast is rapid. The outstanding features of the physical geography are: 1. The string of volcanoes that breaks the descent to the Pacific coast. They afford barriers to passage from the highlands to the coast and strictly limit the number of trade routes. 2. Lake Atitlan, more important as a means of passage than as a barrier to communication. Cliffs and volcanoes begin their precipitous rise from the very edge of the water, and only at the mouths of rivers and at passages between volcanoes is there room for settlement near the water. The 14 towns of the lake all take advantage of such conditions. 3. The great irregularities of altitude due to the general formation, the presence of hills, and the numerous barrancas that intersect the surfaces of hills and plains alike. These are the real barriers to travel, even if they are, to a remarkable extent, overcome. The rugged character of the country (see vol. 1, Art. 2, fig. 20) as it influences the divisions of the people is most important in

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its effects on communication. The surface area of the midwestern highlands is about 2000 square miles, yet in travel distance it is closer to 8000. There are very few places (such as the valley route from Totonicapan to Quezaltenango) where more than a mile or two can be traversed without encountering changes of altitude—mountain obstructions or deep barrancas—which double or triple the distance to be traveled. POPULATION

The distribution of Indians speaking Quichean languages appears not to have altered significantly since the 16th-century conquest. The most recent census (1950) reported 537,434 Indians in the Quichean region (see Art. 3, fig. 2). This area encompasses all the departments of Totonicapan, Solola, and Chimaltenango; almost all of Sacatepequez; and sectors of El Quiche, Quezaltenango, Suchitepequez, and Baja Verapaz. Within the area designated midwestern highlands, Indians number 285,770 out of a total population of 324,350. In this central region, therefore, Indians comprise 90 per cent of the population, with municipio percentages ranging from as high as 99 per cent Indian (San Pedro La Laguna) to as low as 55 per cent (Quezaltenango, the second largest city in the republic.) HISTORY OF ETHNOGRAPHIC INVESTIGATION

Ethnographic study of the Lake Atitlan region commenced in the 1920's with Samuel Lothrop's research in the Zutuhil community of Santiago Atitlan. The study focused on the geography and economy of this municipio (1928); more recent study of Santiago Atitlan by E. Michael Mendelson has centered on religion and world view (1958, 1959, 1962). F. W. McBryde's research in the area began with a monograph on the economy of the Cakchiquel community of Solola (1934) and culminated in an extensive cultural geographical survey of southwestern Guatemala (1947). Sol Tax de70

voted the years 1935-41 to study of the lake communities in general (1946) and to the Cakchiquel community of Panajachel specifically (1950, 1953). Robert Hinshaw (1966) renewed study in Panajachel from 1963 to 1965; comparisons with Tax's earlier data together with a volume by Tax on Panajachel world view are in press. Juan de Dios Rosales assisted Tax in Panajachel and also conducted research in the Zutuhil community of San Pedro La Laguna (1949). Benjamin and Lois Paul initiated study in San Pedro in 1940 and have continued intermittently to the present time (1950a, 1950b, 1962,1963). Robert Redfield's studies of the Cakchiquel municipio of San Antonio Palapo and its Ladino aldea of Agua Escondida are significant for the specific attention devoted to Ladino-Indian relationships (1946a, 1946b). Santo Tomas Chichicastenango, the southernmost municipio in the department of El Quiche, has received perhaps more attention from ethnographers than any other single municipio in Guatemala. Ruth Bunzel's investigations in the early 1930's centered on religious aspects of the culture (1952), supplementing Sol Tax's study oriented toward economic and social organization (1947a). Schultze-Jena indiscriminately combined data gathered from Chichicastenango and Momostenango, another Quiche community in Totonicapan, on the assumption that Quiche culture was enough of a unit to permit use of data from both communities without distinguishing their sources (1933). Of the numerous other studies of selected aspects of Chichicastenango culture, the publications of Ricketson (1939) and of Rodas, Rodas, and Hawkins (1940) deserve particular mention. In contrast to the above research, most of which was conducted during the Ubico regime, Manning and June Nash studied the community of Cantei several years after the revolution of 1945. Cantei, located in Quezaltenango on the western periphery of the

MAYA OF MIDWESTERN HIGHLANDS

midwestern highlands, afforded particularly interesting study because of the presence of the largest cotton mill and textile factory in Guatemala. Although the factory was introduced in 1876, long before the revolution, the growth of trade unionism and political and religious factionalism in Cantei since the revolution has yielded insights into the dynamics of culture change not readily available from study of the more slowly changing highland communities (M. Nash, 1955, 1956, 1958a). On the eastern periphery of the midwestern highlands an additional post-1945 development was the publication by the Instituto Indigenista Nacional of short monographs on several of the Cakchiquel-speaking municipios in the departments of Chimaltenango, Sacatepequez, and Guatemala (1948a-e, 1949a, 1949b). There are no monographs for Quiche communities on the northern periphery of the midwestern highlands. The major sources of substantive data for the department of Totonicapan and Quiche communities in Alta Verapaz and Baja Verapaz are the microfilmed accounts of survey trips conducted by Tax (1947b) and Goubaud, Rosales, and Tax (1947) respectively. (Although outside the Quiche language area and the midwestern highlands, the research of Arden King in Coban [1952] and of Robert Ewald [1954] and Antonio Goubaud [1949] in the department of San Marcos warrant mention for lack of inclusion of these areas elsewhere in this volume. Similarly, mention should be made of Benson Saler's research in the municipio of El Palmar, in the Pacific piedmont of the Department of Quezaltenango. Although outside the midwestern highlands, the municipio was settled by immigrants from the municipio of Momostenango [1962a, 1962b, 1964, 1965a, 1965b].) SUBSISTENCE SYSTEMS AND FOOD PATTERNS

Although the milpa as home-garden agriculture is common to all municipios, each com-

munity devotes itself to some economic pursuit that, as income-producing activity, supersedes the milpa in importance. Yet, even in communities relying primarily upon nonagricultural occupations for income, life is attuned to the agricultural cycle, and milpa agriculture is the occupational ideal.1 Few indeed are the households without at least a small plot of milpa. Through centuries of hybridization, strains of white and yellow maize adapted to widely varying altitudes and climatic zones have been developed. No other crop is as widely distributed in the highlands or as indispensable in the diet. Less ritual is associated with maize agriculture in this region than in the northwestern highlands, but this difference is probably attributable more to an apparent greater secularization of midwestern highland culture in general than to any appreciable difference in the importance of milpa. This is not to say that communal milpa ritual is wholly lacking; planting ceremonies have been noted in at least Panajachel and San Jose Chacaya and probably have periods of efflorescence in other communities as well. The land differs widely in productivity, erosion having depleted large sectors around Momostenango, Santa Cruz, Quiche, and between Patzite and Totonicapan (McBryde, 1947, p. 15). Gonsequently, both within and among municipios one finds a differential reliance on milpa and agriculture in general and a supplementary development of manufacturing and commercial employment. In the department of Totonicapan, where the land is particularly low in productivity, only 30 per cent of the households manage to subsist on agriculture. It is in this department that one finds 1 That this attitude is subject to change is reflected in Manning Nash's survey (1958a, p. I l l ) of children's occupational aspirations in the factory community of Cantei. He found that the majority of youth interviewed desired neither farm nor factory careers, but rather special occupations such as artisans or merchants.

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the largest centers of pottery and blanket manufacture, lumbering and woodworking, and the development of construction skills and other services which cater to the growing Ladino population in the midwestern highlands. In adjoining Chichicastenango, by contrast, very few manufactured products are sold outside the municipio; maize, wheat, and potato agriculture not only supplies the needs of the municipio but provides surpluses sold in the manufacturing centers of Totonicapan. In spite of the range in subsistence base, food patterns remain highly uniform. Panajacheleños may grow strawberries (see vol. 6, Art. 3, fig. 6) and Maxeños (the common name for Chichicastenango Indians) may grow peaches and pears, but they can ill afford to consume in any quantity these luxury foods which bring good prices from Ladinos in the markets. Similarly, eggs, honey, and bread are afforded by many families only on ceremonial occasions. Regardless of the regional specializations, all produce goes to the markets, and with the earnings each household purchases substantially the same foods: principally corn and black beans; some potatoes, sweet cassava, squash, and tomatoes; chile, salt, onions, garlic, and a variety of native herbs and greens; perhaps fish or more likely beef; and panela (a low refined sugar) for their coffee. Many varieties of fruits are grown in western Guatemala which, together with chocolate, provide occasional treats. Maize is consumed fresh (elotes) and in the form of tamales, tortillas, and a variety of atoles. The dried corn usually requires softening by boiling in lime; this may be done during the night in preparation for grinding the next morning. Tamales and/or tortillas are prepared daily, and customarily those left over from the preceding evening constitute the basis of the early morning breakfast. Where coffee is not readily available, atole, a gruel of cornmeal and water, may take precedence as the principal bev72

erage and possibly constitute the midday meal. Meal schedules are flexible; in most households the evening meal is a family affair and the significant social occasion of the day. SETTLEMENT PATTERNS

The municipio is the distinctive and most significant cultural unit in the highlands, but it has certain fundamental differences in social setup: (1) in the distribution of inhabitants between town and surrounding country, and (2) in the relative numbers of Indians and of Ladinos. These two sets of differences, although not functionally related, combine in different ways to make several municipio types distinguishable. Every municipio has a pueblo, bearing the name of the municipio, which is the center of community life whether or not it has any permanent Indian residents. The term "vacant town" is commonly used to describe municipios where the latter situation exists. The following description of Chichicastenango, the largest municipio of this type, will serve to illustrate the influences of this kind of settlement pattern on community life (Tax, 1937, p. 430). The municipio of Chichicastenango has a population of some 25,000. Of the native Indians, all but a dozen or so families have homes on their farms which are distributed over the countryside surrounding the town. Here they live and work, or (if they are travelling merchants or day-laborers employed elsewhere) have their base. The scattered households consist of simple families or various kinds of extended families. Since, in the inheritance of land, there is a division among the sons, a family's closest neighbors are likely to be relatives; yet the contacts of families here in the country are infrequent and casual. In the town there are the church (or, rather, in this case two churches), the court-house, and the market-place. Many of the Indians own houses in the town as well as in the country, but during ordinary days these stand empty. Indians who are officials live in the town during

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their terms of office; the others come to town, if at all, on market-days (Sundays and Thursdays), when they use their town houses as headquarters, and for religious fiestas (especially the week in December when the day of the patron Santo Tomás is celebrated), when they live in their town houses or in those of friends. The individual oscillates between the town and his country home, and the rhythm of cultural activity—weekly in economics, yearly in religion, and over a lifetime in the political and religious organization—corresponds exactly to periodic movements of the people from country to town and back again. Thus produce is grown and harvested in the country and is taken to town to sell: other commodities are bought in town and taken to be consumed in the country. Or a child is born in the country; the father goes to town to register the birth; there also he asks the prospective godfather to baptize the child; the godfather comes to the child's home in the country on Saturday and performs a rite; the family goes to town on Sunday; the godfather comes to their town home to take the child to have it baptized; the family returns to the country at night. Or a man dies in the country, where a wake is held; the next day there is a funeral to the cemetery in town; the bereaved and their friends then go to the family's town house for the night, which they spend drinking. So it is with courtship and marriage; so also in the lives of political and religious officials; so in almost all phases of the culture. A geographic duality appears to be typical of the vacant-town municipios. A variation of this type occurs w h e n a considerable n u m b e r of Ladinos reside in the town owing to political, economic, or racial factors. In Totonicapan, the pueblo of the capital municipio of the department of the same name, Indians traditionally have not resided in town, b u t attracted by permanent employment in Ladino pottery, woodworking, and weaving industries, increasing numbers of Indians take u p residence there. In contrast to Chichicastenango and Totonicapan, many of the communities border-

FIG. 2—GUATEMALA HIGHLAND INDIAN WOMAN GARRYING GHILD. (Photographed by Matilda Gray, 1935. Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University. )

ing Lake Atitlan are "town-nucleus" municipios wherein most Indians are urban residents. Santiago Atitlan bears description as the largest example of the nucleated community (Tax, 1937, p . 431). All but a few hundred of the 7700 inhabitants of the municipio of Atitlán live in a large town of closely packed compounds of houses ranged along fairly regular streets. The people

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and to exchange gossip. The women rarely leave the town, and some spend their entire lives within its bounds. Twice a day, in the plaza, there is a market for two or three hours and here they come (no men buy or sell in the market) and sit in groups or in rows displaying their wares and, again, exchanging information. Time not spent at the lake shore or in the plaza is occupied with cooking and weaving at home, but since the people live in family compounds —which themselves are close together—there is no little social life at home as well. Naturally, most of the normal functions of life—individual and social—are confined to the town. The rhythm of life, unhampered by coincident movement in space, is at once quicker and less emphatic than in the vacant-town municipio. The round of days in the week loses most of its significance and what there is is not so uniform for all individuals. To be an ofíicial for a year affects one's time, but not his residence nor his whole mode of existence. The annual fiesta is just as important, but more attention is given the images in the church during the whole year, and the fiesta itself does not necessitate a bodily movement of all the people. There is no duality, and life is evened out.

FIG. 3 — W O M A N WASHING CLOTHES, SACAPULAS, EL QUICHE. (Copyright, Paul Sittler, Guatemala.) have their farms in the surrounding country (chiefly on the sides of the volcanoes) and the men leave home early in the morning when necessary, work in the fields all day, and return home at night to sleep. There are no houses in or near the fields, and the men bring their lunches. Many of the men are merchants, and may be gone several days of each week, but of course the homes to which they return are in the town. With the men usually away during the day, women constitute most of the visible population. There are certain designated watering and laundry places on the lake shore, and here they congregate—at regular hours—to do their work

74

O n e important difference b e t w e e n the vacant-town and nucleated communities is that in the former the municipio boundaries are all-important, whereas in the latter the town is the unifying feature and municipio boundaries are comparatively incidental. Since nucleated communities are confined to the vicinity of Lake Atitlan, one can assume the pattern is a result of geographical influences rather than a reflection of cultural and historical differences. T h e distribution of such communities cuts across linguistic divisions (e.g., Cakchiquel and Zutuhil), and in other respects the lake municipios seem to differ from one another as markedly as do neighboring municipios elsewhere in the midwestern highlands. W h e r e the population is dispersed across the countryside, households tend to cluster in valleys or w h e r e water is readily available. In some municipios, such as Momostenango and Totonicapan, some of the cantones (subdivisions of the municipios) have

MAYA OF MIDWESTERN HIGHLANDS

village centers. Throughout the region, however, each household is a distinct unit, socially and physically. Except in the most densely populated nucleated lake communities, homes are not commonly close together (unless an extended household is comprised of several homes) and are set apart from neighbors if at all by wall enclosures which serve to keep children and chickens in and prying eyes out. TECHNOLOGY

The basic milpa tools are the hoe (see vol. 6, Art. 3, fig. 8) and machete. The digging stick is also common, but because of the porous and hence rather easily worked volcanic soil of the midwestern highlands, the digging stick is not as important as it is in lowland regions. Unlike the technologies associated with crafts, which tend to remain local and distinctive in some respects, agricultural tools and knowledge are widely diffused. This is to say that production of any given plant involves a body of procedures and beliefs common to that plant. With milpa, for example, throughout the highlands trees and brush are cut away on new land during March and early April in preparation for burning and planting of milpa in May. On land used the year before (continuous use varies considerably, from two or three years to as many as 25), the soil is thoroughly hoed and the weeds and old cornstalks piled and burned. This frequently is the extent of fertilization, although in some sectors sheep are kept for their manure. After first May rains, planting commences; four to six maize kernels planted in 6-inch holes are interspersed with bean hills and—after the corn is up—perhaps with squash. The fields are cultivated two or three times with hoes by a group of men working together. The tall stalks are doubled over when the ears have ripened, both to protect the grain from birds and to prevent rotting. In December the men harvest, again working in groups, each with his shoulder bag and a harvesting

FIG. 4 — W O M A N WASHING CLOTHES, CUTZAN, SUCHITEPEQUEZ. (Copyright, Paul Sittler, Guatemala.)

nail, a hardwood or bone spike used to separate the ear from the husk and to remove the bare ear. Practically every part of the corn plant, from stalks to silk, finds some important use. In contrast to the ubiquitous milpa, other crops are considerably restricted in their distribution and hence contribute to community occupational distinctiveness. For example, onions are grown principally in Almolonga, Solola, and Panajachel, involving irrigation and carefully prescribed procedures. When onions are planted from 75

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mences. Transplanting follows in approximately two months and, in at least Panajachel, is done by women. After transplanting, continued watering and weeding are needed until the plants flower. Harvesting involves softening of the ground, removal of dead leaves and roots, grading by size, and tying into bunches for market. The irrigation technology involved in such horticulture is not complex, although a certain amount of cooperation is required throughout the year among those who make use of the system in Panajachel. The ditches vary in width from 1 to 2 feet and the supply of water is controlled by barriers of branches, rocks, and earth; no sluice gates are used.

Crafts

FIG. 5—INDIAN WOMAN, MIXCO, MALA. (Middle American Research Tulane University.)

GUATEInstitute,

seed, the beds are smoothed and pebtles removed. Seed is covered with an inch of black soil containing rotted coffee leaves, and the whole carefully covered with broad leaves to keep off the sun. Irrigation is done by hand, sprinkling every three days until plants protrude; then daily watering com76

Of the traditional Indian crafts, weaving is much more widespread in the midwestern highlands than the manufacture of pottery. The latter is restricted at present to five municipios of the department of Totonicapan and San Pedro Jocopilas in El Quiche, whereas weaving is almost as widespread as milpa. In spite of the trend toward more generalized dress and the availability of more economically produced fabrics from the factories at Cantei and elsewhere in Central America, the tourist demand for the colorful, handwoven fabrics makes retention of this old art profitable. Cotton, wool, and imported silk are used in native textile weaving. White and brown varieties of cotton are grown in the region around Mazatenango and distributed chiefly by Maxeño merchants to the major highland markets. The spinning of raw cotton is a tedious task, however, and the bulk of cotton thread used is machine spun in the factory at Cantei. Cotton textiles are woven on the preconquest stick loom (otherwise known as the backstrap or belt loom) and are made chiefly into women's huípiles (long, full, untailored blouses, fig. 5), kerchiefs, and a variety of carrying cloths and linens. Mixed cotton and silk, or cotton, silk, and wool fabrics are also woven on these

MAYA OF MIDWESTERN HIGHLANDS

FIG. 6 — P O T T E R Y VESSEL SHAPES. a, Cooking pot. b, Water jar. c. Wide-mouthed jar. d, Water storage jar. e. Colander (perforated base for washing nixtamal). f, Pitcher, g, Bowl, h, Comal, i, Frying comal. /', Frying pan.

looms. The following description of the essential components of the stick loom can be supplemented by consulting Lila O'Neale's exhaustive description of both looms and textiles of the western highlands (1945). As the name implies, the stick loom is basically a set of sticks: two end bars between which warp yarns are strung; sticks for controlling the positions of the warp yarns and hence the pattern in the fabric (heddle and shed rolls); a width gauge (tenter), and the bobbin and batten. The spindles of thread are used in place of bobbin sticks in several communities, and a tenter is not needed for narrow fabrics. Of these (and other supplementary sticks which may be employed) only the batten, or sword, is polished and fashioned with pride and care. Length of sticks varies, depending on the width of fabric desired. A width of 30 inches (or an arm's reach) is possible on such a loom. One end bar with rope attached is secured to any convenient rafter, house post, bush or tree, while the other is attached to a leather or cord strap which passes behind the weaver's back. Maintaining the desired tautness of the warp is thus simply a matter of adjusting one's position. In the absence of any frame,

fittings, or device by which to fasten any of the sticks together, the loom requires deft handling. It is a highly adaptable apparatus, however, for it can be rolled up and carried about much as knitting is. The introduction of wool by the Spaniards was accompanied by the introduction of the foot, or treadle, loom, and an interesting division of labor has evolved whereby women restrict their weaving to the stick loom while men operate the foot looms in production of woolen textiles. In some communities, such as Chichicastenango, men also utilize the stick loom for making belts, however. Wool is used chiefly for blankets, but is an important part of clothing as well where men's costume (fig. 12) includes blanket kilts (rodilleras) and women's costume includes wool belts or girdles. Some wool is available from herds of sheep in the midwestern highlands, but the bulk of raw wool used in Totonicapan blanket centers such as Momostenango (see vol. 6, Art. 8, fig. 10) is imported from the department of Huehuetenango. The raw wool is washed in streams and carded with hand combs (two flat pieces of wood covered with skin through which protrude short steel wires); the weaver rarely does his own carding but

77

FIG. 7—STAGES IN HOUSE CONSTRUCTION (SMALL KITCHEN), PANAJACHEL, SOLOLA. (From Wauchope, 1938, fig. 43.)

MAYA OF MIDWESTERN HIGHLANDS

may assist his wife or children with the spinning (O'Neale, 1945, p. 14). Whereas treadle loom weaving is a specialized skill among Indian men, knowledge of spinning and weaving of cotton on stick looms is early acquired by most girls and is highly prized in a wife. Most Indian women make at least their own clothing, and hence the stick loom is found in all communities of the region; how much textile weaving for market is done varies considerably, however. The chief producing area, as well as the approximate geographical center of pottery manufacture in the midwestern highlands is the municipio of Totonicapan. Here Ladino ceramic shops produce a variety of plates, cups, saucers, and vases, known as loza ware, which is available in markets throughout the western highlands. This rather fine, highly glazed, wheel-turned Ladino pottery differs from Indian ware in function, mode of manufacture and firing, and glaze finish. Indian potters, except when employed by Ladinos, do not use the wheel, do not kiln-fire the ware, frequently glaze only the interiors of vessels (if at all), and restrict their production chiefly to water containers, griddles, and pots of assorted shapes and sizes. Moreover, traditionally only women were potters, and, except where Indian men are employed in urban shops, this division of labor persists. Municipios tend to specialize in types of ware made by Indians; thus Jocopilas women make narrow-mouthed, rounded-bottom jars for carrying water which range in capacity from 1 to 8 gallons. The smaller ones are carried by women on their heads; the larger by men on their backs. Totonicapeños make the majority of cooking pots and bowls; both municipios manufacture water storage jars, pitchers, and griddles {comales) (fig. 6). Where worked by Indian potters, the balls of dry clay are ground on a metate and the mass is then moistened as needed for

coiling and shaping. The only implements ordinarily used are pieces of corncob, leather, and cloth for preliminary smoothing, and a piece of sharp cane, metal, or stone for final smoothing. Shaping of ware on a revolving saucer base was observed by Tax (1947b, p. 60); McBryde witnessed a Jocopilas potter shape a large jar while walking around it (1947, p. 54). A number of pieces of identical or similar ware are made concurrently and, after drying for several hours in the sun, are fired in a carefully prepared and tended wood fire for approximately one hour. Tax witnessed the shaping and firing of 28 pots and pitchers by the potters of one Totonicapeño household in a period of only three hours (1947a, p. 59ff.). Although the drying time was reduced in this instance, only one of the pots cracked in the firing. House Types and Furnishings Houses vary less in architectural design than in building materials. For detailed descriptions of house types the reader is referred to the extensive study of Maya houses made by Robert Wauchope (1938). The typical house (fig. 7) is a one- or two-room, rectangular structure with a steeply pitched gable roof of thatch or tile. An apparently older square house with pot-capped, pyramidal roof (fig. 8) is still found in some Lake Atitlan communities (Wauchope, 1938, p. 26; McBryde, 1947, p. 41). McBryde has plotted the distribution of six types of wall construction in the midwestern highlands: adobe, cane-daub, cane-daubrubble, rubble, stones and cane, and thatch over boards or poles (1947, p. 40). Adobe predominates except in restricted areas where abundant resources of lumber or suitable stone make their use feasible. Roofs of corrugated metal occasionally are found; although more expensive, they do not need the frequent replacement characteristic of thatched roofs, and they withstand the occasional earth tremors more satisfactorily than

79

FIG. 8—SQUARE HOUSE, SANTIAGO ATITLAN, SOLOLA. (From Wauchope, 1938, fig. 26.)

FIG. 9 — H O U S E INTERIOR, SAN LUCAS TOLIMAN, SOLOLA. (From Wauchope, 1938, fig. 32,a.)

80

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the tile. Houses usually have as many doors opening out onto the patio as there are rooms, and the doors are constructed of wood or cane. Windows and floors usually are not found in Indian homes. Whether Indian homes have plastered or whitewashed walls depends in part on wealth but in part on local custom. In Chichicastenango all homes are whitewashed inside and out, and doors are painted blue. Where homes have two or more rooms, the sleeping and living quarters frequently receive more care in construction (perhaps floor and/or ceiling) than does the kitchen. In the larger urban centers, houses with two floors and/or several rooms, often sheltering compound or extended families, are found occasionally. One-room domiciles account for the majority of homes, however, and in Panajachel the houses vary in length from 8 to over 20 feet. Roof peaks are slightly more than twice as high as the 4-7-foot walls. Local assistance (hired) is usually adequate for construction of such a house. Where carpentry or masonry skills are required for more elaborate construction, Totonicapeño craftsmen are hired. Indeed, many communities have as permanent residents one or more Totonicapeño families that moved from their native municipio to take advantage of this labor demand (increased by the growing numbers of Ladinos in the urban communities). Furniture consists of cabinets or shelves, benches, perhaps a low table, trunks for storage of clothing and valuables, and beds of mats either on the ground or on planks supported by short posts. The hearth of three large stones (fig. 9) may be in the center of the kitchen or in one corner of the one-room domicile. The interdependency of communities is reflected in the provenience of household goods: benches, table, and trunks come from Totonicapan, as do cookery vessels; the large water jars usually from Jocopilas; blankets principally from Momostenango; the metate (grinding stone) from Naguala; mats from Santa Catarina; netted

FIG. 10—INDIAN SWEAT BATH, SANTIAGO ATITLAN, SOLOLA. (From Wauchope, 1938, pl. 37,b.)

bags, ropes, etc. probably from Coban; and metal objects and perhaps enamelware from Guatemala City. The sweat house (temascal) stands adjacent or annexed to the house; the privy and various other brush or cane enclosures (for chickens, corn, firewood, etc.) border the enclosed patio. The temascal (fig. 10) is found in all midwestern highland communities, in contrast to its absence in the eastern highlands. It is used daily for bathing, on occasions for curing, and customarily for the treatment and massaging of expectant mothers by midwives. Temascales vary in size, accommodating from one to six persons. Families with young children commonly bathe together; when children are grown, the men usually bathe independently of the women. The dome-shaped walls usually are constructed of rubble and adobe and roofed with thatch. They may be furnished with benches in addition to the fireplace in one corner from which the fire is raked out prior to pouring water on the heated hearth stones. Costume As elsewhere in the Guatemalan highlands, costume is colorful and distinctive 81

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to this, binds her skirt at the waist line with a three-inch woven cotton belt. Blouse: The Atiteca wears the loose huípil, the sleeves of which are not cut or sewn, but the Pedrana has a European style blouse, with tailored sleeves. That of the Atiteca is white with orange and lavender stripes and silk figures of the same colors, while that of the Pedrana is all white (with corded stripes of the same color). Carrying cloth: The Atiteca's cloth is a rectangle 64 by 24 inches, of which only one end has fringe; the Pedrana's is much longer (120 by 20 inches) with fringe on both ends. The Atiteca's consists of wide red and blue stripes with some finer stripes of white and lavender; the Pedrana's is dark red, blue, or green, with tie-dyed designs. Head-dress: The Atiteca has a long tape (335 inches long and an inch wide) with the ends decorated. She winds her hair in the center part and then winds the whole tape around her head, evenly, so that the final effect is that of a halo, or of the rings of Saturn. The Pedrana, on the other hand, braids her hair into two braids and simply lets it go at that.

FIG. 11—WOMAN WITH WATER JAR, SAN CRISTOBAL, GUATEMALA. (Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University.)

(figs. 11, 12). It is m a d e predominantly of cotton, b u t above 6000 feet altitude wool is equally important, especially in men's garments. Some idea of the differences in costumes of even adjoining municipios can b e h a d from a comparison of women's dress of Santiago Atitlan and San Pedro La L a g u n a (Tax, 1937, p. 4 3 4 ) : Skirt: Both wear ankle-length wrap-around skirts, but the Atiteca's is bright red with fine white lines, while the Pedrana's is of a dark red, blue, or green tie-dyed material. Belt: The Atiteca simply tucks in the outer edge of her skirt, but the Pedrana, in addition

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Men's dress tends to vary less from municipio to municipio t h a n women's, b u t nevertheless it is usually distinctive and in some communities is equally noticeable. Most striking is the heavily embroidered woolen garment of Maxeño men, consisting of short black trousers with silk embroidered flaps, a black bolero jacket fringed at the bottom, a wide fringed red sash, and a headcloth of red or white cotton cloth. Cotton breechcloths and occasionally cotton shirts are worn b e n e a t h the outer garments, and the jacket is customarily removed for work. Equally distinctive is the Maxeño's carrying b a g of white netted cotton or maguey cord, fitted with adjustable straps for carrying over the shoulder or across the forehead (with heavier l o a d s ) . T h e same heavy, natural black wool woven in Chichicastenango for men's garments is purchased by Panajacheleño men for a slipover outer garment (gabán) shaped like a long huipil. A white and black (or

MAYA O F MIDWESTERN HIGHLANDS

blue) checked woolen rodillera is wrapped around the waist to hang like a kilt to the knees. Cotton shirts and drawers are worn beneath the outer garments, and a bright red cotton sash is wrapped around the waist to complete the attire. The outer cloak is often lacking in the costume of younger men, and brightly colored cotton shirts (red or the popular "San Pedro" blue stripe) give a diversity to men's costumes which may reflect changing styles or simply age differences in costume. With or without the gabán, however, the attire is distinctively Panajacheleño. Cotton headcloths are worn by men (fig. 12) and women alike, even under the straw hats which merchants may wear on their journeys. Similarly, Indian men are seldom seen without the sash around their waists, even when wearing belts of leather. Indeed, in some quarters such as the municipios of Quezaltenango and Totonicapan where western-style trousers and shirts are growing in popularity, the only identifying feature of one's community origin may be the brightly colored sash. Shoes continue to symbolize Ladino status among most Indians, and accordingly few Indians wear them, even if they can afford them. Sandals (caites) of leather or of tire casing are common, however. Transportation Domesticated draft animals have not proved very functional in Indian life for transportation of either produce or people. Occasionally Indians own horses, sometimes mules, but the strings of pack mules common in the northwestern highlands are rare in the midwestern region. Instead, the tumpline is ubiquitous, serving equally the milpero in harvesting maize and the full-time merchant in his long treks from market to market (see vol. 6, Art. 5, fig. 5). Loads of 200 pounds are not uncommon and, significantly, are as much as a mule carries. Loads of 100 pounds are frequent on day-long treks, and with or without such a load the

FIG. 12—MAN'S COSTUME, SOLOLA, SOLOLA. (Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University.)

mostenango (60 miles) is reckoned at three round trip from Chichicastenango to Modays. As roads are extended and improved, vehicle transportation increases, but with 83

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the small margin of profit, most merchants are usually ahead financially to travel by foot. ECONOMY

Division of Labor Municipio differentiation and integration are rooted in economic specialization. Community specialization in production encourages municipio endogamy, makes functional the distinctions in dress (in market exchange), and with the differences in technology, division of labor, and dependencies on environmental factors which it fosters provides the legitimization for distinctiveness in language, ceremonial calendar and associated ritual, and even some physical characteristics. The unit of production, consumption, and market interaction is the household. Within the household there is a sexual division of labor which varies in sharpness from municipio to municipio, depending in part on the bases of subsistence. Throughout the region there is observed a strict division of labor in meal preparation, a task that consumes many hours of each woman's day. Rarely, if ever, will a man be found grinding maize, and if for no other reason than preparation of meals a wife is a virtual necessity. In general the men are responsible for all production for market. Thus, in Totonicapan women and children commonly tend the few sheep kept for fertilization of the milpa, yet in those households where sheep are the primary basis of subsistence the man and his sons assume this care. Wherever milpa is the extent of agriculture, women are not likely to assist with the field work simply because the work is too heavy. On the other hand, where intensive vegetable horticulture is practiced, as in many of the lake communities, women assist as their time and energies permit. A notable exception to this is Chichicastenango where women rarely are seen in the fields in spite of the agricultural subsistence 84

base. A Maxeño wife may accompany her husband to the fields and even set up temporary housekeeping in a makeshift shelter during the busiest seasons, but her time is occupied in cooking and weaving. Municipio variation is found also in women's involvement in marketing. In Chichicastenango some women never go to the market, whereas in most communities the women do all the routine purchasing of family needs and often do the selling of manufactured goods and produce as well. Specialization Factors influencing municipio specialization include density of population and irregularities of topography, giving rise to different production areas. Ecological considerations are rarely a sufficient explanation for the kinds of occupation receiving community approval or preference, however, as evidenced by the manufacture of pottery and furniture by Totonicapeños living adjacent to Chichicastenango where the equally available lumber and clay are never thus utilized. Within the larger municipios one may find even further division by occupational preferences; some 15 occupational zones are distinguishable in Chichicastenango, several contiguous cantones specializing in lumbering, others in raising potatoes and wheat, and yet others in fulltime trading. Bordering Lake Atitlan, the municipios are smaller, ecological diversity is less pronounced, and consequently specialization is even more striking. Panajachel specializes in growing onions and garlic, neighboring Santa Catarina Palopo has a virtual monopoly on fishing and crabbing, San Antonio Palopo specializes in production of anise, and only Santiago Atitlan and San Pedro make canoes. San Pablo, limited in natural resources, relies largely on rope manufacture, while neighboring Pedranos will also make rope, but only as a pastime and for their own use. The historical roots of such patterns of

MAYA OF MIDWESTERN HIGHLANDS

FIG. 1 3 — C H I C H I C A S T E N A N G O INDIANS SELLING PIGS IN THE SOLOLA MARKET. Cobblers' booths in background. (From McBryde, 1933, fig. 18.)

specialization are diflScult to reconstruct. Since Panajacheleños can recall when fishing and crabbing were more common in the community, and since garlic seems to be gradually replacing anise production in San Antonio, it appears that the particular specializations are subject to change. Certainly the influx of Ladinos into the highlands of recent decades has broadened the occupational base of many communities by supplying a market for new products and services. The pattern of community specialization and the associated system of market exchange are deeply rooted, however, and may well be pre-Columbian in origin (Redfield, 1938). Markets and Trade McBryde's study of the economy of Solola (1933) provided the first description of the "solar" market system characteristic

of the midwestern highlands. There are three such market systems in the region, centering around the cities of Quezaltenango, Santiago Atitlan, and Solola. In these market centers (see vol. 6, Art. 5, figs. 1, 2, 4-6, 8; Art. 12, figs. 4, 5) buying and selling goes on daily; in surrounding pueblos markets are held weekly, or perhaps semiweekly as in Chichicastenango. By scheduling these outlying markets on consecutive days of the week, a wide range of merchandise and produce is guaranteed in each local market. Markets are conducted either in the central plazas (fig. 13) or just outside the towns. In larger cities, such as Quezaltenango and Totonicapan, the markets are held in roofed buildings, but elsewhere they are in the open with perhaps stalls or temporary awnings erected for vendors desiring protection from the sun. The general 85

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plan of the market in terms of goods and location of vendors is quite conservative. Ruth Bunzel's description is apt (1952, p. 74): The arrangement appears illogical and haphazard at first, but one soon catches on to the general scheme. The arrangement is for the convenience of the merchant, not the customer. The general layout is to group things according to provenience rather than character or use. It is assumed that everyone knows (at Chichicastenango) that choca, a spice used in sauces, comes from the north and will be found among the mats from Rabinal, but that cloves come from Guatemala, and will be found in the drygoods stands, and that chickens being women's business, will be found among the flowers, and not in the livestock market. The bulk of sales are on a retail basis by local buyers and sellers, but the larger trade centers handle considerable wholesaling of goods to itinerant merchants. All transactions are in cash; credit institutions are wholly lacking. There are virtually no controls on prices other than the local supply and demand of the particular market day and the prevailing supply and demand in the wider region. Since vendors of similar goods occupy a common sector of the market plaza, prices remain highly uniform; there is none of the calling of wares and less of the bargaining so characteristic of Mexican markets. The producers themselves almost always take their products to the local market, or to neighboring markets; in some cases (such as Momostenango blankets and Totonicapan furniture) the Indians of the same municipios carry their own or their countrymen's products all over the republic. McBryde records Momostenango blanket trade routes reaching down even into Salvador and Honduras. And there are Indians in certain municipios (notably Santiago Atitlan, Chichicastenango, and Totonicapan) who make a business of carrying products from still other municipios from market to market, buying and selling. Their trade 86

routes commonly take such merchants away from home for a week or more at a time. It would appear that such trade is resorted to when people have no better resources at home or are especially ambitious but not so poor as not to have a little capital to engage in trade. Land and Wealth The extensive segmentation of landholdings attests the importance attached to landownership. In Panajachel only seven families of local Indians were wholly landless in 1936, but the size of landholdings varied greatly. The inequalities in ownership were offset in part by the distribution of rented lands, although the poorest quarter of the population neither owned nor rented enough land for their needs and relied chiefly on wage labor and trade or crafts for subsistence (Tax, 1953, p. 192ff.). Throughout the midwestern highlands wealth is measured largely in terms of land, and except for those communities where low soil productivity and heavy reliance on nonagricultural employment exist, most tillable land is privately owned. Thus, in Chichicastenango, all land outside the town is privately owned with the exception of relatively few acres of cantón-owned forest, whereas in neighboring Totonicapan about one-third of the municipio is cantón or municipio owned. Land is not readily sold by Indians, but it is not infrequently pawned to tide families over financial crises. Land sold to Ladinos generally does not return to Indian hands, although considerable Ladino-owned acreage may be rented by Indians. Land rights give rise to one of the chief sources of family quarrels (Bunzel, 1952, p. 141). Inheritance tends to be bilateral, functioning to keep landownership broadly distributed and wealth relatively uniform. Moreover, observations in the lake region and in Cantei (Μ. Nash, 1958a, p. 108) suggest that marriages usually cross wealth lines. Men prefer poorer wives who can

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thus be counted upon to contribute to the family's work force through patrilocal residence. Although these wealth-leveling mechanisms militate against a self-perpetuating wealthy class, it should not be inferred that substantial differences in wealth do not exist; in any community one could expect to find considerable range, probably as great as in United States communities of comparable size. Those differences in wealth which do exist are only minimally reflected in type of house, richness of costume, range of foods consumed, or material goods possessed. Wealthy Indians could afford to put floors and windows in their homes or buy mules and horses, but by and large they do not. As Indians become richer they tend to use more of everything—larger houses, more com as well as more meat, more pots and blankets, and more frequent replacement of clothing—but not things different in kind from those used by poorer Indians. Community solidarity dictates that conspicuous consumption be channeled into community service in the civil-religious hierarchy. Rich people take the more expensive obligations and take them oftener. Indeed, they sometimes become impoverished on this account. This could be considered a way of redistributing wealth except that in the process so much is consumed in the form of alcohol and rockets that there is a considerable net loss; so although the rich Indians may go broke, no Indian gets a corresponding advantage. SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

Family and Kinship Although there are evidences that in generations past there was some kind of kinship or local unit consisting of more than one household (calpules), today the household is the only functioning social entity within the municipios. There are familial relations cutting across households which are recognized customarily by formal visiting

and gift giving, but they do not crystallize into social segments. The family, or household, varies considerably in composition. Manning Nash (1958a) reported that 78 per cent of the Cantei households surveyed in 1953 were nuclear; although this is a higher percentage than one finds in lake communities for which we have comparable data, the tendency throughout the region is for a couple to establish their own home as soon as their financial means permit. Whether the newly married couple moves in with the groom's or bride's parents depends largely on the comparative wealth of the two families; the wealthier parents usually attract the couple. For every household containing a son-inlaw in Panajachel in 1936, there were two containing daughters-in-law, reflecting the tendency toward patrilocal residence found throughout the highlands. Regardless of its constitution, the household is the basis of social and economic interaction. Ritual kinship ties of compadrazgo are family commitments through which parents, at a child's baptism and again at his marriage, ask a couple in the municipio to accept godparenthood. The ties thus established through rites performed and gifts of money and liquor link families rather than individuals, however, and the fact that often Ladinos are sought as godparents reflects the primacy of the financial considerations over the affective bonds (the godparents customarily assume the major expenses associated with baptism and marriage). Moreover, all official obligations to the municipio are conceived as household commitments; husbands and wives serve jointly in civil and religious offices, and communal labor is requested of households rather than of individuals. Finally, although in the household the members may be economic individualists, it is noteworthy that they cooperate on a noncash basis. Outside the household, however, even between a father and son or brothers living in different households. 87

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there is practically no common enterprise not conducted on the monetary basis characterizing non-kin relationships. Territorial Units It will be clear from all that has been said that the primary—if not the final— ethnic unit throughout the highlands of Guatemala is the municipio. Differing in birth and baptismal customs, in modes of courtship and marriage ceremonies, in types of family organization, in religious and magical beliefs, in the use of and the rituals of shamans and sorcers—in almost every aspect of the culture—the municipios differ from one another in greater or less detail. In the absence of cohesive kinship ties or corporate groups to link the household to the community, the importance of municipio endogamy, of economic specialization, of linguistic distinctiveness, and of a common world view as the bases of group identity are clearly apparent. While it is fairly common for an Indian family to move into a foreign municipio to improve economic status, such foreign Indians rarely give up their native costume or their language, even after two or three generations removed from their homeland. Marriage across municipio boundaries occurs occasionally, but the spouse brought into the community remains a foreigner. It can be said that an Indian identifies first of all as a Pedrano or a Maxeño, secondly as an Indian (in contrast to a Ladino), and only—if at all—thirdly as a Guatemalan. Beyond the municipio, the larger departmental and the linguistic boundaries (such as Quiche or Cakchiquel) appear to have no bearing on cultural divisions. Given the breadth of contact with foreign influences, intensified by the market system of municipio interchange, the cultural insularity of municipios must be attributed to a long history of such interaction and the emergence of a resistance to the natural effects of constant contact. Such resistance

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has been supported by effective sanctions and wealth-leveling mechanisms which function to keep household goals identified with communal interests. Political and Religious

Organization

Perhaps the institution most important in binding households to the community is the civil-religious hierarchy, and traditionally a sure criterion of one's acceptance of and by the community has been community service through this institution. Under the impact of political and religious factionalism over recent decades the hierarchy has weakened in influence in some municipios, but for most of the midwestern highlands the following description still applies. Each municipio has a body of Ladino governmental officials responsible for Ladino affairs and a similar body of Indian officials chosen annually by community elders to administer, adjudicate, and enforce laws governing Indian affairs. In communities with very few Ladinos the secretario and perhaps the alcalde principal (mayor and justice of the peace) may be the only Ladino officials (salaried), but in municipios with substantial numbers of Ladinos in the pueblos there may be two sets of officials functioning almost wholly independently. Between these extremes lie the majority of municipios with a complete roster of Indian officials and a number of Ladino appointees; all of the latter and some of the former constitute the political hierarchy officially recognized by the national government. The offices are ranked, held by man and wife only once, and consequently tend to stratify adults by age and experience in community service. In Panajachel, as of 1940, the Indian hierarchy consisted of: two ranked alcaldes, regidores, regidores ayudantes, auxiliares; four ranked mayores; and 24 unranked alguaciles (36 positions in all). The hierarchy in Chichicastenango consisted of over 230 positions, some 200 of which

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were alguaciles. In Santiago Atitlan marriage is usually a requisite for serving even as an alguacil (Mendelson, 1962), but in Chichicastenango these positions are held by 14-year-old youths who serve in oneweek shifts cleaning the plaza and public buildings and running errands for higher officials. The mayores supervise the alguaciles. Regidores assist the auxiliares (cantón officials) in recruiting alguaciles and other laborers for communal work projects and also are responsible for summoning individuals for court hearings and executing decisions reached in such hearings. The alcaldes and the first and second regidores are those principally responsible for arbitrating disputes brought to the juzgado. In addition to this roster of civil offices, a similar hierarchy of strictly Indian—and hence not officially recognized—religious offices parallels the political hierarchy. Each community has a number of religious brotherhoods called cofradías, each charged with the care of a local santo and the arranging of the fiestas of the ceremonial calendar. As described by Manning Nash (1958a, p. 63): "In effect, the cofradías are corporations in perpetuity, with the effects of the corporation belonging to the saint and being passed on each year to different persons whose job it is to carry out the duties of being officers of the corporation." As with the political offices, a man and his wife execute cofradía duties jointly, gradually moving up through the ranked cofrade positions. Most offices are held for one year. The santo is usually housed in the home of the first cofrade, often named the alcalde of the cofradía. The two classes, civil and religious, are only partially separable, however. In the system of succession in the hierarchy the Indians alternate between the two, having at least one year of rest between servicios, and all offices are graded in a single hierarchy. It is in this integration of the offices that the factionalism in a number of communities has produced some

alteration of the traditional pattern; Protestantism, in opposing the cofradías, prohibits converts from serving in the religious offices of the hierarchy. Men who have passed through the hierarchy constitute the revered body of elders, or principales, and have the responsibility of choosing the annual slate of officers in the hierarchy. Their choices must take into consideration previous service of a household and financial status, since during a year in office one's earning capacity is reduced and financial outlay for festivities and liquor is involved. On the other hand, status accrues to such community service, and a primary motivation for improving one's economic position is to facilitate progression through the hierarchy. Consequently, while an appointment is not openly sought, it is not usually turned down; to refuse to serve when one can afford it is to incur the ridicule and censure which lead to alienation from the community and eventually, perhaps, to Ladinoization. There are, however, means of avoiding service without alienation. A year's military service for the government exempts a man from service in the civil offices, and, as mentioned above, Protestantism exempts adherents from cofradía service. Settling permanently in another municipio is yet another effective means of avoiding the responsibility. Of course, the size of a community and the number of cofradías maintained will influence the proportion of households which are called upon for service in the higher positions. In Panajachel, a small municipio of only 800 Indians and four cofradías, difficulties in recruitment of cofrades result in occasional understaffing of a cofradía; in Cantei, where seven cofradías are recognized, only six are staffed. By contrast, in Chichicastenango 14 cofradías are maintained, and in spite of this larger number only a relatively small proportion of the households can be accommodated in the higher civil or religious positions.

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In this brief sketch of the cofradía system, emphasis was on the age grading and social integration accomplished by the alternating civil and religious servicios. This hierarchy, as a mode of social organization, is perhaps more highly developed and pervasive in the midwestern highlands than elsewhere in Mesoamerica, but the cult of the saints, of which the cofradías are a part (see vol. 6, Art. 20, fig. 15), finds expression in other than cofradía institutionalization. This expression varies considerably, however, from community to community. Within each municipio there are santos belonging to the community or to individual households which are not cared for by the cofradías. Their guardianship can be characterized as voluntary, and as voluntary care of santos is the typical Ladino pattern throughout Mesoamerica, the cult of the saints finds the most varied expression in those midwestern highland municipios where Ladino influence is strongest. In Cantei, for example, there are 13 societies, open to Ladinos and Indians alike, which resemble cofradías in many respects but which are not part of the hierarchy. The santos are housed in the homes of the elected heads of the societies, and ceremonial observances are involved in such guardianship which, in some cases, entail financial sacrifices as great as those required in cofradía service. With regard to these societies, Manning Nash observes (1958a, p. 62): The important element in society ritual is not the strict compliance with stylized behavior, although that is a part of the ceremony attendant upon the saint; it is the presence of voluntary disciples who show their devotion to the saint and bid him confer upon them those blessings within his power, since each saint has peculiar virtues and is best able to manipulate certain areas of the supernatural according to his inherent virtues. One such image, variously called Judas, Maximón, or San Simón, is especially popular and is found in many municipios. Although frequently housed in a cofradía 90

house, his worship is voluntary. His ambivalent position with regard to matters of sex and money invites petitions not appropriately asked of the other santos. The Maximón of Santiago Atitlan enjoys particularly widespread repute in the midwestern highlands, and Michael Mendelson has made an intensive study of Maximón's role in the religious life of this municipio (1959). In contrast to Cantei, in Chichicastenango the only santos not served by cofradías are a number housed in the church and those owned by households. The former are under the care of the priest and his assistants, the mayordomos, sacristanes, and fiscales (in ascending order of importance). Images which are privately owned may well have been purchased in markets, and with passage of time they have acquired varying reputations. To santos in both these categories individuals may come for assistance. Apart from the civil-religious hierarchy and the more inclusive cult of the saints, there were no significant institutional associations in the municipios of the midwestern highlands until comparatively recently. The introduction of Protestantism in the 1920's has been referred to, and its acceptance appears to be accelerating in a number of communities. Benjamin and Lois Paul, in their continuing study of San Pedro (1963), report conversion of one-third of the population to five competing Protestant sects and consequent decline of cofradía influence of recent years. Trade unionism has arisen in at least Cantei since the revolution of 1945, providing new bases for social interaction and strengthening the opposition of the young men to the hierarchy (M. Nash, 1955; 1958a, p. 106). In Totonicapan sawyers in several cantones banded together when threatened with curtailment of treefelling rights by the municipio, forming virtual unions which were successful in obtaining government intervention on their behalf (R. N. Adams, 1960). The implications of these informal associations for municipio solidarity and cohesion are not yet

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clear; by cutting across traditional age distinctions (unions) and strengthening intermunicipio bonds (Protestantism), structural adjustments are being precipitated of which the separation of civil and religious hierarchies is but an example. RELIGION AND WORLD VIEW

Myth and Folklore Municipio individuality and distinctiveness are reflected in religious beliefs and world view as impressively as in other aspects of culture. Just as one finds the civil-religious organization throughout the region, so one finds basic themes or patterns of belief throughout the midwestern highlands, but in even closely neighboring communities there exist striking differences in emphasis. Most striking, perhaps, is the apparent paucity of folk tales among Maxeños, as compared with the wealth of such in the lake communities (Tax, 1949). Such a contrast is the more remarkable when one considers the abundant opportunities for exchange of tales and beliefs among merchants in the course of their travels in neighboring municipios. The earth is popularly described as flat and supporting the bowl-shaped sky on massive columns. Stars may be identified as departed souls, but relatively few are named or imbued with any particular significance. Heaven is vaguely conceived, as is hell, although very clearly defined and widely held beliefs are found in many communities concerning the "owner of the hill," commonly associated with the devil. The latter is often associated with volcanoes and commonly with the monte, or unihabited hills, where the unsuspecting are lured in quest of easy money and where spirits of the dead may find their abode. The origin of mankind, according to the biblical account, and the birth and the crucifixion of Jesus are assumed to have occurred locally. Earth and sky jointly control the destiny of man, and many aspects of nature are

anthropomorphically or animisticly conceived. The sun, as the father of mankind, is vaguely identified with the Christian God; the moon, our "grandmother," is female. Between them all behavior is observed, and lightning, fire, illness, and a host of spirits are the intermediary deities and forces through which man is held accountable for his misdeeds. Eclipses are widely regarded as quarrels between the moon and sun which the moon would undoubtedly lose without the intervention of humanity to ward off the sun through a timely display of commotion and beseechment. Pregnant women are particularly vulnerable to miscarriage during eclipses. Throughout the region phases of the moon are intimately linked to the fertility and maturation of all living things; hence planting and harvesting of crops, or cutting of lumber, are carefully prescribed according to the waning and waxing of the moon to insure growth and preservation. To the earth—to his land and especially his milpa—every Indian owes a debt of gratitude, and his obligations and behavior toward the land are carefully prescribed. The soil, the trees and plants, the animals, and even inanimate stones are assumed to have their guardian saints. Thus, after felling a tree one covers the stump to save it embarrassment amidst its fellows; respectful care of the hearthstones (tenemastes) is a requisite for a happy home; and one does not complain on climbing a steep hill lest it be offended and send sickness. The weakening or gentling power of women over things masculine is a pervasive theme, with wide ramifications in everyday life. The following derivative beliefs were noted in Panajachel; in other communities one would find somewhat different sets of related beliefs. Both women and heat have weakening influences, and a man stepping over a fire or a woman stepping over a man can equally endanger his virility. Even placing an article of female clothing over a man's body makes him stupid, as does a 91

FIG. 1 4 — C H I C H I C A S T E N A N G O (EL QUICHE) INDIAN PRAYING AT SHRINE. Note pre-Columbian stone sculptures and pine boughs. (Photographed by Flavio Rodas Ν., 1948.)

wife's stepping over grain her husband has harvested. Similarly, clothing placed over the head of an unruly bull will make him docile. If a woman climbs a fruit tree, the tree is ruined, and stepping over her husband's iron tools may make them no longer serviceable. Variations on this common theme could be expanded indefinitely. Ritual The ritual associated with these beliefs concerning man's relationship to earth, sky, and his fellow men can be classified as either communal or domestic. In the midwestern highlands communal ceremonies are, with few exceptions, under the care of the civil-religious organization. The communal rituals are basically Catholic in origin with no appreciable pagan content (see vol. 6, Art. 19, fig. 6). In contrast, domestic ritual is associated with much of the folklore and beliefs surrounding witchcraft, illness, and curing and is largely the domain of the 92

shamans. Shamans are specialists, professionals in divining and curing, with varying roles from municipio to municipio but unorganized and never a part of the religious hierarchy. In San Pedro and Panajachel the shamans are self-taught theoretically, and hence have no initiation at the hands of others of the group; in Chichicastenango they are both taught and initiated. In Panajachel they utilize both Christian altars and private altars in the woods; in San Pedro the rural altars are shared by all shamans. (See also vol. 6, Art. 19, fig. 1-5; Art. 20, fig.14.) Apart from the shamans and the civilreligious hierarchy, a maestro cantor (prayer-reciter) is found in some lake communities (also in Cantei, but not in Chichicastenango) who serves for life and is a participant in cofradía ritual while not formally a part of the hierarchy. Also, in Chichicastenango a group of six self-perpetuating principales known as pasados have a

MAYA OF MIDWESTERN HIGHLANDS

high-priest character in the spiritual oversight of the community and performance of some rituals. For reasons still being explored (Tax, 1964a), religious relations and observances, like other social relations in the midwestern highlands, are strikingly impersonal and secularized. This impression arises in part from the comparative lack of domestic ceremonies, both pagan and Christian, and the relegation of most ceremonial to the nonvoluntary civil-religious organization. Indians, by financially supporting the organization and serving conscientiously in their turn, are satisfied that the supernatural is taken care of—and seem then to think no more of it. Illness and Curing Illness is a constant threat in the highlands, the more so for the seasonal migrations of many to the lowland plantations. Where subsistence depends on constant, hard work, incapacitating illness is as much feared for its economic consequences as for the spiritual and physical jeopardy implied. Since illness is such a commonplace, however, it is taken much for granted and looked upon as one's bad luck rather than as something one is in a position to do much about. This is not to say that cures and preventive behavior are not elaborately defined, but one gains the impression they may be less so than in much of the Maya region. Illness is attributed basically to weakness or to failure to observe prescribed behavior toward supernatural or other human beings. Thus sicknesses are categorized as those sent by God, those sent by other persons, or those contracted through body disorder or weakness. The communicable diseases that occasionally reach epidemic proportions (whooping cough, measles, chickenpox, etc.) are sent by God, as were the dreaded smallpox, typhoid fever, and cholera of former days (and still not wholly eradicated). These latter afflictions knew

no cures, and merely to speak of them by name may be dangerous and forbidden. As a result of beliefs regarding the inadvisability of drinking cold liquids, water is usually heated, thus reducing the threat of water-borne diseases such as typhoid fever. Occasionally illness or death is attributed to sorcery stemming from interpersonal rivalry or hostility, but malevolent witchcraft is not often resorted to in at least the southern region of the midwestern highlands. To utilize such sorcery is to risk countersorcery and to invoke powers over which one has little control. The person who in desperation resorts to such practice must defend himself from its ill-effects for the rest of his life. At the same time, however, the threat of sorcery is always present, serving to keep hostility beneath the surface and as an integrating force in society. As Ruth Bunzel observes (1952, pp. 29899), "Since it can be used with impunity only in a just cause, it provides the strongest of all sanctions for the moral code." A well-defined distinction between good and evil shamanism appears to exist in Momostenango (Tax, 1947a), but nowhere in the midwestern highlands is there a division of shamans into those adept at black magic and those specializing in healing. Explanations of common illnesses such as coughs, sore throats, headaches, and toothaches are not usually sought in misconduct or ritually treated. Warm gruels of maize, rice, or bananas are frequently administered and the daily baths in the temascal may be lengthened to hasten recovery. However, any such weakness or abnormal body state (fatigue, wounds, menstruation, pregnancy, childbirth, etc.) makes one vulnerable to more serious afflictions which constantly threaten the unwary and "enter" to take control of the body. Similarly, persons in any of the above abnormal mental or physical conditions are within the category of dangerous persons. Evil spirits can take human or animal form (characoteles) and hence persons deemed suspicious on 93

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any account may be credited with the evil eye (ojo), the look which brings contamination. Moreover, since every individual is conceived as having a dual essence, a soul (nagual) separable from the body, the body is subject to temporary abandonment by the soul through seduction or fright. Soul-loss is thus often the explanation given for illness, and the associated cures consist of exhortations to induce the soul's return. Perhaps the most pervasive complex of ideas on curing and illness surrounds the concepts of "hot" and "cold." Illnesses are classified as hot or cold, as also are foods, and a particular sickness has its associated foods which help effect its cure. The particular "hot" foods prescribed for a "cold" affliction (or vice versa) may differ from community to community, but the association of foods with body conditions is widespread. Another explanation for illness encountered which is, however, not as prevalent as elsewhere in the Maya region is wind penetration or aire. In fact, the concept seems to be absent in some communities around Lake Atitlan. When a person becomes seriously ill, the usual procedure is to consult a shaman to ascertain the cause—whether sent by God or a result of witchcraft or misconduct. Divining causes and prescribing ritual cures are both shaman roles, but where drugs become increasingly available the shaman's role tends to become primarily divinatory (as in Cantei). Divination takes many forms, but burning of candles and incense is a necessary part of any such ritual, and a fee is charged to cover such expenses. It is noteworthy that these rituals are done customarily in the patient's absence, by the shaman divining alone at his altar. Each shaman collects his private assemblage (la vara) of valued stones (obsidian, quartz crystals) and perhaps red maguey seeds; by manipulation of these objects, by consideration of the implications of the named days and numbered months of the ceremonial 94

calendar (decreasingly retained and utilized for divination in the midwestern highlands from north to south), and by astute observation of the client's reaction to the various proffered explanations, the likely cause and associated cure are suggested. Frequently the explanation is an admitted transgression, and a typical cure is castigation by whipping (the latter is particularly common in Chichicastenango). AESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL PATTERNS

Music and Dance Two professional classes of musicians are found in highland communities: the marimberos and the tamboreros. Marimbas are of two types, the homemade variety with gourds for resonators, and factory-manufactured instruments. The former are played by one man, usually at family fiestas. The larger, factory marimbas may require as many as six players and such companies of musicians are hired frequently for the major community fiestas. Tamboreros perform in pairs for cofradía ceremonies and processions, one tamborero playing a flute or flageolet, the other beating the drum. There are three sizes of both flutes and drums. Cofradía ceremonies have prescribed music, and for their mastery of the music and periodic service the tamboreros receive both great respect in the community and payment. Some towns have bands, but they are chiefly Ladino institutions and perform only at Ladino affairs. Singing is seldom heard among Indians. The only dances are the formal masked dances (see vol. 6, Art. 9, fig. 1) performed at fiestas by semiprofessional dance groups. The dances and associated music are as uniform over the region as are the rented costumes available from the rental agency in Totonicapan. Fiestas The number of fiestas included in the ceremonial calendar of a municipio depends

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on the number of cofradías and hence the population of the community. In Chichicastenango the 14 cofradías observe 16 major fiestas. This is not to imply that size of community, or wealth for that matter, correlates necessarily with the importance attached to such festivities. The small and comparatively poor municipios of Santa Catarina Palapo and San Juan La Laguna are noted in the Lake Atitlan region for the scale of their fiestas. Community solidarity and pride are fully as important as corporate wealth in determining the ostentatiousness of the display of fireworks, dancing, and liquor. It has already been mentioned that the fiesta of the patron saint is the most festive and important of the year; all cofradías participate and contribute to the crescendo of excitement which climaxes in a huge market, the largest of the year. Since this titular fiesta does not coincide with the equivalent festivities of neighboring municipios, it is commonly attended by persons from throughout the midwestern highlands. In contrast, Holy Week observances occur simultaneously in all municipios and accordingly can be assumed to exhibit a greater range of variation in form and content. All Souls' and All Saints' Days in early November (fiesta in memory of the dead) likewise are observed in all municipios. Thanksgiving festivities during the harvest season vary in importance among municipios and may be observed by the municipio as a whole and/or by the cantones. For detailed accounts of these and other fiestas, the reader is referred to Ruth Bunzel's study of the ceremonial calendar in Chichicastenango (1952). Drinking Patterns Liquor formerly was locally brewed, but it is now purchased from highland producers such as the rum distillery in Solola, or imported from Guatemala City. The integral part of liquor in all ceremonial occasions—from baptisms, marriages, and

funerals to community fiestas—suggests both a pre-Columbian origin and possibly the function of liquor in facilitating relaxed social intercourse among a people who are markedly formal and reserved in most social interaction. In any case, men and women alike consume large quantities on many prescibed occasions, sometimes remaining in a state of intoxication for a week or more at a time. An example of funeral liquor consumption, excerpted from Penny Capitalism, illustrates the degree to which drinking is prescribed behavior, even for participants who are usually sober people (Tax, 1953, p. 180): Both men and women drank. By the time the funeral procession began, three rounds of liquor had already been passed among the twentyodd relatives and friends; a liter was taken to the cemetery and consumed; and back at the house another two liters were drunk before the visitors left for the night. The next morning 11 persons did away with three liters more, and of course on the following day there was a hangover to be cured with more liquor. In this case the drinking did not long continue partly because the men are not "drinkers" and partly because the deceased was a very old widow and there appeared to be no great grief involved. The highly controversial nature of Protestantism is most clearly understood against this pattern of liquor consumption; in requiring abstinence of adherents, Protestantism undermines the basis of much social and gift exchange. On the other hand, drunkenness is mildly disapproved and feared because of the drain on savings it represents, and Protestantism offers one means of removing this obstacle to achieving economic stability. LIFE CYCLE

Although the means of impregnation is understood, one finds varying conceptions about the relative influence of paternity on the child. In Panajachel, for instance, it is commonly believed that a child can be 95

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fathered by two men and bear resemblance to both. Most women must continue to carry out their household chores until time for delivery and yet must do all within their power to avoid miscarriage for fear of punishment for such a sin against God. Birth is attended by a professional midwife whose services are engaged by the husband several months prior to the anticipated delivery and who pays periodic visits to the expectant mother both before and after the baby's arrival. Twins are regarded as santos in San Pedro La Laguna and seldom are welcomed in any community. Boys frequently are preferred to girls in view of the former's greater earning capacity, and accordingly the midwife's fee for successfully delivering a boy may be higher than for a girl. If the child is a girl, the umbilical cord may be hidden in the thatch or buried near the hearth to insure obedience as a wife; if a boy, it may be taken to the milpa to insure diligence as a milpero. Two names, one Indian and one Spanish, are commonly given the newborn, and circumstances surrounding the pregnancy and birth are studied carefully for insights into the child's future. Two rituals commonly are performed after the baby is born: a special meal is prepared for relatives and neighbors on the occasion of the baby's first bath in the temascal some 10 days after birth, and 10 days later a similar meal may be prepared in honor of the midwife, after which she is dismissed from responsibility for the child's health and welfare. Hereafter life in the household proceeds as normal. Breast-feeding continues until about two years of age, or until interrupted by the arrival of another child. Toilet training is undertaken gradually, and in general childrearing is permissive; the distraught child is the more susceptible to sickness. The first 12 to 14 years of the child's life are spent almost entirely within the household circle. A compadre and comadre are chosen for the baptism ceremony (the only sacrament which is generally administered to Indians) 96

but the relationship of compadres to their godchild has little influence on the child in his formative years. The independence of the household has been mentioned previously, yet is dramatically reflected in the absence customarily of even interhousehold play by children. Even cousins seldom play together, and it is not uncommon for a child to see the interior of another home only upon being hired by a neighbor or relative. Until able to assist their father in the fields or their mother in grinding maize, children are entertained in the house or patio by older siblings or the mother. But by seven or eight years of age they are constantly at their parent's side learning by imitation the adult tasks they will have mastered virtually by 11 or 12. Schooling is required of youngsters by national law, but it is only in the town-nucleus communities that such rules are enforceable to any degree. A chief function of schooling is to teach Spanish, and accordingly as adults find such knowledge helpful in their occupational endeavors the children are encouraged by them to attend school. Puberty is not marked by ceremony or formal restrictions on behavior, even for menstruating girls. The latter remains a delicate matter throughout life, however, and shyness accomplishes the isolation deemed appropriate. Boys' cliques or gangs in the nucleated communities (described by Benjamin and Lois Paul for San Pedro La Laguna [1952, p. 187]), or perhaps service as an alguacil in the hierarchy, provide the bases for peer-group identification in the early teens. Courtship patterns vary considerably. The Pauls (1952, p. 188; 1963) describe the traditional San Pedro La Laguna custom of awaiting one's desired mate on the path to the lakeside in order to plead one's case on her daily trip to fetch water. In Panajachel meetings on the village paths similarly are utilized for marriage proposals, and in each community there are prescribed means for indirectly informing one's suitor of the de-

FIG. 15—WOMAN AND CHILD, SANTIAGO ATITLAN, SOLOLA. (Photo by Muriel Ries, Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University.)

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cision reached. Youth may have more say in choice of brides now than formerly, although the traditional formalized procedures of parents negotiating the marriage proposal and arrangements are still prescribed and followed in many instances. Such procedures often span several weeks or months, however, and if unwilling to wait or if faced with parental disapproval of one's choice, the boy has elopement as an alternative. There is some indication that the latter is not a recent development; the Pauls (1963) report for San Pedro La Laguna that "marriage by elopement, an expedient occasionally exercised since time beyond recall, increased to the point of becoming the dominant mode of marriage during the period from about 1900 to 1950." Since 1950, however, elopement has received growing disapproval from the increasing number of Protestants in San Pedro who have influenced a marked trend toward church supervision of marriages. This may well be a general trend in communities where Protestantism gains acceptance, in contrast to the traditional pattern wherein marriage was strictly an affair between two families. In either case, the youth or his parents petition the parents of the prospective bride, bringing gifts of food and liquor in a series of several visits appropriately spaced. In Chichicastenango a youth customarily initiates proceedings by approaching his prospective father-in-law in the plaza on a market weekend and inviting him to share some liquor. If the latter accepts, the youth continues to supply aguardiente while pleading his case. Once the elder is fully intoxicated he is dutifully supported home by the would-be son-in-law, whose parents then commence the formal visitations under the supervision of a testigo (witness), who is engaged as an impartial third party to serve as a go-between. If the girl's parents have thought better of the matter, the offered gifts need only be steadfastly refused to inform the suitor of his rejection. If the 98

gifts are accepted, however, the series of visits terminates with a festive meal, much advice to the young couple, and the return home of the groom's parents with their new daughter-in-law. San Pedro marriages conducted under the care of church officials differ from the Chichicastenango procedure primarily in the provision for both a civil and a church ceremony, on consecutive days. Meals are provided by both sets of parents for wedding guests; by the bride's parents Saturday morning preceding the civil ceremony, and by the groom's parents following both the civil and religious rites. Both in San Pedro and in Chichicastenango, as generally elsewhere as well, wedding godparents (padrinos) officiate in some capacity at the ceremony. A wife is expected to be subservient to her husband, but the degree of actual subordination varies from municipio to municipio (as of course it does from household to household). This subservience is reflected in such customs as the wife walking behind her husband and in the common assumption that a wife must submit to occasional beatings by her intoxicated husband. On the other hand, the cause of the beating is quite likely to be the wife's refusal to divulge the whereabouts of additional household cash for more liquor! Municipio differences in the freedom enjoyed by women are readily apparent; in Chichicastenango a woman seldom ventures from her domicile—far less to market —without her husband's permission, whereas in Totonicapan the women's greater economic independence and responsibility for the marketing give rise to a relationship of greater equality. Monogamy is the norm in at least most communities of the region,2 but there are variations in the tolerance of the polygynous 2 Panajachel informants in 1937 reported that polygynous unions with two and even three wives were common (or had been in the recent past) in San Lucas Toliman.

MAYA OF MIDWESTERN HIGHLANDS

unions which occasionally occur. In Chichicastenango even a principal succeeded in weathering the criticism which ensued on his taking a second wife. In general menwomen relationships are circumspect, in keeping with the formal and impersonal nature of most social interaction. On the other hand, infidelity is not strongly sanctioned, and illegitimacy is not a social disgrace in most communities. A man's authority increases with age, but if he has shared his father's home after marriage a son may have reached middle age before inheriting land and achieving full economic independence. This retention of the father's jural authority until his retirement or death produces both enduring family bonds and considerable latent hostility. Occasionally a man's property and wealth are divided among his children before incapacitating illness or death claims him, but in so doing he runs the risk of becoming an unwanted burden in his late years. In general, however, all elders are respected and revered, particularly as their service to the community entitles them to communal as well as kin deference. Little is made of death, the less so the younger the deceased. Church bells may announce the death, and that evening friends and relatives gather at the deceased's home for the all-night wake. Aguardiente figures prominently during the wake, and may be sprinkled over the grave during interment. The mood is rather festive, except perhaps among the immediate kin who remain with the candle-lighted bier during the night. The grave is prepared by friends, assisted perhaps by cofrades if in a community where a cofradía is charged with supervision of burials. The corpse, bathed and clothed in his best apparel, is buried with various personal belongings; in the case of a Panajacheleña with surviving children, sprouts of cane and two large candles are placed in the coffin to represent the children and thereby dissuade the departed from returning for her loved ones. Bodies are

interred with the head to the west, and in view of this the living are reluctant to sleep with their heads in this direction. Spirits of the deceased are subject to linger, or return to haunt the living if not accorded the proper amenities. Possibly to prevent this candles are lit in the home of evenings for a prescribed number of days following the funeral. It is noteworthy that All Souls' Day, the annual fiesta observed in each municipio in honor of the dead who it is assumed return to be with their loved ones on this occasion, is typically one of the more festive and merry fiestas of the ceremonial calendar. ANNUAL CYCLE

The alternation of the two seasons, winter (May-October) and summer (NovemberApril) governs the cycle of work for the milpero and only to a slightly lesser degree for the homemaker, merchant, or wageworker in the city. Although the months of November-February are relatively free of agricultural endeavor (except in municipios specializing in irrigation horticulture the year round), it is at this time of year that the coffee is harvested in the lowland plantations. For many families needing this supplementary income, therefore, it is the season of hardest work for both the man who goes to the plantations and his family who must get along without his assistance at home. McBryde (1947, p. 34) has plotted the distribution of highland labor sources for a number of the coffee fincas on the Pacific coast. In the one municipio of Chichicastenango, in addition to the thousands of Maxeños who reside permanently in finca settlements, it is estimated that perhaps half the households are represented in the seasonal harvests (Tax, 1947a). The more industrialized municipios are less dependent on such income. Life is hard in the midwestern highlands, and constant labor is the norm. Careful budgeting of time and resources determines one's range of marriage possibilities, one's 99

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respect in the community gained through hierarchy service, and one's ability to cope with the ever-present threat of sickness. The only breaks in the daily routine of dawndusk labor (not broken by even a siesta) for most households are the periodic fiestas and Sundays, when fieldwork is frowned upon. During the former a constant state of intoxication is not uncommon; during the

latter a wide range of indoor tasks such as care of tools and weaving fill the day, leaving little time for interhousehold visiting. Such visiting is relegated in large measure to the marketplace, and indeed in vacanttown municipios such as Chichicastenango the Sunday markets serve social functions as important as the economic.

REFERENCES Adams, R. N., 1960 Bunzel, 1952 Ewald, 1954 Goubaud Carrera, 1949 , Rosales, and Tax, 1947 Hinshaw, 1966 Inst. Indigenista Nacional (Guatemala), 1948a-f, 1949a, 1949b King, 1952 Lothrop, 1928 McBryde, 1934, 1947 Mendelson, 1958, 1959, 1962 Nash, M., 1955, 1956, 1958a

100

O'Neale, 1945 Paul, 1950a, 1950b and Paul, 1952, 1962, 1963 Redfield, 1938, 1946a, 1946b Ricketson, 1939 Rodas Ν., Rodas C., and Hawkins, 1940 Rosales, 1949 Saler, 1962a, 1962b, 1964, 1965a, 1965b Schultze-Jena, 1933 Tax, 1937, 1946, 1947a, 1947b, 1949, 1950, 1953, 1964 Wauchope, 1938

6. Eastern Guatemalan Highlands: The Pokomames and Chorti

RUBEN E,

Ε SHALL CONSIDER the eastern Guatemala highlands under two major divisions: the Pokomames and the Chorti.

W

THE POKOMAMES

Geographical Sketch The area inhabited by Pokomames is crossed by low mountains. In the western section the Pokomames are concentrated in a few pueblos at an altitude of 1000-1300 m., those of the east are at 676 m. This subtropical area has a dry and a wet season. The year averages 180 days of rain, with nearly daily showers from June through November. Rain decreases abruptly in late November, to only a few days in December and to none thereafter. The humid heat of June through November contrasts sharply with the dry, windy cold during the rest of the dry season. January and February are considered extremely cold, with an average temperature of 16°C. Other months average 19°C.-21°C.

REINA

The topography is diversified by streams, rivers, springs, steep hills, and plateaus; pine and oak bosques, with underbrush, offer a variety of conditions for habitation. Except for the very low, rocky or extremely high sites, land is intensively cultivated. In some parts milpa and oak are rotated. The land is usually cultivated for two years and then permitted to rest while the oak grows. After the fourth year, when the oak is cut and made into charcoal, the cycle begins again. The soil is not generally deficient in mineral salts but the intensive cultivation, the disappearance of woods, and the torrential rains have caused much soil depletion. For several hundred years the natural resources of the region have been exploited and depleted. Game, fish, and wild plants are now scarce. Cultural and Linguistic

Distribution

The Pokom group in the 16th century was in the southern part of Alta Verapaz, the 101

FIG. 1 — L I N G U I S T I C MAP OF HIGHLAND GUATEMALA, CA. 1575. (From Miles, 1957, fig. 1.)

FiG. 2—DISTRIBUTION OF THE EASTERN POKOMAM, DEPARTMENT OF JALAPA. (From Arreaga, 1946, fig. 1.)

ETHNOLOGY

northern part of Baja Verapaz, and the central part of the Departments of Guatemala and Jalapa. Miles (1957) uses the term Pokom to mean the language spoken by those people who call themselves Pokomam (fig. 1), commonly known as the Pokomchi group of the Verapaz region and the central and eastern Pokomam groups to the south. Kekchi, Pokomchi, central Pokomam, and eastern Pokomam are closely related and are spoken in Guatemala by about 183,000 Indians (Census, 1950). Here I am concerned with the central and eastern Pokomames, whose history reveals (Miles, 1957, pp. 736, 738) that since ". . . the sixteenth century [they] lived in the same towns of the eastern Guatemalan highlands that they occupy today." An exception is the community of Mixco, whose population was moved from Mixco Grande to its present locale 15 km. west of Guatemala City and then mixed with Mexican Indians brought in by Alvarado (Morgadanes, 1940, p. 363). The Pokom area has been split by Spanish-speaking communities of Ladinos. Chinautla and Mixco (Department of Guatemala) and Palin (Department of Escuintla) are in the central area; Mataquescuintla, San Carlos Alzatate, San Luis Jilotepeque, and San Pedro Pinula (all in the Department of Jalapa; see fig. 2) are in the eastern group (Arreaga, 1946, pp. 48-49). The 1950 census lists 11,434 Pokom-speaking people distributed among heads of municipios and main hamlets. In El Salvador the Pokom-speaking people were overrun (cf. fig. 1) by the more populous Pipil-speaking group (Miles, 1957, pp. 73642). Currently, the Chinautlecos claim to speak the same language as inhabitants of Mixco, although with slight differences from those of Palin and with many differences from the Pokomchi. They have had no dealings with people from the eastern Pokomam group. The community of Tactic in the Pokomchi region of Alta Verapaz, 104

however, attracts some of the Chinautlecos on an annual religious pilgrimage. They find it surprising that they can converse readily with the Pokomchi, (Mayers, 1960a,b), whereas with Quiche aldeas in the Chinautla municipio communication is possible only through Spanish, the lingua franca. Most adult Chinautlecos are bilingual, but basic features of the Pokom grammar are carried over into Spanish. In the rural life of Guatemala the separations imposed by linguistic differences have been overcome by a type of bilingualism particularly appropriate in economic transactions and in religious pilgrimages. History Archaeological sites reveal clues to preconquest history. Miles states (1957, p. 754) that, "sixteenth century distribution of Pokom-speaking peoples, the enclaves in El Salvador, settlements around Guatemala and the population in Vera Paz, the lowland connections shown in calendar and names for gods indicate a complicated picture of historical association and movement." In the precolonial period, the Pokomames established themselves in the valleys of Mixco, Petapa, Jilotepeque, and Chalcuapa. The Spaniards faced them both as isolated groups and as allies, as in the case of the Chinautlecos and the people from "Old" Mixco, against the aggressor (Milla, 1879, pp. 152-54). San Luis Jilotepeque at the time of the conquest had a population of 820, and after the curate was established in 1769 there were 3,289 Indians (Gillin, 1951, p. 9). Cortez y Larraz reported that Chinautla had a population of 1,243 in 1776, mostly Indians gathered from the barrancas of the Rio de las Vacas. Mixco population was transplanted, a technique used by the Spaniards to subjugate the scattered Indian enemies (Milla, 1879). Of Mixco, Cortez y Larraz wrote: "Nowadays women work in clay, making pottery

FIG. 3—MAP OF CHINAUTLA. (From Reina, 1966.)

ETHNOLOGY

without a turning wheel, painting and firing them without an oven and they appear good and beautiful" (National Archives, Guatemala City, MS). The technology and economy based on pottery making is no longer a Mixco trait, but is now the major enterprise of Chinautlecos. An examination of colonial documents (National Archives, Guatemala City) indicates that Pokomames were in contact with Indian populations from other regions, with Spaniards and Ladinos in the official positions. The Pokomames re-emerged with a new life by the 18th century, exercising a "self-government" and attempting to assert their human rights. Those of the valley of the Rio de las Vacas were by decree of May 21, 1723, placed under the municipio of Chinautla. Since then there has been a constant struggle among Indians and local Ladinos for the administration of the municipio. In 1799 the Tribunal del Estado ordered that all communities with over 100 taxpayers have a school for teaching the rudiments of reading and writing in Spanish in order to permit participation in church services. Compliance was doubtless difficult for both Indian pupils and Ladino teachers. It was one of the few direct and legal means of contact between "white" and "Indian" people, for previously the native population had been protected legally by the Ley de Indios which forbade the intrusion of Spaniards into the Indian neighborhood (Villacorta, 1926, p. 296). The social relationship between Indian and non-Indian elements, largely determined by legislation, established the rudiments for the particular type of social stratification and ethnic differentiation which, in spite of political change, is present today in the Pokomam settlements. History of Ethnological

Investigation

Miles' ethnohistorical study of the Pokom of the 16th century gives the only area 106

ethnography. The rest of our knowledge comes from researches in the communities of San Luis Jilotepeque (eastern Pokomam group) and Chinautla (central Pokomam group). Tumin (1945c), working in San Luis Jilotepeque, was primarily interested in the structure and function of the castelike social relationship between Indians and Ladinos. Gillin (1951, 1957) focused on the culture as a system of security for both groups in the same community. My studies of Chinautla (1957a,b, 1959a, 1960, 1963a) were designed to show the effects of severe national change on the Pokomames' way of life and explored the values and premises underlying the Chinautlecos' behavior (1959b, 1963b). These exploratory studies have purposely preceded an ethnography of the community. A report now in press describes and interprets the culture of this corporate community and demonstrates the specific ways in which its culture controls the behavior and traditions of its members. Mixco wedding patterns and costumes are described by Morgadanes (1940) and Osborne (1945), but the results of current research at Palin by Eileen Maynard are not yet available.1 The lack of data for other Pokom-speaking communities is notable. No doubt they all share the frequently described elements of Maya origin, but are the communities culturally and socially similar or different after the disruption caused by the conquistadores and later historical events? In view of our limited knowledge of the Pokomames of the 20th century as a group, I shall consider here those of Chinautla, 1 Eileen Maynard, of Cornell University, is making a comparative study, from data collected in Palin (pop. 4000), of the role of Indian and Ladino women. Although there are many similarities in the Palin and Chinautla community cultures, Miss Maynard believes Palin is midway between the traditional Indian and Ladino cultures. Among the changes noted in Palin is the decadence of the role of the principales and of the cofradía organization.

POKOMAMES AND CHORTI

FIG. 4 — P O K O M A M HOME. (From Reina, 1960, fig. 1. Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University.)

with comparisons from the work of Gillin and Tumin in the community of San Luis Jilotepeque. Subsistence and Food The Indian's main aspiration is to become a milpero. Ideally, he hopes to subsist entirely on milpa, marketing surpluses and using the income to buy staples. This aim is seldom realized, however. Corn and frijoles are the main crops. Seeding with the stick takes place soon after the first rains in May or June; in July the plants are hilled up in small mounds. The bending of the cornstalks takes place in November and December, followed by harvest in January. From May to September food is scarce,

prices are high, and the mood of the people shows their concern. An abundance of food in October, however, makes it a happy month. Most Chinautlecos are unable to produce a sufficient amount of corn and frijoles for the entire year's supply. When prices are high they use their own supply, buying only when prices drop. A poor crop is cause for much anxiety because a family cannot live on the cash income made from the sale of pottery and charcoal when the family is large and religious obligations are heavy. In very recent years Chinautlecos have experimented with a cash crop known as huisquil (Sechium edule Swartz). Three crops can be grown during the dry season by elaborate systems of irrigation. The com107

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FIG. 5 — M U N I C I P I O S MOST FREQUENTLY VISITED BY MERCHANTS SELLING CHINAUTLA POTTERY. (From Reina, 1960. Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University. ) B. CHINAUTLA Α. GUATEMALA CITY 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23.

Masagau San Jose (Puerto) San Juan Sacatepequez San Martin Jilotepeque Comalapa Totonicapan Solola Nahuala Zunil Atitlan Retalhuleu San Pedro Yepocapa San Juan Alotenango Tiquisate Santa Lucia Cotzumalhuapa La Democracia Escuintla

bination of milpa in the rainy season and huisquil in the dry months provides a full yearly agricultural cycle for those who resist giving up their traditional agricultural activities. The basic diet of the people consists of corn in the form of tortillas, black beans (frijoles), only a very few boiled vegeta108

4. San Pedro Ayampuc 5. Chuarrancho; Nacahuil 6. San Raymundo C. QUEZALTENANGO 24. San Jose del Rodeo 25. Malacatan 26. Ayutla 27. Coatepeque Data used in this map were collected through interviews with merchants who were purchasing Chinautla pottery in the markets of Guatemala City.

bles, some fruit, and a very small quantity of meat. Tortillas are made in the Mesoamerican manner with the grinding stone and the comal. The diet is frequently supplemented with atoles, tamales, and meat during fiestas held by the community or independently by families. The property of "hot" or "cold" as attrib-

POKOMAMES AND CHORTI

uted to food is primarily to counteract the ill health of a person. For instance, ice cream is "hot" so it cannot be taken by a feverish individual. Settlement Patterns and Houses Chinautla does not possess the characteristic Spanish settlement pattern (fig. 3). 2 Planning and symmetry are lacking (Reina, 1960, p. 113). Of the 346 houses 95.8 per cent are occupied by Indians, 4.2 per cent by Ladinos and Mengalas. Houses are constructed in the general Maya style (fig. 4), although the material is changing to tile or sheet-metal roof with adobe walls. Within the compound of an extended family may be dwellings of several types. In most cases the old thatched roof and cane or adobe walls remain the property of the oldest member of the family; the younger ones build the modern type. Families divide their property along natural monjones (landmarks ), which can be large trees or a series of izote (a cactus plant). Chinautla is divided into cantones and its people are further subdivided into los arribeños and los abajeños. The former have the reputation of better economic status. The divisions control social interaction. Thus, it is difficult for a young man to win a wife from an opposite cantón unless he is persistent and has the help of a camarada (friend) from that cantón. Technology TECHNIQUES OF PROCESSING AND

MANU-

The two industries basic to the economy of Chinautla are charcoal and pottery. Charcoal making is a man's activity. A pit is dug in a cliffike location protected from winds for safe burning during rainy days. For three days the burning continues undisturbed, with periodic visits to determine its progress. When burning is completed the wood is quickly uncovered; each FACTURING.

2 This in contrast to San Luis Jilotepeque as reported by Gillin (1945, p. 4).

FIG. 6 — P O T T E R Y READY FOR FIRING. (From Reina, 1960, fig. 5. Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University.)

stick is carefully examined to be certain that it is not burning internally, then classified by size for marketing, and put into a maguey net. Pottery, both its fashioning and marketing, is an occupation of the women. Not to be a potter is equivalent to being a lazy woman. The tinajas (water jars) are wellknown throughout Guatemala for their quality (fig. 5). Each tinaja is formed from bottom to top by the coil method. The operation involves three steps: (1) The base is formed by using an old vessel as a mold. (2) After drying for a day in the open, the base is brought back to the molding board and the body of the vessel is built up by adding, then flattening and lifting, two thick coils of clay—one for the lower half and one for the upper half of the tinaja, leaving an aperture only large enough to admit the potter's arm. (3) The vessel dries another day, after which the neck and handles are added (cf. R. E. Smith, 1949). When a dozen are completed they are polished with a round stone, sometimes obsidian. For firing they are placed upside down in a pyramid (fig. 6). Many thousands of tinajas are retailed in the Guatemalan mar109

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 7 — T H E HOME ALTAR. (From Reina, 1960, fig. 9. Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University.)

kets throughout the year, primarily during the dry season. Here lies the economic importance of Chinautlecas in the highlands. Very few potters attempt innovations in their work; those who do, lose prestige. Of interest is the correlation between innovations and women of progressive religious ideologies (Reina, 1963b). Two other specialized industries are the making of building tile from local clay, in demand for the new type of houses, and adobe bricks. HOME FURNISHINGS. On a rustic table placed directly against the east wall of the main room is the family altar, symbolizing the predominant place of religion in the

no

Pokomam way of life (fig. 7). It is a simple arrangement of a lithographic print of a statue in the center with a candle on either side and an incense burner 3 directly in front of the altar on the floor. Beneath the altar is the storage area for food, china, and other earthenware for ceremonial occasions. Each altar has a cup filled with water for the soul of the dead. On the other walls are pictures, as well as nails on which to hang tools, clothing, hats, and petates. The three-stone cooking fire is on the floor. Earthenware pots, coffeepot, pitchers, tinajas, and the grinding stone and comal are nearby. A 3 Copal is not used.

POKOMAMES AND CHORTI

small board, supported with a wire attached to the roof, prevents mice from reaching stored food. CLOTHING AND ADORNMENT. All Indian women dress in native costume. The corte of 7 or 8 varas in length is made into a pleated or gathered skirt, red for married women, green for single girls. The huípil is colorful with geometric patterns. The belt and shawl are important items of dress, especially the shawl which is put to many uses: (1) as head covering during religious ceremonies; (2) as padding under the tumpline; as wrapping for purchases, then slung across the back, and tied diagonally across the chest; or (4) as carrier for an infant. Shoes are not worn; necklace and earrings are common. The hair is braided with three or four thick strings of black, blue, or red wool (fig. 8). The dress of the Indian male has changed since 1925. The white trousers and shirt and red sash have been replaced by army khakis or bright blue trousers, plaid flannel shirt, leather belt, dark blue wool jacket, and straw hat. Caitas are used by the elders; young men go barefoot. The costume is a safe mark of the person's ethnic and social identity. All clothing is bought outside the community. The nearby aldea of Chillani (Quiche) provides the huipiles. TRANSPORTATION. The bus is a modern means of public transportation to Guatemala City and nearby villages, permitting Chinautlecos to market their products, do their errands, and then return to continue with daily chores or religious rituals. Many people still travel by foot, however. Loads are carried by the tumpline by both men and women. It is still judged a symbol of strength and economic reliability. The use of bicycles by commuting workers between the village and the city is increasing. Economy DIVISION OF LABOR. The division of labor in Chinautla by sex is indicated in Table 1. The tasks are designated according to sex

FIG. 8 — T Y P I C A L COSTUME OF CHINAUTLA

MAIDEN. (From Reina, 1960, fig. 4. Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University.)

and an exchange of work across sex lines under normal circumstances is considered shameful, though children's tasks are interchangeable up to the age of puberty. Age does not determine occupation. PRODUCTION AND MARKETING. The absence

of a community market has forced everyone to depend on the markets in Guatemala 111

ETHNOLOGY TABLE 1—INDIAN DIVISION O F LABOR BY SEX OCCUPATION

ADULTS

Μ

F

Either

CHILDREN

Μ

F

Either

House building Making clothes Getting water for household use Getting water for irrigation Hauling corn and wood House cleaning Cooking, corn grinding Hauling food Washing clothes Care and carrying of children Care of animals Collecting food, firewood, straw, dung Milpa care Cutting trees Charcoal making Pottery making Tile making and carpentry Gardening Buying daily food Buying food and items for ceremonies Hauling and marketing pottery Hauling and marketing charcoal Hauling and marketing vegetables Decoration of house for fiestas Playing marimba, trumpet, chirimía Playing drums, tun tun Playing turtle shells Rezadores, cantores Preparation of corpse Grave digging Midwifery Curing and brujería

City. Members of each family visit the market weekly and are impelled to enter into urban competition. The potters are motivated to sell, buy, and leave the market. In order to speed up this process, much social intercourse is sacrificed and for this reason only a small portion of the market complex affects them. Marketing is part of their economic life, and as such is a matter of necessity without alternative. The Chinautlecos' deep-seated honesty, derived from the "Law of the Saints" which forbids cheating, disrespect and the like, is not always matched in the heterogeneous urban market. The market is an economic service apart from the local social traditions. 112

Social Organization FAMILY AND KINSHIP. The kinship system is of the Eskimo type, characterized by monogamy, independent nuclear families, lineal terms for aunts and nieces, bilateral extension of incest taboos, and bilateral kin groups known as "my relatives." Residence is bilocal, with patrilocal emphasis. The family, composed of husband, wife, and children, is the basic association related to the marriage institution, and constitutes the socially approved setting for sexual relations. The extended family is still a desirable pattern. Over 35 per cent of the families are living in such groupings; the nu-

POKOMAMES AND CHORTI

clear family, however, maintains economic independence. Members of the extended family avoid internal disorder by observing strict rules of privacy and independence. Respect for age and leadership brings cooperation, primarily under circumstances of stress. Wives enjoy an economic independent role. They dispose of their earnings as they choose, buying staples, clothes, or other items for the family. Marriage and separation may be proposed by either partner, though the former is more likely to be initiated by the man, the latter by the wife because of infidelity or laziness. Parent-child relationships are very strong. Children are punished little. The boy accompanies his father to labor in the milpa, to gather wood in the forest, and to help in making charcoal. The mother trains her daughter in the feminine roles. To become a skillful potter is of great importance to a family. COURTING AND MARRIAGE. The selection of

a partner for marriage or common union is based on certain rules. Persons can marry, have sexual relations, or come together in free union if they have diffierent surnames, are outside the ceremonial kinship, and are from among the inhabitants of the pueblo. In formal proposals of marriage an intermediary approaches the girl's father (or in some cases a girl's go-between visits the boy's father) and initiates bargaining (el pedimiento), the point of which is to determine which family shall receive the couple into their home. Matchmaking has economic significance. Negotiations may continue for a year or more during which time baskets of food are often exchanged. When one family can no longer match the value of the other's gifts and its proposal for wedding expenditures, that family has "lost" one of its members. The civil ceremony, church ceremony, and the ritual conducted by the tatahpish last three days. (Cf. Osborne's description in Mixco, 1945.) The values of life are manifested in this quotation: "God

has ordered us to marry. It is God's will for us to suffer on earth through the death of children, wife, or husband. Besides, what would it be for a person to die without having been married? Who knows what would be the end of the soul of a person like that?" CEREMONIAL KINSHIP. A person becomes a member of the ceremonial kinship relationship through baptism, confirmation, marriage, or other rituals. The relationships by baptism and marriage are the most important. The selection of godparents appears to be simple, but actually it is a complicated process in which many rules are brought to bear and careful consideration is given to personality, blood and ethnic relationships, age, economic condition, political views, and any other factors which might prove a handicap to either coparents, godchildren, or godparents. Informants occasionally indicate that the selection is a simple matter, based on the belief that it is cheaper to select a godmother across "ethnic" lines, that if a godparent has had good luck in life he can influence the life of the child. Answers such as these are readily supplied to strangers, but in fact several days of careful negotiations precede the final arrangements and selection. CAMARADERÍA. Indian men, particularly young unmarried men, enter into special bonds of friendship known as camaradería (Reina, 1959b). They may be seen together in the streets or during rituals drinking and dancing with each other. This is a means of assuring an individual, in a publicly approved manner, that he will not be alone, and it is triggered, perhaps, by the strict social separation of ages and sexes. The reward of this friendship seems to be shortlived; the intensity of cariño reaches a peak without further satisfaction; then the friendship is dissolved in bitterness. SOCIAL STRATIFICATION. The Indian population think of themselves as naturales, descending from the the people who at one time lived at the nearby archaeological site of Nahtinamit. The natural manifests his 113

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TABLE 2—MUNICIPIO OF CHINAUTLA POLITICAL ORGANIZATION: 1954-1956

identity by owning and working his own milpa; his wife dresses in costume and is a potter in the practical art; he lives in a simple Maya-style house without beds; he is a devout "Catholic" who follows the "Law of the Saints"; he is order-oriented, outwardly submissive, well mannered, ceremonious, and bilingual. The stratification of Indian-Ladino is not rigid as castes, but one which in all other ways is more rigid and defined than an open-class society. It remains that the choice as to the "style of life" is possible outside the social milieu in which one was born. Chinautlecos, however, do not leave their community and style of life. Class distinction on economic grounds cuts across the group. There are four groups: (1) the very rich who possess the best land, who own animals and extensive forest lands; (2) los medio ricos; (3) los pobres; and (4) los muy pobres who are the shiftless ones, living on borrowed land, or working as laborers. The first and second groups share the distinction of being high up in the religious-political hierarchy and, therefore, can become leaders. 114

Political and Religious

Organization

The structure of civil administration is shown in Table 2. The alcalde and the members of the council are chosen by public elections. The administration falls into the hands of the alcalde, usually guided by a Ladino secretary. The alcalde is also Justice of the Peace and head of the alcalde's cofradía. The secretary, recorder, treasurer, and guardia rural are outside Ladinos appointed to assist in the administration of the municipio. Contact with the alcalde comes about at times of misbehavior, making of wills, and marriages. In the alcalde's cofradía the political and religious systems meet. This institutional arrangement provides the formal mechanism for dealing with community issues and survival of costumbres. The permanent members of the cofradía organization are the male and female ahpish,4 who are the spiritual advisors and leaders of rituals in the cofradía and in mar4 Ladinos called the ahpish, "tortulero" It corresponds to tertulero, derived from tertuliar—conversation.

POKOMAMES AND CHORTI

riages. They perform long and elaborate rituals in a high falsetto, using Pokom delivered rapidly. They seem nearly in a trance at times, but that stage is never actually reached. The belief in human beings possessed by spirits is not held. The ahpish has the key role of passing on costumbres and is a controller and counterbalance to change, especially in the religious tradition. In the political administration of the community he is most influential as well, and with dignity he can press for solution to specific needs.

interpretation suggest aboriginal continuity. CULT OF THE SOUL. Assisting souls of

departed relatives through the pilgrimage of afterlife is of great concern to Chinautlecos. In fact, it is considered a social obligation and a means of repaying for inherited properties. After nine days of prayer, when the soul remains in the house, a fiesta is held, at which moment the soul is released into purgatory. It is then remembered each year on All Souls' Day for seven years, after which it journeys to heaven and returns to its earthly home no more.

INTRAGROUP RELATIONS. Religious ritual

MYTH OF THE WORLD CREATION. It is be-

and political organization require much organization, coordination, and expense. The intricacy of the cofradía ritual calls for a high degree of cooperation. The common goal of members of the various organizations is to please the patron saint, with the long view of bringing upon themselves security as they comply with the "Law of the Saints." Member cooperation is essential for achievement of this goal. On the other hand, for those outside the formal organizations, hostility, aggression, and personal criticism and its potential for envidia constitute the cornerstone for practicing a high degree of individualism. Hacer envidia is the act of causing evil to fall on another person through techniques of witchery. Social ties, community-wise, are evidently tenuous and there are no communal activities to enhance social cohesiveness through cooperation outside the religious structure. Once membership in the cofradía ends after one year of service, the person does not find any other cultural means to anchor ties except within the extended family. Even here friction has increased during the last few decades with the participation of some members in politics and in Protestantism (Reina, 1959a).

lieved that when the earth came into existence, the first people were savage, without religion and without government. They killed each other and ate their victims. God became angry with all of them and sent a long rain which lasted 40 days and nights. Only a boy and a girl were saved, from which came the ancestors of Chinautlecos. The children were placed in a small box, which floated until the floods were gone and finally came to rest in Chinautla; then God came to make a paradise for the children in another place, cared for them, and taught them to seed the fields with milpa. They were tempted by evil and recognized that they were of different sex. God damned them and they left paradise to come to Chinautla, which is the center of the world and there all the nations and Indian tribes had their origin. Jesus came later to distribute land and help the people use it, and taught people to rest on Saturdays and Sundays. Another judgment will come, but then everything will be burned. God becomes bored with unfaithful people. LORE AND CREENCIAS. Creencias serve to explain the mysteries of nature and life. The charmed objects and places are highly respected, one of which is El Cerro del Niño, a prominent hill of the village. To this powerful hill and to the Volcan de Agua in the city of Antigua, Chinautlecos make offerings of food and prayers before the rainy

Religion and World View The Christian symbols and belief in the church, God, saints, Christ, and the Virgin are the core of religious belief. The use and

115

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season. The Niño, as well as other saints, lives, acts, and feels like a human, demanding attention. Interaction with saints becomes one of the most outstanding features of the dynamics of the culture. The universe of the Chinautlecos is composed of heaven, earth, and the underworld. The last possesses the same material elements as ours, with a great abundance of money which can be secured easily, but where there is no distinction between day and night, and hot and cold are unknown. Certain persons may be charmed at birth, are known as lechuzas or lichua, and can steal when invisible. People are made aware of their presence by their whistling. SECRETOS. These are formulas whose purpose it is to cope individually with problems of everyday life. They are formulas which are shared with friends only and, believed to be muy antiguas, are highly valued. To cure a headache one-half of a black bean is placed on each side of the head. Worms in children can be put to sleep by the mother if she taps the child's stomach gently with a piece of cane when the first thunder of winter is heard. To increase a man's courage he must kill a rattlesnake and remove its tail, keeping it in his pocket. LUCK AND DREAMS. Certain people are born with luck and by revelation are given signals to unearth treasure. As a rule, however, they fail to follow instructions explicitly and the treasure turns into charcoal dust. Luck is sought through the use of amulets or Christian symbols. In order to keep the evil spirit away from the home, a cross is painted in white lime at the entrance. The horn of a deer, a horseshoe, and bundles of garlic are thought to bring luck. Dreams are considered real actions carried out by the soul of the person when it leaves him in sleep at night. They are interpreted by the person, his friends, or in consultation with a zahorin. The soul, like the air, travels great distances in a matter 116

of seconds; if it does not return death occurs. ILLNESS. Life and death are believed to be in the hands of God and no medicine or treatment can prevent one from dying if death has been decided for him. Many of the illnesses are explained as acts of brujos who are working evil, and it is necessary, therefore, to find another brujo to counteract the deeds of the first. The best brujos reside in other communities, although locally there are people available with such skills. Mal de ojo and susto are believed to cause bodily discomfort. A newborn child is defenseless against a person possessing strong eyes who can cause skin rash, sores, constant crying, and inability to sleep. The best remedy is to permit the child to be held by the person responsible for causing the illness, to administer certain secretos including rubbing an egg on the child's body, giving an herb bath, or rubbing his body with clothing belonging to the one who caused the suffering. In susto (fright), the affected person becomes cold and appears to be dead. The soul is gone. Zahorines and/or rezadores are sought to help establish the location of the fright and on the spot with the aid of candles and prayers, the soul is brought back. Duendes and underworld guardians may cause physical suffering (espantos) and the person experiences a progressive loss of strength. Curers, zahorines, priests, and the secretos can cure or bring physical relief. Failure to cure indicates the presence of witchery or the saints' displeasure with a family or community. Aesthetic and Recreational Patterns FIESTAS. The fiesta titular is a religious obligation honoring the Niño. It requires a three-day celebration combined with public recreation and costs Q. 250.00, which totals as much or more than the annual cash income of most families (Reina, 1960, pp.

POKOMAMES AND CHORTI

103-07). Other important fiestas are the re-enactments of the birth and crucifixion of Christ. The religious calendar prescribes 68 days of formal rituals conducted by cofradías. For such occasions atole, tamales, tortillas, and chicken are ceremoniously exchanged. Music AND DANCE. During the cofradía ritual, the marimba, drum, and chirimía play continuously. A traditional folksong marks the moment of dancing in honor of the saint. Men's dances are exhibitions of individual skill following the dictates of rank and title. When the men complete their solo dances, the marimba changes the tune; the room is cleared, and the women, including the tutahpish and the capitanas, come from outside, dancing as a group with each one dancing individuallly. Cofradías during the Christmas celebration place a marimba outside, for Chinautlecos who come to dance. The partners are men; women watch at a distance. While the cofradía ritual for its members is strictly a religious affair, it is recreation for nonmembers with its food, marimba, and drinking. There are no organized games for adults. Fiestas, the market, occasional Mass, and family events are the only events breaking the rhythm of work. Life Cycle Facts concerning conception and pregnancy are not well understood. When movement is noticed in the "stomach" then it is realized that soon a child will be born. There is much secrecy surrounding pregnancy for fear of envidia and sorcery. Eclipses of the moon are very dangerous and the woman must not go outside without the protection of a red color or a pair of scissors hanging from her waist. Sustos or espantos to the mother may be passed to the child, resulting in a deaf mute. Mothers often see the coming of children as a burden assigned by God, while the

father looks upon the birth of a child as a proof of his manhood. The comadrona, with the husband's assistance, is in charge of delivery. A rope suspended from the center of the roof supports the mother, who is in a kneeling position during the birth. The newborn baby is not shown to anyone due to the possibility of evil eye. It is fed at the first whimper, and after 15 days of indoor living, mother and child can move about, and the child is placed in the paño on the mother's back. After the child's baptism the parents feel at ease in case of his death. Parents encourage the development of the child physically. At the age of four, mother and father stimulate the child to work by assisting him and testing his endurance. Failure to endure is sometimes considered humorous. It is a period of transition for the child; learning to suffer the hardships of life begins here. The trade of his parents is taught by instruction and imitation. A child is not taught to fight. When difficulties arise, the child tells his own father who in turn speaks to the parents of the other child. If no settlement is reached, the mayor is asked to intervene. Religious training starts early. The children are taken to Mass and to cofradía rituals, when the father or mother is an officer. During adolescence a boy is allowed to carry a machete, to smoke, to take guaro, to participate in dances, and to mix in the corner group to find a camarada. Daughters leave the mother's side in the potterymaking industry and select a corner of the household for making their own tinajas. Adulthood brings serious economic difficulty if the father does not own a good piece of land. The young man anxious to earn his living may work as a day laborer in the municipio or in the city, but this is not looked upon as a position of prestige. Old age is defined by the individual's 117

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TABLE 3 - E C O N O M I C ACTIVITIES BY MONTH

TYPE Generalized: Milpa Charcoal Pottery

JAN. FEB, MAR. APR. MAY JUN. JLY. AUG. SEP. OCT. NOV. DEC.

X X

X X

X X

X X

Specialized: X Huisquil X X X X Vegetables X X X X Fruits X X X X Animal husbandry X X X Mining: X Clay X X X Sand X X X X Fireworks, X cane trade X X X X Tile making X X X X Adobe X Merchandizing X X X of pottery X Labor in X X X X Guatemala City Key: X — More intense; χ — Less intense.

physical inability to carry on the most basic economic tasks and his having served in all the roles of the cofradía. When a son states that his father is very old, he means that the old man is no longer of economic value. The person feels that he will soon die and is ready to give away his property, frequently in exchange for care from a son who will watch over him in his last days, and care for his soul after death. An old person wishes bitterly for the end of his life. His soul is not forgotten. Funerals, offerings of food, drink, and candles at the grave, and water at the home altar all serve to aid him in his new state. Annual Cycle Chinautlecos are constantly occupied with earning a living. Table 3 summarizes the economic activities by month. It is significant to note that the dual occupation of the males, namely milpas and charcoal, keeps them busy the year around. Women are of great importance in the household economy. It is as important for 118

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X X X

X X X

X X

X X X

X X X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

a family to gain a good potter by marriage as it is a good milpero and charcoal maker. One may hazard the inference that the social individuality of the women stems from their knowledge that they can make a living. This combined economy of milperos and potters allows the community to maintain a rather elaborate ceremonial calendar. One is tempted to venture some generalizations on the relationship of the economic cycle and the religious activities. Yet, as one dips into the data, the argument for a correlation is tenuous. Families can make various arrangements among members to release manpower for the fiesta activities. Pokomames of San Luis Jilotepeque Gillin and Tumin present much the same basic style of life as that described for Chinautla. A summary of the content of the cultural pattern is given by Gillin (1945). It would seem that San Luis Jilotepeque may have moved further toward the adoption of some Ladinoized customs. There

POKOMAMES AND CHORTI

young men and women tend to abandon the Indian style of clothes, men and women dance publicly, and Ladino men dance with Indian women publicly (Tumin, 1952, p. 131). Although older Indians tend to reject the possibility and desirability of transition to Ladino status, younger Indians hold the transition both possible and desirable (Tumin, 1952, p. 69). As a result, young Indians begin to break away from the habits and customs of their elders. In contrast, Chinautlecos during their youth attempt few innovations; these survive only briefly in each person's life. The tradition of a corporate community greatly restricts changes. It was observed eleven years ago on my first visit to Chinautla that radical teenagers were taking employment in Guatemala City. This and other additional material traits I took to mean that the community was undergoing profound cultural changes. Some elders viewed it as an indication of the breakdown of tradition. However, eleven years later, the radical youth have become the conservative adults of Chinautla. The cultural uniformity within the community permits that each individual become "familiar with all the thoughts, emotions, and activities of the community" (Boas, 1962, p. 153). Interestingly enough, the artist-potter and the agricultural innovator in Chinautla succumbed under the natural weight of tradition (Reina, 1963b, p. 30). As Boas long ago stated (p. 153), "The uniformity of automatic reaction of the whole society is one of the strongest forces making for stability. When all react in the same way it becomes difficult for an individual to break away from the common habits." The ahpish is not mentioned for San Luis Jilotepeque, although principales constitute a group of elders, managers of local affairs, who seem to play a significant role in cultural retention (Gillin, 1951, p. 74). The study of personality by Billig, Gillin, and Davidson (1947-48) gives the view that the Indians are "stereotyped in their

thinking and show more tendency to force concept into the pattern of preconceived ideas. . . . In a situation not covered in advance by the cultural pattern the Indians would have difficulty in solving problems. . . . Indians lack spontaneous ease in their relations with life and are much preoccupied with deep-lying emotions ('primitive drives'). Their ideas are illdefined and vague, and they lack selfcritical tendencies" (p. 363). Gillin concludes that the orientation of the Indian is passive and adjustive. This observation corresponds in general to the public social role played by Chinautlecos. The variations among Chinautlecos are indeed very apparent, and many social incidents have shown that they can also be aggressive, tenacious, and critical. It is apparent that a postconquest Indian style of life permeates the orientation of the Pokomames. In the course of 400 years they have accepted material items, have made adjustments in the status-power of older individuals, and have separated, when necessary, the religious and political structure. However, these people continue to hold their communities, in spite of community membership in the national political structure, as the locus of their traditions. As there has been no interaction among Pokomames beyond community boundaries, the quality of cultural pattern may vary from one community to another. It has been evident for Chinautla that under stress they have remained tenacious, with the allimportant characteristics of their culture buoyant. San Luis Jilotepeque, even though farther away from urban pressures, appears to have been more receptive to culture change. Because Guatemala City has been expanding toward the west, Mixco has been surrounded by progress, and it is perhaps today the farthest away from the original Pokomam tradition. In summary, the ethnohistorical study of the old Pokomam culture (Miles, 1957) stands at one end of a continuum, while at the opposite end we 119

ETHNOLOGY

find Mixco, with Chinautla, Palin, and San Luis Jilotepeque, and aldeas moving in between. The exact position is impossible to fix at this time, but constitutes a field for further research. THE CHORTI

Geographical

Sketch

Chorti live in the municipios of La Union, Jacotan, Comatan, San Juan Hermita, Olapa, Quetzaltepeque, and Copan. "The pueblos of the area have been taken over almost completely by the Ladinos since the Conquest," states Wisdom (1940, p. 212). Chorti-speaking people are mostly found in the hills. The altitude causes climatic variation in this area, which is classified into lowlands and highlands. The municipio of Jocotan, in the lowlands, has a warm climate that produces palms and sugar cane and two crops of maize. The high altitudes permit only one crop each year, and here pine trees become typical. The area of Jocotan lies in the middle of a wide valley which extends from Chiquimula to east of Copan. Climate and natural resources range from a temperate country through ascending terrain to mountainous and cold high country. In the northern highlands is the pueblo of La Union; in the southern highlands are Olapa, Esquipulas, and Quetzaltepeque. The seasons for all areas are the rainy, near-dry, and dry. Cultural and Linguistic

Distribution

Students of the Chorti have stated that this group is culturally and linguistically close to the Maya of Yucatan and that the Chol of Chiapas and the Chorti speak mutually intelligible languages (Gates, 1920). Wisdom found dialectical differences among communities of Chorti. The degree of bilingualism was estimated good for men and poor for women in the 1930's. Chorti remains the domestic language in the municipios of Jocotan, Olopa, and Camotan. The Chorti live in the aldeas; the 120

more isolated the aldea, the more intensively Chorti is used. In the aldeas of the municipios of Quetzaltepeque, San Jacinto, Ipala, and Concepcion de las Minas the Chorti language disappears although other cultural factors are used to classify more than half its population as Indians. The 1950 census estimated an Indian population of approximately 60,000, of which less than half are Chorti-speaking people; the rest are Spanish-speaking Chorti Indians (fig. 9). Those of the isolated aldeas are noted for their cultural conservatism. Their culture appeared to Wisdom to be strong, and although some facts of modern medicine, education, roads, means of transportation, and political organization have been diffused, the resistance has been apparent in other aspects. Two incidents give a feeling for cultural persistence: (1) "An expensive market building which was put up in Jocotan pueblo about forty-five years ago was never used. . . . Indians from aldeas have consistently refused to sell their wares anywhere but in the open plaza, even during the rainy season" (Wisdom, 1940, p. 27, note 10). (2) "The Society of Friends (Quaker) of California has operated its mission and school in Chiquimula since around 1906 and has set up more or less permanent missions in the other pueblos of the department. Until 1933 they had made no converts among the Indians and had about decided to concentrate thereafter on the Ladinos, with whom they had had some success" (Wisdom, 1940, p. 371, note 7). History Copan was historically the cultural center from whence the Chorti population spread into El Salvador (Wisdom, 1940, p. 3). After the conquest in 1524, Pedro de Alvarado, assisted by priests, subjugated the Indians. In 1530 the Indians revolted, but soon Spanish troops again subdued them. The towns of Jocotan and San Juan Hermita were founded and Indians from Copan

THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK

FIG. 9—MAP OF CHORTI-SPEAKING AREA. (From Wisdom, 1940, fig. 1.)

ETHNOLOGY

were transferred here. Camotan was settled later with Chorti from El Salvador (Morley, 1920, p. 603). For the last three centuries the Indians have participated in the national organization. Chiquimula, as the seat of government, has had representatives under the various national governments to bring civil and military control to the Chorti. History of Ethnological

Investigation

Wisdom's work in the early 1930's is the main source of ethnographic information for the contemporary Chorti. His research focused on an area ethnography, and, as such, provided an important record. Although the cultural content is extensive, the absence of individual feeling and action bars the reader from the drama of life among Chorti people. No one else has continued the study as an area, and no singlecommunity study is under way.

122

Rafael Girard, (1949) has concentrated on the still controversial subject of origins and survival of Maya culture among the Chorti. Five volumes are available m Spanish. Subsistence Systems and Food Patterns The economic system falls roughly into the category of the small agricultural producer and merchant who are interested in a subsistence level. As a region, Chortis are self-suiBcient; but aldeas depend heavily on trading. The economic system is not very simple. The basic elements of a rural society—a free market, private property, use of money, rentals, and wages—differ from one aldea to the next. The degree of aldea specialization has served to bring Chortis together for continuous trade. The mode of economic life for the lowlands and the highlands is summarized from Wisdom (1940, ch. 2).

Place or Area

Environment

Production

Jocotan Jocotan (northwest) Jocotan (west) Jocotan (southwest) San Juan Hermita

Lowland Lowland Lowland Lowland Lowland

Olapa Jocotan-Olapa Tunuco

Lowland Midpoint Midpoint

Matasano

Midpoint

Olapa

Highland

La Union & Olapa Camotan Aldeas: Tesoro Braziliar Chiramay and Yocon Tapuan

Highland Highland

Two crops of maize; fishing Native-type baskets Braided hats & mats Fruits, vegetables Palm-frond baskets; professional lime making; tanning Fiber working; woodworking Pottery Sugar cane (growing & manufacturing); pine torches Maize, beans, vegetables Pine & oak charcoal Pine torches One crop of maize; three crops of beans; hunting (deer); garden vegetables; good clay Coffee, tobacco Coffee, tobacco Woven hats Indigo dye Leather goods Soap made from animal fat

POKOMAMES AND CHORTI

Maize prepared with lime is ground on the metate, made into tortillas, and toasted on the comal. During the spring, maize is an ingredient of atol, a drink favored both daily and on special festive occasions. Tamales of at least three types, distinctive to the region, are made with the ground maize and meat. Black beans are second in importance to maize. Most meals consist of tortillas and beans served with only water, coffee, or the atol. Of the total diet 65 per cent consists of maize, 22 per cent of black beans, leaving only 13 per cent for other dietary elements. Chicha, made from sugar cane, is drunk on ceremonial occasions. Rum or aguardiente, because of high prices, is consumed infrequently. Food preservation is rarely practiced. Maize, beans, potatoes, nonperishable fruits, and native sugar (wrapped in banana leaves) are stored until needed. The cooking techniques are mainly baking, toasting, boiling and baking on hot coals and ashes, and roasting on the spit. Settlement

Patterns

A basic division of the population is the pueblo and the aldeas. The pueblo has political jurisdiction over the aldeas, the distinction carrying the implication that the pueblo is composed of more advanced people whether Indians or Ladinos. The aldea Indians are considered rural and backward. They own the land and are classified as independent, nearly self-sufficient, farmers. The aldeas have not been carefully planned, and the terrain has determined the settlement patterns. The milpa land has been divided into plots; ownership is guaranteed after two or three successive years of use. Claims are made but rarely is a title secured. Land is sometimes owned by a group of families which cooperate for its exploitation. The pueblos attract the Indian population from

the aldeas on market days. Although contact with the Ladino towns is frequent, the aldeas retain an Indian tradition. The inter-village relationship can be understood best through the marketing system for the area. The pueblos of Jocotan and Olapa attract the Indian population of the municipios of Camotan, San Juan Hermita, and La Union. The adoption of a pueblo for marketing is specialized to the extent that no trading will be considered outside the usual selling place. Indians offer their products, Ladinos their services, and outsiders, such as Indians from the Pokomam area, bring their products. People from the same aldea, selling the same product, group themselves in the same area of the market. Chorti move from aldea to the pueblo, with a tendency to travel in groups. Technology TECHNIQUES OF PROCESSING AND MANU-

FACTURING. Textiles, pottery, sugar, and woodworking are the four industries of economic importance. The raw material permits the manufacture of nets, bags, hammocks, rope, tumpline, mats, hats, baskets, and brooms. Pottery is produced by the molding and coiling method. The clay is extracted from the near-by beds and good quality sand is used as temper. Special kilns are used for firing. The walls of vessels are sealed by boiling lime in them, then boiling pure water to remove the taste of the lime. Houses, sugar presses, household furniture, implements, musical instruments, and other objects are listed as the specialties of local woodworkers. Splicing, forking, notching, holing, pegging, wedging, tying, and gluing are their methods. HOUSES AND HOUSE

FURNISHINGS.

The

complete household includes two or three sleeping houses, a kitchen, several storehouses for maize, vegetables, and equipment, a privy for women, a sugar press, an altar house, and the family burial plot. The

123

FIG. 10—HOUSE CONSTRUCTION. (From Wisdom, 1940, fig. 4.)

POKOMAMES AND CHORTI

houses are distributed around a circular courtyard. Usually the family land adjoins the house. While the pueblo Indians build houses with tile floor and roof, and walls of clay brick, in the aldeas the construction is Maya (fig. 10). In Jocotan municipio the roofs and walls are covered with either sugar-cane leaves or palms. In Olapa municipio houses are covered with dried grass, clay, or small saplings. Because a house is built cooperatively the community participates in the new-house ceremony to incorporate the house into the community and to drive evil spirits out of it (Wisdom, 1940, p. 131). House furnishings generally include a built-in fireplace, bed structures, tables, chest and altar, benches and stools, grinding table, mats, hangers, and ladders. Among the household utensils are basketry articles, pottery utensils, gourds, stone metates, and wooden articles. There are pottery water jars, large cántaros, incense burners, and glazed coffeepots. Cooking is done in open ollas. The stonework articles such as the metate, handstone, and water filter come from the Pokomam area nearby. CLOTHING AND ADORNMENT. White is the prevalent color of garb for both men and women. Men wear bloused shirts outside of trousers. Women's skirts, which touch the ground, are made of material woven in the highlands of Guatemala. Women wear small crosses made of wood, and both women and children wear charms. Other kinds of necklaces are made locally with red beans from the coral tree and sometimes are combined with an old silver coin. Men place the coin in their ear opening as a decorative item and to prevent the evil wind from entering the body. Economy DIVISION OF LABOR. Wisdom reports that the division of labor is based on sex, age, and status. "The sexual division seems to be the most important, while that of age and

status is the least rigidly observed" (Wisdom, 1940, p. 187). A woman is expected to confine herself to domestic life, have little social contact outside the family circle, garden and attend domestic animals, gather wild fruits and vegetables, weave and fashion pottery, milk cows and attend pigs, occasionally weed fields, market, and carry children. Women are excluded from public activity; they are to have no association with tools (they should claim no skill with the machete); they are not to conduct ceremonial activities; and it is improper for them to use the tumpline. Men are expected to conduct ceremonial activities of native origin; take part in political activities; care for the milpa (fig. 11); store food; handle large animals; hunt, trap, collect wild honey, and fish; transport firewood and hay; do woodworking, housebuilding and make furniture; gather raw materials; market; and use the tumpline. It is considered improper for a man to carry children or loads as women do. Men and women supplement each other in their work. Women make the pottery, but men do the firing. Men provide the materials necessary for textile making, though the women do the weaving. Sexual division is more flexible under abnormal circumstances (Wisdom, 1940, p. 192). PRODUCTION AND MARKETING. The first desire of the Chorti is to possess land for the production of maize. Milpas also produce black beans, pumpkins, and some varieties of vine vegetables. Corn varies with the altitude from yellow to white and reddish in the highlands to red and black in the lowlands. At the end of the dry season the fields are cleared and prepared for planting. The 7-foot iron-pointed planting stick and the machete are the two main tools used in the milpa; hoes are used in the cultivation of gardens. Five or six kernels of maize are planted together with beans and other climbing products which can use the stalk as support. Three weeks after the 125

ETHNOLOGY WEALTH AND ITS USES. Those Indians who possess land, aptitude for leadership, and economic ability acquire high social prestige (Wisdom, 1940, p. 226). Land is the most valuable source of wealth and as such is a means of manhood and power.

Social Organization

FIG. 1 1 — C H O R T I MEN WITH PLANTING STICKS, MACHETES, AND GOURD CONTAINERS. (From Wisdom, 1940.)

doblada (between August and November according to the altitude), the maize is harvested and carried by means of the tumpline to be stored. Sugar cane, tobacco, rice, zacate, vegetables, citrus, bananas, mamey, cacao, and cotton are produced in smaller quantity. Domestic fowl including chickens and turkeys, and pigs and cattle may be found, but cannot be considered an Indian concern. 126

FAMILY AND KINSHIP. Single nuclear families composed of a married man and woman with their dependent children form the basic unit of the Chorti household. They live together in one house and cooperate in the cultivation of the land. The residence pattern is the "multiple household" type. It is described as "a group consisting of a number of related and mutually dependent households, all of whom live together or in the same neighborhood, and who act as a cooperating group in performing all their social, economic, and religious activities. This type of household receives the name noh muctak" (Wisdom, 1940, p. 250). The multiple household is composed of a chief household and from one to eight dependent households. The chief household (noh y otot) is composed of a family male head, his wife and unmarried children and their married children and mates serving their four-year period of marriage service. Secondary families are composed of husband, wife, and dependent children. Adoption is frequent and they become part of the secondary houses. The husband of these households is a son or son-in-law to the head of the multiple household; he is referred to as "our father," his wife as "our mother." Unmarried children are under the supervision of their father who is the family head. Under his supervision are also any married sons or daughters with their children. The household is an important organization for production and consumption. The responsibility of the head, "our father," is in marriage matters, organization of the group for the building of a new house, and in family land. His authority is felt two gen-

POKOMAMES AND CHORTI

erations below. His wife assumes the father's role in case of his death, but in practice a son or a son-in-law becomes the administrator. Land and house are owned by the multiple-household family. Inheritance is frequently complicated and there is often quarreling. The family proper name is given by the household father and is passed on in the patrilineal rule of descent. Each multiple-household family receives a nickname or apodo. This apodo may be the name of plants, animals, or behaviors. The apodo of a biological family is lost through marriages. "If the child's father is a biological member of his family, he receives his apodo through the father; but if his father has come with his family through marriage, he receives his apodo through his mother, who is a biological member of the family. Apodo endures forever regardless of whether its members stay in it or marry out of it" (Wisdom, 1940, p. 252). In summary, the arrangement described for this area shows a localized group of related extended families with a core group consisting of persons descending through either men or women from a common ancestor. Affiliation through the mother or the father depends on the residence of one's parents. The group also reckons as members spouses of both sexes and loses those members who move away after marriage. The group thus has the characteristics of a "compromise kin group" referred to by Murdock as a clan, except that the descent principle in this case is nonunilinear. The Chorti provide an example of a society with clanlike groups in the Murdock sense.5 COURTING AND MARRIAGE. Families select spouses for their marriageable children. The father or grandfather of a young person wishing to get married goes to the parents of the intermarrying family to request the consummation of the wedding. The families decide who should be responsible for expenditures. Bargaining takes place under the bilocal rule of residence and carries eco-

nomic weight. There is a period of three to four years of bride-service paid to the father or father-in-law. At the end of the period the couple receives land, domestic animals, and some equipment to set up their own home. CEREMONIAL KINSHIP. In the ceremonial kinship the padrino de bautismo has an important role. The expectant mother selects the padrinos and announces the birth by sending food to the padrinos. The mother, child, and padrinos go to the pueblo 40 days after the birth for the church baptism. The fiesta is prolonged for a period of eight days when the family saint is venerated, and the fiesta is ended with the killing of turkeys, preparation of atol and tortillas presented to the padrinos. Six months later the padrinos prepare a fiesta at which time a small chicken is given to the child. The padrino system is effective in case of the parents' death. They receive the portion of land belonging to the child in payment of expenses and at the age of eighteen the young person receives the land again. Friendship patterns among families of aldeas are carefully maintained. Expressions of such friendship can be noted when the first maize is available. The family of a lowland aldea sends some of its first corn to a family friend in the highlands where corn does not ripen until later. Aldea cooperation is expected in times of crisis, such as funerals, and in times of festivity preparation. Cooperation is part of sustaining the material and physical life. The value of cooperation goes beyond the 5 Certain work has presented evidence of the existence of lineage-like descent groups. See Goodenough, 1959; Ember, 1959; Solien, 1959. The present article was written in 1960 and revised in 1963, since which time new work has provided additional information. John G. Fought (1967) based his doctoral dissertation on fieldwork among the Chorti-speaking group and is currently preparing Chorti texts for publication. Helen Oakley (in Mayers, 1966) has contributed a chapter on the Chorti language. An extensive study in the cultural anthropology of the Pokomam group of Chinautla has been published by Reina (1967).

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households and ties the members of the aldea together strongly (Wisdom, 1940, p. 245). This seems to be in contrast with the Pokomames from Chinautla. Political Organization and the Nation The political organization described by Wisdom antedates the 1944 revolution. The divisions were the municipios with a pueblo seat of the offices subordinated to the governación. The department had a jefe político appointed by the president and this official in turn commanded the municipal officials. The juzgado, located in the pueblo, was the civil and judicial branch of the municipio whose head was the mayor. His two assistants were the alcalde segundo and the alcalde tercero. The mayor and his first assistant were elected by the voters, whereas the alcalde tercero, an Indian, was appointed by the mayor. In 1936 the municipal system was changed by act of the central government. The offices of alcalde and second alcalde were abolished and in their place the president appointed intendentes, responsible to him and to the jefe político (Wisdom, 1940, p. 230). Following 1944, the intendente was replaced by the alcalde elected under the organization of national political parties. Identification with the nation may be found among Indians of the pueblos, though those from aldeas show only vague understanding of national symbols. Religious Organization Much of the religious organization and ritual contain both Catholic and native elements. While the Catholic priests are considered part of the pueblo's religious organization, the padrinos, capitanes, and mayordomos with the organization of the cofradía are part of the religious organization in the aldeas. The padrino may be any old man who is respected, and some of them are specialized in rain-making. For this knowledge he is called the "wise man." At the end of the dry season he must bring the rain and 128

throughout the year he must assure his people that everything is going well between the aldea, God, and the native deities. The capitan's duty is to care for the pueblo saint. He is appointed for one year and is chief of the church mayordomos. He is in charge of the patron saint in his home altar and is obliged to care for him in veneration. During his year in office he is not supposed to have sexual intercourse with his wife and his wife is not to go beyond the husband's milpas. The assistant padrinos are called mayordomos in charge of the church; four are appointed annually by the priest with the approval of the mayor. Religion and World View Although no material on Chorti myths and ritual has been collected, data on the supernatural world and sacred elements constitute a large part of Wisdom's work. The Christian God is above everything else, acting as chief of all deities. Christ, on the other hand, is "apart from God . . . he seems never to be thought of as a savior or redeemer . . ." (Wisdom, 1940, p. 391). Of secondary importance are the native deities in the following order: Chicchan, the Working Man, ah katiyon, the wind gods, the gods of death and of sleep, the native patron guardians, and the spirits of natural phenomena. These are the Christian God's assistants. The Chicchans control and produce all phenomena of nature. The Working Men are giants who work together with the Chicchans (Wisdom, 1940, p. 395). The wind gods are in charge of the distribution of rain in the world. Lack of respect for them may cause an aigre which kills crops. They also give and take away human breath. The dual sex of the god of sleep controls the normal process of life; however, when in association with the god of death they can bring sleep and death quickly. The guardians include the saints, the god of sun and light, the moon deity, the deer god, and the god of remedies and mer-tcor. The sorcerers, curers, and diviners

POKOMAMES AND CHORTI

use the god of the sun and light; pregnant women are guarded by the moon deity; hunters and wild animals are under the protection of the deer god; the god of remedies is the patron of herbalists; mer-tcor guards the milpas. All living things and natural phenomena are represented by spirits. A dream is interpreted as the spirit leaving the individual temporarily. The whirlwind is the main god of evil. His association with the devil causes much fear (Wisdom, 1940, p. 405). The supernatural beings share most of the following characteristics: moral neutrality or duality, sexual duality, multiplicity, bilocality in sky and earth, and dual personality with native and Catholic counterparts (Wisdom, 1940, p. 409). The concepts of "good" and "bad" are used for time, direction, locality, number, form, and color. Thursdays and Fridays are bad days; west is a bad direction; down is evil; the number 3 is of ritual importance for women, 4 for men. The square is a sacred form related to milpa and the altar. White is symbolic of death; black is a ceremonial color; red signifies power; green is associated with growth; yellow is fruition. The intrinsic value of each thing is carefully calculated, and the behavior of the deities carefully predicted and controlled by their offerings, actions, and thinking. Deities, human beings, and concepts are in constant interplay constituting a predictable framework. Fright (aigre) causes illneses. It is believed that a person becomes ill because he is "weak"; therefore, a "strong" person is not susceptible to diseases caused in any manner. ΗijiΙΙο, an unnatural type of aigre, is almost visible because of its filth. This may be sent into the body of a person by sorcerers. Antisocial behavior in an individual is a sure sign of the power of sorcery. Chorti believe in four methods used by sorcerers: ". . . maltreat a specially prepared image of the victim; appear before him in the guise of a familiar and harmless animal,

such as a pig or vulture, and throw the sickness upon him at close range; bury candles, and copal; and send sickness and death by prayer alone" (Wisdom, 1940, p. 337). Various means have been devised for coping with illnesses. Frogs may be passed over the body to transfer the disease; spitting chewing tobacco; surgery to release the aigre; application of herbs; and the use of milk of a black cow, deer horns baked in a fire, flesh of the taltuza, spines of the porcupine, head and tail of the rattlesnake, and others have curative properties.

Life Cycle Chorti are aware that from sexual intercourse comes pregnancy. The woman is weakened during pregnancy and is subject to aigre and magical illnesses. The eclipse of the sun and moon are matters of much concern. The kneeling position is adopted for delivery, and women may choose to give birth alone or with the assistance of a midwife. Combinations of herbs are used during painful moments. Soon after birth the baby is bathed in the fumes of copal to protect him from aigres. A three-day festival follows, celebrating the birth, in which relatives, friends, and neighbors join in offerings and petitions for the child's good future. The child is named by the almanac and in consultation with the priest. Spanish first names and Chorti last names seem to be the pattern. When the child is 40 days old the baptism ritual is performed by the priest of the pueblo. The role of the mother in protecting the child from evil during his growing years is very special. The baby is nursed for two years and then suddenly weaned. Later the child passively participates in his mother's domestic and economic activities. At five years of age he wears a shirt and at eleven he is given a man's clothing. At six years of age the child follows his father or 129

ETHNOLOGY

mother, according to sex, observing and imitating the parent's work. Children "never organize in games. They talk very little and in a low tone among themselves. They show no excitement in one another's company" (Wisdom, 1940, p . 2 9 6 ) . Marriage takes place between the ages of 16 and 20. Marriage of first cousins is discouraged b u t if consummated a high fee is charged. Eight days of feasting follow a marriage ceremony. Afterward h u s b a n d and wife are expected to live together in harmony, and if sexual rules are broken the penalty is severe. W h e n death occurs, the burial takes place not far from the chief household in an area unfit for cultivation. T h e body is buried

without a ceremony and the funeral feasting begins. "The m e n of the family set u p a temporary funeral altar in the center of the floor of the sleeping-house and orient it, like the grave, in an east-west direction, with the head at the east end. D u r i n g the eight days a novena is recited at this altar by a prayer-maker. . . . O n the morning of the ninth day, the table is set in the kitchen with a great variety of foods. . . . T h e food is left untouched until about ten in the evening, during which time it is believed the spirit of the deceased returns to partake w h a t is set out for him. . . . This festival is celebrated three times in all: immediately after death, after the lapse of six months, and after the lapse of a year" (Wisdom, 1940, p. 305). 6 Annual

6 Specific information is lacking on socialization and personality development in Wisdom's area ethnography.

130

Cycle

Summary of the agricultural and ceremonial cycles follows:

April 25-May 3

Begins the ceremonial agricultural year. Purpose: to induce Chicchans to bring rain

Rain-making ceremony. Use of padrinos and water from sacred river. Padrinos abstain from sexual intercourse. Use of the blood of male and female turkey and chickens. Copal

May 3-6

Planting festival; consecration of seeds

Hiring of padrino for ceremonial planting. Sexual abstention. Candles burn at the home altar

May 11

Ceremony to the wind gods

Making crosses in fields. Sacred water sprinkled. No offerings

September or October

First fruits festival

Primicia. Crosses in family yards made of maize and stalks. Candles and prayers of thanks. Copal. Gifts of maize to friends

November

Harvest festival

Ceremonial food and chicha. Relatives and friends assist in the harvesting. Burning of candles. Visiting. Gay time

POKOMAMES AND CHORTI

Storage ceremony four days later

Four pieces of copal of maize-ear size. Headman places them in four corners of storage house. Stacking follows

Summary of fiestas to the saints and souls is taken from Wisdom (1940, pp. 447-60): April 25 (beginning of year) May 3 June 24 July 24-25 July 30 August 15 August 29, 30, 31 October 4 October 31 and November 1 December March 15 March 19 Palm Sunday

Festival of St. Mark Holy Cross Day St. John with the dance of the giants Santiago Apostol patron of Jocotan. Cofradías and mayordomos in celebration. Dance of the Huaxtecs. Toritos St. John, patron of San Juan Hermita Feasts of the Transition, the most important in the Chorti area. Moor dance, procession, chanting, singing St. Louis St. Francis in La Union Day of the Dead. In cemeteries and houses much feasting Christmas given little attention Virgen festival in Olapa. Devil dance performed St. Joseph, patron of Copan Coincides with burning of fields and milpa planting. No dramas during Easter. Families feast at home

Chorti practice no regular ritual in noncalendar ceremonial days. During droughts or other community crises the patron saint will receive four days of feasting. Families may borrow the patron saint from the church or cofradía for a family celebration during crisis. During the four- or five-day celebrations all economic activities cease, and Indians visit with compadres from other aldeas while consuming chicha. During important ceremonies connected with the milpas, strict sexual and food taboos are prescribed. The most sacred objects such as maize, copal, and turkeys are offered to their deities in the home and public altars. Tamales, tortillas, atol, chilate, and cacao are the main festival foods, accompanied by chicha. Music is played by flutists, accordionists,

and drummers. Persons may dance alone or in pairs within the same sex. Conclusion The Chorti live in various aldeas and pueblos but appear united with a sense of common history. The ties among people of Chorti communities are strong. The work of Wisdom remains the most valuable piece of research among the Chorti. From his approach one acquires a systematic orientation into their activities and their social, political, and religious structures. How much this has changed in 30 years is still unknown. The area offers a possibility of much work in culture dynamics, personality, and studies in which one can see the individual Chorti thinking and acting.

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REFERENCES Arreaga, 1946 Billig, Gillin, and Davidson, 1947-48 Boas, 1962 Ember, 1959 Fought, 1967 Gates, 1920 Gillin, 1943, 1945, 1948a, 1948b, 1951, 1957, 1958 and Nicholson, 1951 Girard, 1949 Goodenough, 1959 Goubaud Carrera, 1946 Inst. Nacional Indigenista (Guatemala), 1948c Mayers, 1960a, 1960b, 1966 Miles, 1957

132

Milk, 1879 Morgadanes, 1940 Morley, 1920 Osborne, 1945 Reina, 1957a, 1957b, 1958, 1959a, 1959b, 1959c, 1960, 1963a, 1963b, 1967 Smith, R. E., 1949 Solien, 1959 Starr, B., 1951 Tumin, 1945a, 1945b, 1946, 1949, 1950a, 1950b, 1952 Villacorta C., 1926 Wisdom, 1940

7. Chiapas Highlands

EVON Z. VOGT

Ν

ORTHWEST of the Guatemalan highlands and across the high Cuchumatan mountain massif lie the limestone and volcanic highlands of Chiapas, occupied by the Tzotzil, Tzeltal, and Tojolabal, three closely related Mayance groups whose ancestors apparently established themselves in Chiapas in late Classic times. When the Spanish arrived in central Chiapas in 1524, they found the lands divided among three principal Indian groups: the Zoque tribes inhabiting the western end of the state, the Chiapanec controlling the Rio Grijaiva and Rio Santo Domingo lowlands of the Central Depression with their capital near the present Chiapa de Corzo, and the Mayance tribes occupying the highlands to the north and east of the Central Depression. A number of Zoque villages still exist in western Chiapas, but the Chiapanec appear to have become completely assimilated (Lowe, 1959, pp. 4-5). The largest remaining indigenous populations are the Tzotzil, Tzeltal, and Tojolabal, who still maintain much of their Indian cultural background, and hence will comprise the focus of this article.1

GEOGRAPHICAL SETTING

According to the geologist Federico Κ. G. MüUerried, who devoted 25 years to the study of the geology of Chiapas (MüUerried, 1957), the state of Chiapas has seven distinct physiographic regions: a narrow coastal plain along the Pacific coast on the southwest; the Sierra Madre de Chiapas; the great Central Depression of Chiapas through which flows the Grijalva River (see Helbig, 1964); the Chiapas Plateau (or highlands) in the center of the state; the eastern highlands dropping off to the tropical rain forest country of the Usumacinta River valley; the northern highlands; and a small

1 This article has benefitted from comments by Robert M. Adams, Frank Cancian, John Hotchkiss, and Philip L. Wagner. Much of the material in the section on the Spanish conquest has been drawn from Barbara Metzger, "Notes on the history of Indian-Ladino relations in Chiapas," an unpublished research report prepared under my supervision in 1959-60 as part of my Harvard University research project on Mexican Cultural Change. The project is supported by grant no. M-2100 from the National Institute of Mental Health. I am grateful to Mrs. Metzger for her permission to use these materials.

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portion of the large Gulf coastal plain which extends on through Tabasco to the coast of the Gulf of Mexico (see fig. 1). The Tzotzil, Tzeltal, and Tojolabal are concentrated in the Chiapas plateau, or the Meseta Central de Chiapas as it is known by the Mexican geographers (Tamayo, 1949a, 1: 393-95). There is very close geographical correspondence between communities of these three Μayance groups and the area covered by this physiographic region (Vivó, 1961, p. 18). 134

This highland mass is about 220 km. in length along its principal axis running northwest-southeast from the vicinity of Pichucalco to the Guatemalan border, and 50-100 km. in width. It has a complex geological history as is evident in the schematic profile adapted from Miillerried (see fig. 2). The core is a massive plateau of Cretaceous limestone, but the originally horizontal strata have been much broken by faulting and by volcanic activity which occurred in the upper Tertiary and Quaternary.

CHIAPAS HIGHLANDS

FIG. 2—SCHEMATIC GEOLOGICAL PROFILE OF CHIAPAS. Southwest (left) to northeast (right). (After Müllerried, 1957.)

This mountain mass now has three basic layers: a broad base with an elevation of some 1000 m. above sea level, terraced margins with an elevation of around 2000 m., and a summit, for the most part between 2100 and 2500 m. with a gently rolling surface, but with a few peaks reaching over 2700 m. near San Cristobal de las Casas. The highest point, Cerro Zontehuitz, just north of San Cristobal, reaches 2858 m. and on clear days provides a magnificent panorama of vast stretches of this highland mass as it drops off to Tierra Caliente in all directions. The descent into Tierra Caliente is much more precipitous in a southwesterly direction, where the terraced margins are narrow and the descent from the summit to the Rio Grijalva in the Central Depression involves a drop of 2000 m. with only some

15 km. of travel in many places along the rim. In the other directions the terraced margins and the base are much broader and the descent to Tierra Caliente is much more gradual. The summit is extensively scarred with sinks, and there are many caves that are of ritual importance to the Indians. Fault-line scarps have divided the area into ridges and basins which drain internally. These upland basins are important for human settlement in the highlands. The largest of these enclosed valleys is occupied by the Ladino town of San Cristobal de las Casas; many of the smaller ones are the locations for the ceremonial centers for dispersed Indian communities. Surface drainage is slight on the summit, and the outlying Indian settlements are closely related to waterholes that 135

FIG. 3 — M O D E R N DISTRIBUTION AND LOCATION OF TZELTAL AND TZOTZIL COMMUNITIES. (Modified from Boroco, 1959.)

can be relied on in the dry season. Below the plateau rim, surface drainage becomes more important with decreasing altitude, and deep valleys have been carved into the skirts of the plateau on all sides. Springs are increasingly numerous at lower elevations, 136

providing ample water for coffee, fruits, and sugar cane. The dispersed Indian settlements that predominate on the plateau give way to Ladino hamlets and towns that are interspersed with large fincas and cattle ranches (R. M. Adams, 1961).

CHIAPAS HIGHLANDS

The Chiapas highlands have a marked wet and dry season. Most of the precipitation falls between May and October, and the winters are dry. The heavy summer rains, however, make these highlands among the wettest uplands in Mexico. At San Cristobal de las Casas, with an elevation of 2,128 m., the mean annual rainfall is reported to be 1,171 mm.; at Comitan, with an elevation of 1,635 m., the mean rainfall is 1,004 mm. (Wagner, 1959). According to Tamayo (1949b), there are areas north and east of San Cristobal that exceed these figures, especially toward the area of very high rainfall in northern Chiapas and southern Tabasco. For example, Vivó (1961) reports 1,572 mm. for Simojovel, 3,186 mm. for Palenque. One interesting feature of the rainfall pattern is a marked canícula in late July and early August, when the precipitation slacks off for a period. June and September are the wettest months, with mean rainfall at San Cristobal reaching almost 250 mm. during each of these months. On the plateau summit the climate is cool. During the winter dry season, the days are sunny and warm, the nights quite cold, with frost occurring in December and January. The hottest season occurs in the spring before the rains arrive in May. During the summer rainy season when the sky is overcast with rain clouds or with fog settling in the valleys in the early mornings or clouds condensing and pouring up over the plateau rim, it is cool most of the time. The higher elevations in the highlands are covered with magnificent stands of pine of various species, interspersed with oak of several kinds. At lower elevations, the stands of oak replace the pine, and the oak in turn gives way to tropical broad-leaf forest and savanna as one approaches Tierra Caliente. According to native informants, the highland forests formerly had many deer, rabbits, coyotes, and several varieties of cats. But these animals have been largely hunted off, and today except for birds and small animals like skunks, raccoons, and

FIG. 4 — M A N FROM HUIXTAN, CHIAPAS. (Photographed by David Amram, 1933. Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University.)

Opossums, one may travel for days in the highlands without seeing a single wild animal. CULTURAL AND LINGUISTIC DISTRIBUTIONS

The predominant settlement pattern in the Chiapas highlands is one of Ladinos occupying the major towns—like San Cristobal de las Casas, Teopisca, and Comitan—and Indians living in outlying rural municipios. 137

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 5 — W O M A N WITH CHILD FROM SIBACA, CHIAPAS. (Copyright, Gertrude Duby.)

138

The Indian municipios have a cabecera, or political-ceremonial center, containing the cabildo, the Catholic church (or churches), and houses inhabited mainly by the Indian officials who are serving for the year in the civil-religious hierarchy that governs the municipio and manages its central ceremonial life. Some cabeceras, like Huistan or San Andres Larrainzar, have substantial Ladino populations, engaged mainly in commercial activity with small stores and cantinas; others have few or no Ladinos, like Zinacantan, Chamula, or Chanal. The bulk of the Indian population in most municipios lives in scattered hamlets, called parajes, in the mountains surrounding the political-ceremonial centers. There are some notable exceptions to this dispersed settlement pattern, especially in communities like Amatenango and Aguacatenango, established in postconquest times, which have compact settlement patterns. The Tojolabal also seem to lack, for the most part, the ceremonial-center-outlyingparaje pattern that is found in the Tzotzil and Tzeltal area. Rather, most of the Tojolabal appear to have been attached to large ranches near Comitan until the late 1930's, and consequently were in closer contact with Ladinos than were the high mountain villages of the Tzotzil and Tzeltal. The result has been far more integration into the Ladino patterns of government and religion and a consequent loss of the old Tojolabal patterns of settlement and social and religious organization (Montagu, 1958). Each Indian municipio has distinctive dress styles, its own local dialect, patron saint, and local version of social organization, customs, and beliefs, all of which are important in distinguishing one municipio from another in these essentially corporate communities. In broad perspective, the cultural patterns and social organization are quite similar throughout the Chiapas highlands, but the local variations on these general themes indicate that over a consider-

CHIAPAS HIGHLANDS

able time an interesting and complex process of differentiation has occurred. The Tzotzil-speaking population is now found in 22 municipios, located both north and south and, except for Huistan, generally west of San Cristobal de las Casas (see fig. 3). There is substantial variation in the precentage of Tzotzil-speaking people in these municipios. Some are entirely or largely Indian; Chamula, Chalchihuitan, Chenalho, Mitontic, Huistan, San Andres Larrainzar, San Juan El Bosque, and Zinacantan are all reported to be over 85 per cent Tzotzil-speaking. Others like Bochil, Huitiupan, Jitotol, Pantelho, Pueblo Nuevo Solistahuacan, Simojovel, Totolapa, and Venustiano Carranza range between 40 and 70 per cent Tzotzil-speaking. The six remaining municipios—Ixtapa, Soyalo, San Cristobal de las Casas, Teopisca, Zapotal (San Lucas), and Acala—have less than 25 per cent of the population that is Indianspeaking. A large proportion of the Tzotzilspeakers in the municipio of San Cristobal are found in San Felipe and in scattered Chamula settlements that have recently entered this municipio. The Tzotzil-speakers in the predominantly Ladino town of Teopisca are descendants of immigrant families from Huistan and Chamula (John Hotchkiss, personal communication, November 1, 1963). To the west of the northern Tzotzil communities lies the Zoque country of western Chiapas, to the north lies Chol territory. The Tzeltal-speaking population is now found in 12 municipios, located both north and south and all to the east of San Cristobal de las Casas. There is also variation in the percentage of Tzeltal-speakers in these communities. Some are almost entirely Indian: Aguacatenango (located officially in the municipio of Venustiano Carranza), Amatenango, Cancuc (officially in municipio of Ocosingo), Chanal, Chilon, Oxchuc, Tenejapa, and Petalcingo (located officially in the municipio of Tila) and Sitala are all

reported to be over 85 per cent Tzeltalspeaking. The others—Altamirano (San Carlos), Ocosingo (total municipio), Villa de las Rosas (Pinola), and Yajalon—are approximately 65 to 80 per cent Tzeltalspeaking. For additional data on the distribution of Indian-speakers in Chiapas based on the 1950 census see Marino Flores, 1963. To the north of the Tzeltal lies the Chol country, and well off to the east along the Usumacinta, the territory of the Lacandones. The Tojolabal-speaking population is now found in four municipios, just to the southeast of the Tzeltal distribution. These municipios are Comitan, Las Margaritas, La Independencia, and La Trinitaria, with the overwhelming number in the municipio of Las Margaritas north and east of the town of Comitan (Montagu, 1958). PREHISTORIC ORIGINS

Details on the prehistoric origins of the Mayance tribes of central Chiapas can be found in volumes 2 and 3 of the Handbook. Only a brief interpretive summary of recent archaeological and linguistic work and its probable implications is given here. The recent archaeological work of Robert M. Adams and his collaborators (see Adams, 1961) indicates that the highlands of Chiapas remained a lightly occupied, culturally backward area until perhaps A.D. 700. At about the beginning of the Late Classic period there was a rapid increase in the number of settlements, coupled with the introduction of numerous new ceramic wares and forms that find no parallel in the sequence at Chiapa de Corzo in the Rio Grijalva valley. This Late Classic influx probably represents the arrival of the ancestral Maya stock, which has since locally differentiated into the contemporary Tzotzil and Tzeltal. This conclusion is supported by the recent lexicostatistic findings of McQuown 139

FIG. 6 — T E N E J A P A N E C O S AT SUNDAY MARKETING IN TENEJAPA CENTER. (Copyright, Gertrude Duby.)

(1964), which indicate that the ancestral Tzeltalan peoples probably left the protoMaya community in the northwest highlands of Guatemala approximately 750 B.C. and migrated to the Usumacintà drainage in the lowlands. Between A.D. 500 and 750, McQuown believes, they moved west into the highlands of Chiapas, where Tzeltal differentiated from Tzotzil at about 1200. An interesting additional question is by what route the proto-Tzotzil-Tzeltal reached the Chiapas highlands if they did not come by way of the Comitan valley, which was apparently occupied by the Tojolabal. 140

Adams (1961) suggests the possibility that the movement may have occurred well to the north of Comitan, perhaps entering the highlands from the Ocosingo region. If this was the case, the ancestral group must have been extraordinarily close geographically at one time, or may have even been involved in the lowland Maya groups that built the great Classic sites on the western borders of the Peten. Altar de Sacrificios, Bonampak, Yaxchilan, Piedras Negras, and Palenque are all within a radius of less than 200 km. from Ocosingo. This recent archaeological and linguistic

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work seems to indicate that the TzotzilTzeltal are definitely Maya peoples and not non-Mongoloid longheads who were among the first immigrants to Middle America along with the dolichocephalic Tarahumara, Pima, Papago, Yaqui, and Otomi, as has been suggested by Wolf (1959, p. 27), and even more forcibly by Vivó (1941, pp. 2425), who speculates that the Tzotzil-Tzeltal were a non-Maya people who adopted a Maya language. The data on the dolichocephaly of the Tzotzil and Tzeltal are based on measurements by two investigators. Frederick Starr (1902a) measured 125 Chamulas and 125 Tenejapans and calculated a mean cephalic index of 76.9 for the 100 Chamula men, 76.8 for the 25 Chamula women in the series; and a mean cephalic index of 76.8 for the 100 Tenejapan men, 75.9 for the 25 Tenejapan women. Stella M. Leche (1936) measured 100 male Chamulas and calculated a mean cephalic index of 78.88. These figures show that the Chamulas and Tenejapans are indeed more dolichocephalic than other Μayance peoples that have been measured. Starr (1902a) reports a mean cephalic index of 80.6 for the Chol, 84.7 for the Huastecs, and 85.0 for the Yucatec Maya. G. D. Williams (1931) reports a mean cephalic index of 85.6 and 86.3 for two groups of Yucatec Maya, and Steggerda (1932) calculated 85.8 for the Yucatec Maya that he measured. The results reported by Leche suggest that the Tzotzil may not be on the extreme end of the range of dolichocephaly among North American Indians, where Steggerda's table (1932, p. 65) places them. In point of fact, the 78.88 figure is quite close to the 79.0 index reported by Starr (1902) for a group of Aztecs in Puebla. It is of further interest to note that the range of variation from the very brachycephalic lowland Yucatec Maya to the dolichocephalic highland Tzotzil-Tzeltal is not too surprising in view of the number of generations which have elapsed by lexicostatistic reckoning since these various tribes must have split off from

one another. There has been ample time for changes in head form to occur in these separated inbreeding populations. In any event, the total samples were too small and too limited (only two municipios were sampled) to afford sweeping conclusions as to physical type, especially since we now know that head shape can and does change over the centuries and hence is not always a good index to historical relationships. More physical anthropological work on the order of the recent research by Matson and Swanson (1959) on hereditary blood antigens is urgently needed in the highlands of Chiapas. Another problem of great interest in understanding the cultural development of the Tzotzil-Tzeltal is the extent to which the area was influenced by other Mesoamerican centers in the Late Classic and Postclassic periods. Vivó (1954), in a reconstruction of pre-Columbian cultural development in Chiapas, suggests that central Mexican influence impinged very importantly on the highlands of Chiapas. But the recent archaeological and ethnohistorical work of R. M. Adams indicates quite the contrary. Adams writes (1961, p. 348) that there is no evidence in ceramics of a significant penetration of the region by groups involved in interregional trading relationships. The rarity of Fine Orange and Plumbate ware instead suggests that, as compared with the Guatemalan Highlands or even the nearby valley of the Grijalva River, the central Chiapas plateau remained an isolated and backward region not directly influenced by any of the major Mesoamerican centers. In the Postclassic there is similarly little evidence of Mexican influence in ceramics or architecture. Rather the area seems to have remained marginal to the nexus of interregional communication or trade. R. M. Adams writes (1961, p. 359): To be sure, amber, quetzal feathers, and skins from the hinterlands of Zinacantan did reach the Aztec capital (Sahagun, 1959, pp. 21-23) 141

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FIG. 7 — Z I N A C A N T E C SHAMAN PRAYS TO ANCESTRAL GODS ON SACRED MOUNTAIN. Note similarity of higher sacred mountain in background to the shape of ancient Maya pyramids. (Photo by Frank Cancian.)

and elsewhere the Zinacantans were described as "sensible people and many of them traders" (Díaz, 1912, p. 305). But Sahagún's account centers upon the mortal dangers to the Aztec merchants who pursued this trade and stresses the careful disguises that were necessary in order to penetrate Zinacantan territory—suggesting that the horizons of such trade were geographically restricted until a very late period. Major Aztec campaigns against the Chiapanecs in the Grijalva lowlands, and even in Guatemala far to the south, were followed in the Chiapas Highlands only by an apparently temporary conquest of Comitán (Kelly and Palerm, 1952, p. 307), by the establishment for a short time of a garrison at Zinacantan (Herrera y Tordesillas, 1945, vol. 6, p. 123; Remesal, 1932, vol. 1, p. 378). . . . Products and towns of the area are notable for their omission from the Aztec trib142

ute lists. In light of their other accomplishments, the inference is not that the Aztecs avoided the area out of respect for the strength of its defenses. Instead, they seem to have bypassed it in pursuit of more populous and prosperous objectives. In a word, our best archaeological evidence to date indicates that the highlands of Chiapas h a d amazingly little influence from central Mexico in prehistoric times, and that it was rather an area w h e r e the process of development of a type of Maya culture was perhaps more of a local phenomenon than almost anywhere in the Mayance area. On the other hand, Calnek (1962) has adduced evidence from his recent ethnohistorical research that highland Chiapas was probably occupied by Toltec

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or Toltec-influenced invaders during the Postclassic period. In fact, Calnek argues that the patterns observed at the time of the conquest were shaped out of a merging of central Mexican and Mayan cultures which took place about two centuries before the conquest. He concedes, however, that the Chiapas highlands must still be regarded as a marginal, backward area from the point of view of central Mexican influences as compared to Yucatan or highland Guatemala and that much more research is needed to clarify the extent of central Mexican influence in Chiapas. At any rate, the highlands of Chiapas would appear to have great research potentiality as a region for eventually untangling the processes of change that have taken place in the differentiation of the varieties of local communities from a protostock in this Μayance region. An excellent baseline for this analysis will ultimately be provided by a reconstruction of many of the patterns of culture of the proto-TzotzilTzeltal, using various lines of investigation. By use of the techniques of comparative linguistics, it will be possible to reconstruct the proto-Tzotzil-Tzeltal language and to describe the linguistic changes that have taken place in the process of language differentiation. When enough is known of the local highland Chiapas dialects, it will be possible to apply the migration theory of Isadore Dyen and to reconstruct within certain probabilities the dispersal area of the Tzotzil and Tzeltal languages (see Diebold, 1960, for the potentialities of this method as applied to the Mayance languages as a whole). It should also be possible to reconstruct the proto-Tzotzil-Tzeltal kin-term system and to describe the processes of change that have resulted in the present variations. A promising start along these lines has been made by Calixta Guiteras Holmes (1947, 1956) and Barbara Metzger (1959), who have described the Omaha kinship systems and their relationships to patrilineages and patrilineal clans

(see Villa Rojas, 1947) that were probably characteristic of the aboriginal TzotzilTzeltal and the changes that have recently taken place in these systems to a more bilateral type of organization. Further archaeological research should clarify the extent to which the dispersed type of settlement pattern with ceremonial center and outlying hamlets has been the basic and most characteristic form in this region, as has been suggested by Vogt (1961). Current field research on the religious beliefs and ceremonial organizations is revealing that far more of the ancient religious patterns are still present underneath the Catholic veneer than had been originally anticipated (Vogt, 1961, 1962, 1964a, 1964d; Holland, 1963a). T H E SPANISH CONQUEST

Although present evidence suggests that the highlands of Chiapas were not subjected to heavy Aztec influence in the preColumbian period, the Spanish conquest in the 16th century and subsequent developments during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries did have an important impact on the Indian cultures of the region. The first Spanish penetration of the Chiapas highlands occurred in 1523 and 1524 (Castillo Tejero, 1961, pp. 207-10). A reconnaissance ordered in 1523 by Gonzàlo de Sandoval, leader of the Spaniards stationed in Coatzacoalcos, led to the discovery of the sierras of Quechula, the Zoques, Chiapa de Corzo, the "Quilenes" or Tzotziles, and Copanaguastla (Díaz, 1939, p. 319). All these lands and peoples were divided by Sandoval among his men. These first encomenderos of Chiapas chose to remain in Coatzacoalcos rather than settle on their grants, and their attempts to exact tribute from their nominal tributaries were so unsuccessful that they soon sent to Mexico for reinforcements to help them subdue the area. Cortés responded by sending them Luis Marin and a corps of 30 men with orders to help pacify Chiapas and then set143

FIG. 8—ZINACANTEC IN HIS MILPA. (Photo by Frank Candan.) tle it (Díaz, 1939, p. 363). The combined forces (of which Bernal Díaz was a member) set out from Coatzacoalcos in 1523, cutting through forest to Tepuzuntlan and then proceeding up the Grijalva in canoes to Quechula. From here they went on to Ixtapa and to Chiapa, which they captured. Marin then sent word to the neighboring towns to come to him and surrender. Díaz (1939, p. 372) reports that among the first to arrive were representatives of Zinacantan, Copanaguastla, Pinola, Gueyguistlan, and Chamula, all of which had been enemies of the Chiapanecos. Thus here, as in the Valley of Mexico, local hostilities played into the Spaniards' hands and gave them an early victory. Only one instance of insubordination—a treasureseeking soldier's private foray against Chamula—made further fighting necessary. 144

After a battle at Chamula and another at Gueyguistlan, in which they were aided by Chiapaneco warriors and Zinacanteco bearers, the Spaniards gathered and divided the spoils (Bernal Díaz was given Chamula in encomienda) and returned to Coatzacoalcos. Once again, and this time against the express orders of Cortés, no Spanish settlement was left in Chiapas from which to maintain the peace. Vicente Pineda (1888, p. 30) reports that 10 or 15 Spaniards did remain in the region. Where they lived is unclear, but when the Indians resisted control, they fled to Comitan and from there sent to Mexico for help. In response, late in 1526 Cortés commissioned Diego de Mazariegos to reconquer the Indians in Chiapas. Mazariegos' mission (1527-28) put an end to massive armed resistance to

CHIAPAS HlGHLANDS

Spanish rule in Chiapas for nearly two centuries. In March of 1528 Mazariegos founded Villa Real at Chiapa and the conquest of Chiapas was essentially complete (Castillo Tejero, 1961, pp. 210-12). The Spanish setlement at Chiapa was only temporary, however, for the ayuntamiento named by Mazariegos decided immediately to move Villa Real into the highlands, where the climate was more pleasant. The town was moved to the site of the present city of San Cristobal de las Casas, which became the capital of Chiapas and the base for Spanish operations in the highlands. Land and laborers were allotted to the Spaniards for their support by means of the encomienda, and some of them moved out onto their grants to better supervise their operation and the collection of tributes. In 1536 only 40 Spaniards were living in Villa Real, but the "others on their estates" (Remesal, 1908, p. 21) were sufficiently numerous to have required an increase in the number of regidores in the cabildo from six to nine. Spaniards held in encomienda the towns of Chiapa, Zinacantan, Pinola, Chamula (Trens, 1957, p. 40), and undoubtedly many other Indian towns. These early years saw the villa raised by royal decree to the status of ciudad and the church elevated to the status of cathedral. The first bishop was appointed in 1537, but as he died en route and a new appointment had to be made, none reached Chiapas until 1544. The clerical population grew relatively slowly; a small group of monks called Mercedarios established a monastery in Ciudad Real in the early years, and beyond them there were only five priests in the whole province when the first bishop, Bartolomé de las Casas, arrived. In 1545 came a group of 17 Dominican friars from the Convent of Salamanca in Spain. The bishop, because of his views on the treatment of Indians, was poorly received by the encomenderos in Ciudad Real, and the resentment against him made it difiicult for the Dominicans to carry on their

FIG. 9—A CHAMULA COUPLE IN TYPICAL COSTUME IN CHAMULA CENTER. (Copyright, Gertrude Duby.)

own work (Mirambell, 1961). Consequently, they soon moved their headquarters to Chiapa and established other convents in Zinacantan, Copanaguastla, and Soconusco (Ximénez, 1929-31, p. 356). A year later, encomenderos of Ciudad Real, alarmed by the bad opinion of them that had by this time reached the Court in Spain, decided to seek the favor of the clergy and invited the Dominicans to build a convent in Ciudad Real (Trens, 1957, p. 142). The friars came in from Zinacantan in 1546 and, with 145

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FIG. 10—A C H A M U L A WOMAN IN FRONT OF

FAMILY CROSS ALTAR IN PATIO OF HER FATHER'S HOUSE. (Photo by Nicholas H. Acheson.)

money and Indian labor contributed by the Spanish community, built a church and monastery there. From the convents they went out by twos to preach, administer the sacraments, and found new, congregated communities on the Spanish model. Churches went up in these towns, many being completed within seven or eight years of the friars' arrival in Chiapas (Remesal, 1908, p. 52). Franciscan monks from Guatemala joined the other friars in 1577 on the invitation of the bishop of Chiapas of that period; they founded their first monastery in Ciudad Real and a later one in Huitiupan. By 1616 Thomas Gage found some 400 Spanish families in Ciudad Real (Gage, 1908, p. 85). The earliest complete census with a breakdown by ethnic identity seems 146

to be that of 1778 (Trens, 1957, pp. 22124; see also Marina Arreola, 1961). In that year, there were 7,499 blancos and mestizos in Chiapas and 51,279 indios. These Ladinos (as they came to be called in Chiapas) were spread far and wide across the state (with the result that few Indian communities were far from a settlement of Spaniards); but there were still no resident Ladinos at all in nearly half of all Chiapas towns, and in all but four towns the Indian population was substantially larger than the nonIndian. About half the Ladino population lived in Ciudad Real and Comitan, and no other Spanish-speaking community even approached these in size. These other Ladino settlements were proportionately more frequent at lower than at higher altitudes, suggesting that the interests of the Spaniards were better served, except for the political control points of Ciudad Real and Comitan, at lower altitudes where they could engage in raising sugar cane and cattle and in trading these items, as well as cacao and cotton, in Mexico and Guatemala. In her interesting interpretation of the history of Indian-Ladino relationships in the highlands of Chiapas, Barbara Metzger (1960) suggests that the major issues can be grouped under two headings: exploitation and acculturation. The first includes the perennial problems of land and labor and of tribute, taxes, and trade; the second consists of the varied efforts to integrate the Indian population into a Spanishdominated society—religious conversion, congregation, political control and education. (See also Moscoso Pastrana, 1961.) The earliest relationships between Spaniards and Indians in Chiapas, and perhaps the dominant ones throughout the centuries, have been exploitative in nature. The forms were the familiar ones found elsewhere in New Spain in this period: slavery and the encomienda system. Despite efforts on the part of both the Crown and the local Dominicans under the leadership of Bishop

CHIAPAS HIGHLANDS

Las Casas, the encomiendas persisted, and continued until they were finally abolished beginning in 1720. But as McBride (1923, p. 61) points out, the abolition of the encomienda did not return the lands to the original owners, but rather in most cases the Indians remained on the haciendas, bound to the land by long-established custom. The absorption of Indian lands by Ladinos, already a serious problem by the middle of the 19th century, was given added impetus by the Ley Lerdo (1856), calling for the sale of lands of religious and civil corporations. Stripping the Indian communities of their communal lands proceeded apace under this law, as Ladinos snapped up the best lands. The number of haciendas in Chiapas increased from 518 in 1877 to 1,076 in 1910—the greatest percentage increase in the nation during this period (COSÍO, 1956, 4:210). It was not until the ejido system was put into effect by the Mexican Revolution that this trend was reversed, and even then it was not until Cárdenas came to power in the 1930's that much land was actually distributed. The struggle continues today in the highlands of Chiapas, but with the aid of the Instituto Nacional Indigenista the Indian communities are finally making real progress in increasing their landholdings. The labor problem has been closely associated with the land problem. As Ladino landowners gained control over more and more of the cultivable land, they established claims to the labor of the people who lived on it as well. At the bottom of this inseparability of the Indians and the land on which they live is probably a deep-rooted and often supernaturally sanctioned attachment to the land which one's ancestors have known and worked. Rather than leave their land, Indians who were bought out by Ladinos in the sales of lands in the 19th century chose to enter into the service of the new owner. This service, called baldiaje, consisted of labor without remuneration on the owner's land for as many as four days

a week (Trens, 1957, p. 597). Supporting this traditional attachment to the land was undoubtedly an increasing shortage of suitable land on which to settle as the hacendado's control increased. Debt peonage was also established as a means of controlling the Indian labor force on the haciendas. Debt servitude in the form of advance payment of wages, rather than extension of credit on goods, was later established as a means of attaching the Indian worker to his employer on the coffee fincas, which were established in Soconusco in the 1880's and by the early 1900's were beginning to seek Indian labor in the Chiapas highlands (Pozas, 1952b). Exploitation was not restricted to the encomenderos and hacendados. It also came to be practiced by the clergy and by public officials (Trens, 1957), and the total record of Spanish exploitation of the Indians in highland Chiapas would appear to have had an important effect upon the course of acculturation. Despite over 400 years of efforts to integrate the Indian population into the Ladino-dominated society, it seems quite clear that the exploitative measures have led to a complex set of reactions in these corporate Indian communities. Those which have been able to maintain at least minimal control over their land bases have selectively incorporated certain Ladino patterns into their cultural systems, but have remained strongly and nativistically Indian. The history of Ladino efforts to transform the Indian cultures may be discussed in terms of political control, religious conversion, congregation of dispersed Indian settlements, and education. The structure of Spanish political control in Chiapas underwent a number of changes over the centuries. From the time of Mazariegos up to 1790, the province was governed by alcaldes mayores appointed by the Audiencia and approved by the Consejo de las Indias (Trens, 1957, p. 131). Under the alcaldes were tenientes, one in each important town. In 1790, the alcaldías were 147

FIG. l1—ONE OF THE SOUTHERNMOST TZOTZIL-SPEAKING COMMUNITIES: SAN BARTOLOME (VENUSTIANO CARRANZA). (Copyright, Gertrude Duby.)

replaced by the Intendencia. The Intendente, governing all of Chiapas, remained accountable to some extent to the Audiencia, and subdelegados replaced the tenientes in function (Paniagua, 1876, p. 20; 1908). After independence, Chiapas became a state in Mexico and sent delegates to the national legislature. Governors and state legislatures were elected periodically and/or established by military coup. Within this framework, local ayuntamientos have been a fairly stable unit. The ayuntamiento or cabildo dates back to the early period of settlement, when these local 148

organizations were set up in accordance with the Laws of the Indies to maintain order and administer justice. The ayuntamiento consisted of a gobernador; four alcaldes in charge of the administration of justice; six to eight regidores with responsibility for the collection of tributes and for cleanliness and general welfare; an unspecified number of alguaciles or mayores to assist the regidores, maintain the Cabildo building, and attend to the needs of travelers. The gobernador was appointed by the jefe principal of the province; the others were elected on the first of January of each

CHIAPAS HIGHLANDS

year under the supervision of the alcalde mayor and the local teniente. Other positions were later added in compliance with the state constitution of this century, but in a number of places they have remained distinct from the traditional set in one way or another. It is quite clear that what we observe today in Chiapas Indian municipios has been a complex adjustment and retailoring of these formal Spanish governmental positions in response to local Indian political patterns and needs. In many municipios the positions are all filled by Indians except for the secretario, who continues to be a Ladino on the ground that the Indians cannot read and write and keep records properly but whose basic political function, as Aguirre Beltrán (1953, pp. 120-21) points out, is to provide the point of control by Ladinos of the Indian municipios. There have been many Indian revolts against Spanish political control over the centuries in Chiapas but two great Indian rebellions stand out in Chiapas history: the "Tzeltal revolt" of 1712 and the "Cuzcat rebellion" of 1869-70 (V. Pineda, 1888). The revolt of 1712 was preceded by years of unrest in which rumblings of rebellion were perceived but not suppressed. Discontent, and especially ill feeling toward the greedy and unscrupulous bishop appointed in 1706, was widespread among the Indians. In 1712, one Sebastian Gómez and his niece arranged an appearance of the Virgin Mary near Cancuc, and a chapel was built on the spot for the worship of the Virgin and of the girl as her interpreter. Many Indians came on pilgrimage to the chapel, and it was here in Cancuc that plans for the revolt took shape. Thirty-two Tzeltal towns, plus Huistan and a few other Tzotzil-speaking villages, were ultimately involved in the revolt. The Indians sacked a number of Ladino settlements before they were finally stopped with the aid of military reinforcements from Guatemala. The rebellion of 1869-70 was also fore-

shadowed by rumors of war for some years. In 1867, Pedro Díaz Cuzcat, the fiscal of Chamula, and a woman, Agustina Gómez Checheb, made a clay figure, adorned it with ribbons, and set it up in the paraje of Tzajalhemel on the road to Chenalho. They sent word to the neighboring hamlets that it had descended from heaven and that they must bring it offerings in order to induce it to stay. Many Indians came with gifts, and the idol spoke to the worshippers from its box (in which Cuzcat was hidden) through Agustina Gómez, its interpreter. When the priest in Chamula succeeded in taking the figure away, Cuzcat and Agustina made several more figures for the box and claimed that she had borne them and so was "mother of God." Several women were appointed to serve her and were baptized by Cuzcat with the names of saints. A group of Chamula men formed a council for Cuzcat, and they decided that he should appoint a "saint" for each paraje to execute his orders and carry the news of the idols' miracles. These communications through the "saints" led to the amassing of firearms. Cuzcat was arrested and sent to the state officials in Chiapa, but was soon released on the grounds that the constitution permitted freedom of religion. His return was a triumphal march, and when he spoke to the assembled Indians he declared that the Indians need no longer worship images representing people of another race. He suggested that the Indians choose someone among them to be crucified on Good Friday in order that they might have a Lord of their own to worship. The proposal was accepted and carried out on Good Friday of 1868. Cuzcat was arrested again and jailed, but his place was taken by Ignacio Fernández Galindo, a Ladino from Mexico City, who began to lead the revolt. Finally, in June, 1869, the priest of Chamula once again seized the idol, and Galindo led more than a thousand Indians in pursuit. They killed the priest and began to terrorize the Ladinos in the area. Galindo led a party of Indians to San Cristobal and 149

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demanded that Cuzcat be freed. The Ladino leader agreed to exchange Cuzcat for Galindo, and Cuzcat was escorted home. But then when Galindo did not return to Chamula, Cuzcat led his men into San Cristobal. There ensued a series of military encounters here and elsewhere in the area that lasted until October, 1870, when the last of the rebels were subdued. The two revolutions share a number of features. Both made use of Catholic religious symbols as morale-builders and/or a camouflage for the conspiracy. Neither was easy to suppress, but in both the Ladinos were able to make use of the abstinence of some Indian towns from the cause to augment their own armed forces. The use of Catholic symbols seems to be typical of the Indians' handling of attempts to convert them to Catholicism. From the beginning, they seem to have understood Catholicism imperfectly, adopted it selectively, and adapted it to suit their own purposes. The result has been the persistence of preconquest symbols and beliefs and the modification of Catholic patterns in presentday Chiapas. Efforts to settle the Indians in orderly towns have apparently achieved even less success. Resettlement became an issue about 1540 when, at the instigation of Bishop Las Casas, the king decreed that Indians should be settled in towns in order to receive instruction in religion and in civilized manners (Trens, 1957, p. 134). The Dominicans did the actual building of these communities, founding many by "sa-

150

cando los indios del Peñol en que antes vivían" (Remesal, 1908, p. 49). Often, after a town was settled, the Indians moved back to their hamlets again as soon as the priests left, and then the friars would have to start all over again. In 1577 the king decreed that Indians be forbidden to return to their old homes "by whatever measures should be necessary" (Remesal, 1908, pp. 50-51). A look at Indian Chiapas today is enough to show that although orderly towns were established, living in them did not become the rule. With a few exceptions, noted above, the ancient dispersed settlement pattern continues today. The education of the Indians has always been a concern of the Ladinos in Chiapas. During the colonial period, teachers were placed in certain towns to give primary instruction at the expense of the community. By 1838, however, there were still no schools at all in most municipios. A state normal school was established for Indians in 1847, but it was not until after the Revolution that steps were taken to improve the amount and quality of instruction for Indians. Even these measures did not make much impact until the establishment in 1950 of the present Coordinating Center of the Instituto Nacional Indigenista which now has an impressive program of schools, medical clinics, agricultural experiment stations, and road-building and cooperative store projects that promise for the first time to make genuine strides in relating these highland Chiapas Indian communities to the modern world.

CHIAPAS HIGHLANDS

REFERENCES Adams, R. M., 1961 Aguirre Beltrán, 1953 Boroco, 1959 Calnek, 1962 Castillo Tejero, 1961 COSÍO Villegas, 1956 Díaz del Castillo, 1912, 1939 Diebold, 1960 Gage, 1908 Guiteras Holmes, 1947, 1956 Herrera y Tordesillas, 1945 Helbig, 1964 Holland, 1963a Kelly and Palerm, 1952 Leche, 1936 Lowe, 1959 McBride, 1923 McQuown, 1956, 1959, 1964 Marina Arreola, 1961 Marino Flores, 1963 Matson and Swanson, 1959 Metzger, 1959, 1960 Miles, 1952

Mirambell, 1961 Montagu, 1958 Morley, 1946 Moscoso Pastrana, 1961 Müllerried, 1957 Nash, Μ., 1957 Paniagua, 1876, 1908 Pineda, V., 1888 Pozas Α., 1952b Remesal, 1908, 1932 Sahagún, 1959 Starr, F., 1902 Steggerda, 1932 Tamayo, 1949a, 1949b Trens, 1957 Villa R., 1947 Vivó, 1941, 1954, 1961 Vogt, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1964a, 1964d Wagner, P. L., 1959 Williams, G. D., 1931 Wolf 1959 Ximénez, 1929-31

151

8. The Tzotzil

ROBERT M.

A

FTER CENTURIES of obscurity the Tzotzil, "the people of the bat," have emerged recently into the consciousness of the Mexican government, writers of travel articles, and anthropologists, both singly and in teams. Flaunting their unique costumes and customs in defiance of the pressures towards assimilation, the Tzotzil have proved an exasperation to officialdom and a fascination to anthropology. The remarkable tenacity of Tzotzil traditions not only holds forth the hope that new light may be cast on the ancient Maya, but presents a dramatic test case for the future. At no time in recorded history have the Tzotzil formed a single political unit. The contemporary Tzotzil Indian still demonstrates a narrow allegiance to his community both by his dress and by his participation in a set of beliefs and practices specific to that community. Indeed a surprising diversity of beliefs (often conflicting) are held even by the members of the various hamlets that belong to a single corporate community. While Pan-Tzotzil traits may be discovered, blanket statements 152

LAUGHLIN

about Tzotzil cultural elements should be viewed initially with extreme skepticism. HABITAT AND DISTRIBUTION

The Chiapas highlands, towering into the clouds, set an awesome stage for the Tzotzil and their gods.1 It is a land of limestone cliffs and volcanic outeroppings, of caves and sinks, of upland valleys ringed by forests of pine and oak. The present territory of the Tzotzil, a belt roughly 40 km. wide, begins in the tropical lowlands around Huitiupan, crosses the western sector of the mountain chain, and drops down to the Grijalva River nearly 150 km. to the south. Approximately 80 per cent of the Tzotzil population inhabits the mountains at altitudes ranging from 1500 to 2000 m. The climate in the summer months is cool and very wet. From November to May the days are bright with sun, the nights quite cold, with frost in December and January. Visited seasonally by the mountain farmers, the tropical lowlands are populated principally 1 See Vogt, Art. 7, for a more detailed geographic and historic review.

FIG. 1—THE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS OF CHIAPAS. (Adapted from maps by N. Hopkins and J. Hotchkiss.)

FIG. 2 - A E R I A L VIEW OF ?APAS, ONE OF THE OUTLYING HAMLETS OF ZINACANTAN. Church at upper right, school in center right. The houses are clustered into groups of lineages that draw water from common waterholes. (Photo by Cia. Mexicana Aerofoto, for E. Z. Vogt's Chiapas Project.)

154

TZOTZIL

by colonists who recently have extended the traditional Tzotzil territory to the west and south. The entire length of the eastern border of Tzotzil territory is impinged upon by the Tzeltal, closely related to the Tzotzil culturally and linguistically. To the north are Chol and Zoque; to the west, Zoque. The center of Ladino activity in the highlands is San Cristobal de las Casas. Dominant Ladino populations are clustered on the southern and western fringes. The 114,000 Tzotzil (also appearing in the literature as Quelen, Queren, Sotsil, Sotslem, Tzotzlem, Zotzil, Zozil) are outnumbered only by the Yucatec as speakers of a Maya language in Mexico.2 Tzotzil (forming, together with Tzeltal, the Tzeltalan subdivision of the Mayan language family) is widely spoken in 24 communities. Nineteen of these communities have municipio status; they are: Bochil, El Bosque, Chalchihuitan, Chamula, Chenalho, Huistan, Huitiupan, Ixtapa, Jitotol, Larrainzar (traditionally named San Andres Chamula), Mitontic, Pantelho, Pueblo Nuevo Solistahuacan, Simojovel de Allende, Soyalo, Teopisca, Totolapa, Venustiano Carranza (traditionally San Bartolome), El Zapotal (traditionally San Lucas), and Zinacantan.3 The remaining communities are: San Felipe Ecatepec (now a barrio of San Cristobal de las Casas), Magdalenas and Santiago (pertaining administratively to Larrainzar), and Santa Marta (pertaining to Chenalho). In addition there are small colonies of Tzotzil-speakers in most of the surrounding municipios. An explosive population rate is steadily extending their range. SOURCES

Modern ethnological research among the Tzotzil dates essentially from Bunzel's visit to Chamula nearly 30 years ago. In 1942 Tax directed a group of students in Zinacantan. This was to be the training ground

for two of the most substantial contributors to our knowledge of the Tzotzil: Culteras Holmes and Pozas Arciniega. The former has based her studies in Chalchihuitan and Chenalho, the latter in Chamula. Within the past decade the Tzotzil have been bombarded by anthropologists: Holland in Larrainzar, McQuown's Man-in-Nature and subsequent projects, providing as yet unpublished material on Venustiano Carranza and Chalchihuitan, Vogt's Harvard Chiapas Project, focused primarily on Zinacantan. In addition, the Columbia-Cornell-HarvardIllinois Summer Field Studies Program since 1960 has sent groups of undergraduates to the Chiapas highlands. Numerous valuable articles have resulted from these projects. There are four major Tzotzil monographs. Pozas' (1959a) provides an adequate description of Chamula economics; his discussion of social organization is less satisfying, his coverage of religion and world view decidedly meager. Guiteras Holmes (1961b), in her study of Chenalho, has produced one of the finest of Middle American ethnographies, articulate, thorough, and generally dependable. Holland's (1963a) statement of Tzotzil population and distribution is overoptimistic, and his introductory sketch of the economic and social life of Larrainzar is sketchy, but religion, world view, and curing practices are revealed in richer detail. Unfortunately, inaccurate transcriptions of Tzotzil terms are rife in each of these sources. Frank Cancian's highly reliable analysis (1965a) of the economic and social significance of Zinacantec religious organization exemplifies a new 2 The official census of 1960 lists 57,235 monolingual Tzotzil. The figure of 114,000 was calculated by assuming that the Tzotzil-Ladino ratio remained constant between 1950 and 1960 in the towns listed above. 3 Italicized towns are predominantly Tzotzilspeaking. Venustiano Carranza has slightly fewer Tzotzil-speakers than Spanish, each group living apart.

155

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 3 — A E R I A L VIEW O F CHAMULA CENTER. Church is at one side of the plaza, the cabildo to the right, and the government health clinic at the left of the plaza. The surrounding houses, most of them thatched, are lived in by cargoholders spending a year in ceremonial office.

sophistication in Middle American research. Vogt (1961, 1964a-e, 1965a-c) has published stimulating articles on Zinacantan social structure and religious organization and has a comprehensive monograph on Zinacantan in press (1968). Zinacantan has received further attention in regard to personality patterns (Colby, 1964; Susan Tax, 1964), family life (Francesca Cancian, 1964, 1965), social and religious organization (Frank Cancian, 1963, 1964), religious symbols (Laughlin, 1962), ethnic relations and 156

culture change (Colby, 1960, 1961; Colby and van den Berghe, 1961). A wide range of topics was covered in a collection of essays by members of Vogt's project (Vogt, 1966). A monograph on courtship and marriage in Zinacantan by Jane F. Collier is in press. A general ethnographic dictionary of Tzotzil-English, English-Tzotzil (Zinacantec dialect) is in preparation by Laughlin. In summary, Chamula, Chenalho, Larrainzar, and Zinacantan are well represented in print, but any general description of Tzotzil

TZOTZIL

culture on the basis of current material is frustratingly inadequate and undoubtedly far less than the truth. SUBSISTENCE SYSTEMS AND FOOD PATTERNS

Agriculture Tzotzil swidden agriculture consists essentially of maize, beans, and squash. The calendar of agricultural activities begins during the dry winter season. In the lowlands, where heavy forest must be felled by axe and allowed several months to dry, clearing begins in December. If the lowland fields are covered with second growth, they are cleared by machete and sickle the following month. In the highlands the cycle may not begin until February. Fields are burned in March and April. The bone-dry soil is turned laboriously by hoe (Ca, H, L, Z).4 In Larrainzar even new land is hoed; in Zinacantan hoeing is restricted to highland fields. In Huitiupan and Pantelho the soil is not turned. To prepare a hectare of new land costs a man 115 days of labor, a field in former use, 34 days (Ca, L ) . If the farmer is behind schedule and his fields were in use the previous year, he may hoe only where the grains are to be deposited (Ca, Z). Ox-drawn plows are sometimes used in Huistan, rarely in Chamula and V. Carranza. The highland fields may be fertilized with sheep (Ca, L, Z), cow ( L ) , or horse manure (Ca, L ) , with ashes (Ca, L ) , or corn stubble (Ca). No fertilizer is used in Chenalho, Huistan or Pantelho. Irrigation is practiced rarely (VC, a few lowland rented fields of Z), though water may be mixed with manure and poured in each hole at planting time (Ca, L ) . The highland fields are planted in March (Ca, L ) , April (Hp, 4 The following abbreviations for town names will be used when convenient: Β = El Bosque, Cn = Chalchihuitan, Ca = Chamula, Co = Chenalho, F = San Felipe Ecatepec, Η = Huistan, Hp = Huitiupan, I = Ixtapa, Mc = Mitontic, Ms = Magdalenas, Ρ = Pantelho, S = Santiago, SM = Santa Marta, VC = Venustiano Carranza, Ζ = Zinacantan.

Ρ) or April and early May (Co, L, Z). Pozas' statement (1959a, p. 81) that the lowlands are planted in February does not seem credible. A second, minor planting in November is sometimes possible in the temperate zone. The ears of seed corn are taken down from the rafters and stripped (Ca, Ζ). Preparatory to planting, the kernels may be covered with resin to discourage predators (Ca, Co, Mc). Maize may be planted when the moon is waxing or full (Co, Mc, Ζ) or regardless of the moon's phases ( H p ) . Starting in the lower left-hand corner of the field (Co, H, Ρ ) , the farmer wields his digging stick in his right hand and with his left hand takes the maize from an armadillo shell (Co, Η) or a net or leather bag (H, Hp, P, Z). The number of kernels dropped in the hole varies: 3-5 (Co), 3-6 (Ca), 4-5 ( P ) , 5 ( H ) , 5-6 (Hp, Z). Reseeding is done one week later. Two weedings are usually necessary; the first, and most arduous, occurs one month after planting and is repeated a month later. The weeds are cleared by hoe, beginning in the lower left-hand corner of the field and working from east to west (H, P, Ζ), In Huitiupan the weeds are cut by machete, their flowers and seeds meticulously collected and discarded in the woods. When the maize begins to form ears, "Judases" or scarecrows are set up in the fields (Ca, Co, H, Hp, P, Z). In Chenalho the fields are watched over night and day. In August ( H p ) , September (Co) or October (P, Ζ) the stalks are bent over. From late October to January the corn is harvested. The work proceeds through the field from west to east (Hp, P, Z). The ears are placed in nets (Ca, Ζ) or on a platform (Ζ) and flailed to remove the kernels. In Chenalho and Huitiupan maize is transported and stored on the cob. For every almud of maize planted a farmer spends an average of 31½ days: 10-14 days clearing and burning, 3 days gathering stalks and burning, 3 days planting, 1 day 157

TABLE 1 — T Z O T Z I L CROPS 1

Crop

Chamula

Chenalho

Huistan

Huitiupan

Achiote

Apple Avocado Banana Bean (broad) Cabbage Carrot Cassava (sweet) Chayote Cherry Chili Citrus fruits Coffee Cotton Cucumber Garlic Gourd Henequen Jicama Lettuce Maguey Maize Mango Nopal Onion Pea Peach Peanut Pineapple Plantain Potato Potato (sweet) Radish Rice Squash (green) Squash (yellow) Sugarcane Tomato Wheat

Larrainzar

Pantelho

χ

V. Carranza X

Zinacantan

X

χ X χ χ

χ χ χ X χ

X

χ X χ

χ χ

χ χ

X χ

X χ

X χ χ X X χ

X

X

χ χ

χ

χ χ

χ χ

χ χ X

χ χ χ

χ χ χ χ

χ

χ

χ

χ χ χ

χ

χ χ

χ

X X

X χ χ χ

χ

χ

X

X

χ X

X

χ

χ χ χ

χ X

X

X X

X

X χ

X

X X

χ χ χ

X

χ χ

X

X

X

χ

χ χ χ χ χ

X

X

X

χ χ

χ

X

χ χ X

X X χ

χ χ

χ

χ

X X X

χ χ

X

χ

χ

X

χ

X

X

χ

X

χ X

χ

X

χ

χ

χ χ

X X X χ X

X

X

X X

X X

χ X χ X

χ X

X

χ

X X

χ

X X

X

X

X X

1 The information for this and subsequent tables is derived from the following sources: Chamula—Pozas, 1952a, 1959a, with additions by Carter Wilson (while not in thefield);Chenalho—Guiteras Holmes, 1961b and personal interviews based on the tables; Huistan—unpublishedfieldnotes of Frank Miller and personal interviews; Huitiupan—personal interviews; Larrainzar—Holland, 1963a; Μitontic—microfilmedfieldnotes of Fernando Cámara Barbachano; Pantelho—personal interviews; V. Carranza—hectographed notes of the "Man-in-Nature" project, with additions by Harvey Sarles (while not in thefield);Zinacantan—personal interviews. In this and subsequent tables the absence of X's frequently represents gaps in knowledge rather than absence of traits. Only in the last column, Zinacantan, may blanks be read confidently as denoting absence of traits.

reseeding, 12 days on the first weeding, 8 on the second (if not new land), 2 doubling, 1 harvesting, and a half-day threshing per fanega harvested (Z). In addition to maize, beans, and squash, highland milpas may be diversified by the presence of potatoes and a wide variety of greens. Lowland milpas may be embellished with chilis and gourds. Small fenced plots of cabbages, mustard, and native turnip greens are frequent in the highlands. Always associated with maize, beans are planted in highland fields either simultaneously in the same hole or a few days later between the young clumps. In the lowlands beans are planted in two rows between the rows of maize when the ears are already well formed, but in Huitiupan beans are planted entirely apart from the maize. The important cash crops in the highlands are surplus maize and peaches; in the temperate zone, wheat; in the lowlands, surplus maize and beans, citrus fruits, sugarcane, bananas, coffee, and chili. To preserve the fertility of the soil crop rotation may be practiced. Fields are allowed to lie fallow for one year (Hp, L ) , 1-3 years ( P ) , 2-4 years ( C a ) , 4-5 years (temperate Co), 8-10 years (highland Co), 10-12 years (VC). Domestic

Animals

Animals constitute an important investment of Tzotzil surplus wealth. Burros, horses, and mules, except on ceremonial occasions, are used almost exclusively as beasts of burden (Ca, Cn, Co, H, L, P, Z, but not H p ) , or are harnessed to the primitive sugar mill (Co, P ) . They are not shod. They are fed dry maize and mash (H, Hp, P, Z), and salt (Co, H, Hp, P, Z). Transport animals are owned in Larrainzar by only the very wealthy. Burros are not used in Zinacantan or Huistan. Oxen may be owned frequently ( H ) , rarely (Ca, Hp, P ) , or not at all (Co, L, Ζ). Most families in Huistan own a pair of bulls that are yoked to haul logs 159

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 4 — Z I N A C A N T E C SHAMAN RELEASES (WITH BACK OF HAND) A MEMBER OF A CURING CEREMONY. Note bamboo staff (which serves as symbol of authority) in left hand of shaman. In background is the most sacred mountain in Zinacantan. This sacred mountain is believed to contain the animal-spirit companions of all the Zinacantees. (Photo by Frank Cancian.)

and draw a plow. They are also sold for beef. They are kept in pens and are herded with the sheep. Cows are raised in Larrainzar for the sale of milk to Ladinos. In Chenalho beef cattle are produced. Cows are uncommon in Chamula, Mitontic, and V. Carranza, absent in Zinacantan. Sheep, though not found in Chenalho, are raised elsewhere in the highlands, principally for their wool (Ca, H, L, P, Ζ). The flocks seldom exceed 15. They are herded from midmorning to dusk (Ζ). Their corrals are moved weekly (Ca, Z). Rams are castrated to produce more wool (Ca, H, Z). Sheep are generally sheared twice a year (Ca, H, P, Z). They are never slaughtered (Ca, Z). Pigs are raised only in small numbers in the highland towns and in V. Carranza, but many are raised in Huitiupan. They are usually fattened on maize and sold to Ladinos. 160

Chickens, owned by virtually every household, are raised both for their eggs and meat. Only black chickens are suitable for ritual purposes (Ca, Co, H, Hp, L, Z). Turkeys are raised, commonly (Co, Hp), or sporadically (H, P, Z). Pigeons are raised in Chenalho. Every household in Zinacantan and Chamula owns a cat and a dog, but cats are few in Huistan and Pantelho, absent in V. Carranza. They are both fed maize. A dog's daily ration is three tortillas (Z), or three lumps of corn dough (H, Hp, P ) . Hunting and Gathering The products of hunting and gathering supplement the diet especially during famines. Rabbits are the principal game, though deer, armadillos, opossums, skunks, squirrels, gophers, forest rats, and small birds are hunted with shotguns. Lesser game is

ΤΖΟΤΖIL.

secured also by traps (Co, Hp, P, Z) and sling shots. Fish are caught by dynamite, hook, or trap ( H p ) . Riverine snails, the combs of various wasps and bees, wood grubs, caterpillars, fungi, and mushrooms are collected. Food The mainstay of life is maize in its many forms: tortillas, "tostadas," posol, atole, pinole. Tortillas and beans supplemented by potatoes, cabbage, and other available greens constitute daily fare. That the Tzotzil prefer vegetables to meat (Cerda Silva, 1957c, p. 538) is patently false. Beef, pork, dried fish, dried shrimps, eggs, bread, and coffee are luxury items. Mutton, while abhorred in Chamula and Zinacantan, is not disdained in Huistan or Pantelho. Goat meat is never eaten. Chicken is the principal ritual food. It may be substituted by turkey (Hp, L, VC). In Zinacantan if chicken is unobtainable for ritual meals, pork or, secondarily, beef may be offered. For the preparation of tortillas the maize is boiled in lime water to remove the skins. The maize is rinsed, and ground two (Ca, Co, H, Hp, P) or three times (Hp, Z) on a metate raised slightly off the floor on a plank. A hand-operated grinder or gasolinepowered mill is sometimes used for the first grinding. The dough is shaped by patting it in the hands or on a piece of plastic placed on a small stool. The tortillas are baked on lime-treated griddles. Food is boiled, toasted, or roasted, seldom fried (except Ζ). It is seasoned with great quantities of salt and chili. Mint, coriander, and other native herbs are used. Atole is flavored with cinnamon and pepper. Meal schedules vary considerably. In Chenalho breakfast is at 5:30 A.M., posol at noon, main meal 4 P.M., supper 6 P.M.; in Zinacantan breakfast is at 7 A.M., optional midmorning posol, main meal at noon, supper 6 P.M. Many varieties of fruit are eaten but only as between-meal snacks.

The people of Chenalho eat sparingly; in Zinacantan enormous quantities of food are consumed. Malnutrition is rare in the region. TECHNOLOGY

Crafts and Industries Weaving on a back-strap loom is universally practiced by the women of the highland towns, and V. Carranza, though this craft has practically disappeared in Huitiupan. Cotton material is woven in many towns (Cn, Co, H, L, Mc, Ms, P, S, SM, VC), woolen goods in Chamula, and both cotton and woolen material in Huistan, V. Carranza, and Zinacantan. Black earth and dodder are mixed to make black dye for woolen clothing (Ca, Ζ). Cotton huipils are embellished with bright woolen designs worked in by needle during the weaving process (Co, H, L, Ms, P, Z). Silk figures adorn the huipils of V. Carranza. Natural brown cotton is woven alternately with white cotton, producing a striped effect in the men's shirts of Chalchihuitan and Pantelho. A narrow loom is used for weaving woolen sashes. Though all the men of Huistan and Zinacantan weave palm hats, this craft is disappearing in the other towns (Ca, Co, L, VC). Fiber nets are woven rarely in Zinacantan, commonly elsewhere (Ca, Co, H, Hp, I, L, Mc, P, VC). Fiber hammocks are woven in V. Carranza. Wicker baskets are made in Chamula, Chenalho, and Huitiupan, bark rope in Chamula and Mitontic. Pottery is an important craft in Chamula but minor elsewhere (Co, H, Hp, Mc, P, VC, Z). The clay is mixed with water and quartz and kneaded on a stone with a mano (Ca) or stick (Z). In Chamula the vessels are molded in three stages: from base, to middle, to top. After each stage is finished the clay is allowed to dry partially. The pots are fired in the open air, for an hour if small, for a day if large. Red-earth paint is applied to fine pieces. In Zinacantan the vessels are modeled from bottom to top without pause. They are allowed to dry in 161

ETHNOLOGY

the sun for several days before firing. Griddles, censers, and huge atole pots of 100liter capacity are particular to Chamula. Carpentry is a special skill of Chamulas, though carpenters are found in Chenalho and Zinacantan. Axe, machete, and chisel are used to fashion tables, beds, small chairs, stools, chests, doors, troughs, loom parts, coffns, and crosses. Specially skilled carpenters also make guitars, violins, and harps. Fir shingles are split in Chamula and Huistan. Leatherwork, including ceremonial sandals, belts, thongs, and saddles, is the province of the Chamula artisan. The leather is cured with lime and oak bark. Chamulas excel also in stonework. Stone slabs are cut for Ladino houses and formerly for roads. Basalt manos and tripod metates are made exclusively in Chamula. The slaking of lime is widely practiced (Ca, Co, H, Hp, P, Z). Since before the arrival of the Spaniard, Zinacantan has had control over the sources of native salt in the highlands. Salt is mined and brought from Ixtapa by Zinacantecs. Charcoal is produced in Chamula. Beeswax candles are manufactured in V. Carranza, cigars in Chalchihuitan, El Bosque, and Huitiupan.

lets at lower altitudes. Cornstalk walls occur in Mitontic. Split bamboo poles are used universally in Huitiupan. Traditional gabled roofs are of thatch (B, Ca, Co, Mc, Hp, L, VC, Ζ) or shingle ( Η ) . An open corridor usually extends along the front wall for the storage of firewood. Recently, tile-roofed adobe houses have been replacing traditional styles (Ca, Co, VC, Ζ). A single door centered in the front wall is typical, but often a door is centered in the back wall as well. Small windows are a recent innovation. The floor is of packed earth with an open hearth to one side. Maize is often stored in a bin in the house. Other objects are stored under the eaves. Though entirely absent in Chenalho, Huitiupan and Pantelho, elsewhere sweat houses often are attached to the main house (Ca, H, L, Z). Separate storage houses may be used secondarily as sleeping quarters (Ca, Co, H ) . The open hearth suffuses the interior of a Tzotzil house with smoky warmth and cheer. A pole or plank bed, a table, and several small chairs are crowded by a jumble of old pots, baskets, and clothes chests. Nets hang from the rafters. A table with religious pictures and a votary candle serves as household altar.

Houses and Furnishings

Clothing and Adornment

The typical Tzotzil house is one room that serves as dormitory, kitchen, living, and storage space. There is considerable variety in architecture and building materials even within communities. A peaked thatch roof, rising to nearly three times the height of the walls, is characteristic of the highland landscape (B, Ca, Cn, Co, L, P, Z). The thatch roof is not peaked in Huitiupan. An average house measures 3.5 by 4,5 m. The walls of these houses may be of wattleand-daub (B, Ca, Cn, H, P, Z) or of upright poles covered with mud (Co, VC). But houses with simple walls of upright poles or horizontal planks are not uncommon, especially in Huistan and in the ham-

Tzotzil clothing styles, though specific to each community, betray certain similarities. The traditional man's hat is of superimposed strips of white and black-dyed palm sewn together to form a heavy brim and crown. The crown may be very flat ( Η ) , moderately flat (Ζ), or cone-shaped (B, F, VC). The hat is festooned with long narrow ribbons, predominantly pink and purple (Z), or a strip of woven red wool ( H ) . A square neckerchief is frequently used as head cover (Ca, Cn, Co, L, Mc, P, Z). The shirt is predominately white; the lower half of the sleeve may have red (L, SM), blue (Cn), or red and blue (Ms) pin stripes. The shirt may be longer in the back than

162

TZOTZIL

FIG. 5 — Z I N A C A N T E C BOY IN TYPICAL

FIG. 6—ZINACANTEC MEN. (Photo by Helga Gilbert.)

the front, reaching to the back of the knees (P). The pants, also white, may reach to the shins (B, Ca, Hp, P), or be very short (B, Cn, Co, L, Mc, Z). In Huistan peculiar "diapers" are worn. Pants are generally fastened with a wool sash, though belts are now common in Chamula and Chenalho. Heavy sandals are worn almost universally in Chamula and Zinacantan, but the other Tzotzil highlanders generally walk barefoot. For warmth sleeved or sleeveless wool ponchos are worn (except H, P ) . Long woolen blankets are also common (H, Z). The woolen ponchos and blankets are always black, white, or black and white. A leather money pouch is carried under the sash; a net, leather, or wild-animal skin (Cn) bag hangs from the left shoulder. Ceremonial men's clothing includes handmade palm hats sporting a red tassel and short, broad ribbons of many colors (Ca, Co, L, Mc), red turbans (Co, L, P, Z), red and blue headbands ( H ) , capes (Mc, Z), wool ponchos trimmed with ribbon (Co,

Z), velveteen knee breeches (Co, Mc, Z), and high-soled, high-backed sandals (Ca, Co, H, Z). Zinacantan alfereces wear black felt hats topped by a single peacock feather. The basic everyday outfit for Tzotzil women (except Ca, Cn, Hp) consists of white blouse, red sash, and blue cotton skirt. In Chamula the blouse is of brown wool decorated with red wool pom-poms. The skirt is black wool (also used secondarily in Z). An ankle-length embroidered cotton huipil is worn over a striped skirt by the women of Chalchihuitan. Sashes are not used in Huitiupan. The women in hamlets of Huitiupan and V. Carranza are often naked to the waist. The feminine wardrobe also includes square cotton or woolen shawls, and cotton cloths for carrying children, laundry, etc. Sandals are not worn. A net bag may be carried in the hand. Ribbons and bead necklaces, often with dangling coins and a pendant crucifix, adorn the neck; rings beautify the hands. The women of Huitiupan and Pantelho often flash

COSTUME. (Photo by Nicholas H. Acheson.)

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gaudy earrings. Women wear their hair in braids down the back or in a "horned" coronet (this later fashion is the prerogative of married women in Zinacantan). Ribbon may be braided into the hair (Hp, P, VC). Red yarn skeins are braided into the coronet of Huistec women on gala occasions. A Zinacantec bride wears a single braid of blue and gray yarn. The wedding gown in Zinacantan is embellished with a woven feather trimming. Bright, predominantly red, huipils are worn at fiestas (Ca, Co, L, Mc, Ms, P, S, SM, VC and young girls of H, Z). Transportation In the poorer Tzotzil communities travel is always on foot and transportation of goods is still by tumpline and human back (V. Carranza is a unique exception to this rule). Buses and trucks are carrying an increasing number of Tzotzil and their produce. "Cooperative" trucks, serving only their native towns, are recent innovations (Ca, Co, H, L, P, VC, Z). Maize, formerly transported everywhere by tumpline or by animal, is now frequently brought from the lowlands by truck. Weights and Measures Dry volume is reckoned in specific measures: fanega = 12 almudes almud = 3 cuartos cuarto = 5 calderas caldera = 1 liter In Chenalho maize is measured by the number of ears: xiquipil = 25 tzontles tzontle — 400 ears Linear measurements are in order of length: thumb knuckle to tip of little finger handspan sandal-length with arms extended: tip of middle finger to opposite elbow tip of middle finger to opposite wrist 164

tip of middle finger to tip of opposite middle finger The Spanish vara and meter are also used. The area of a milpa is measured by the amount of maize that may be planted on it. Division of Labor The concerns of men and women are sharply distinguished. A man is responsible for the care of the milpa. Women are not at all involved in milpa work in some communities (Cn, H, L, P, VC), though elsewhere they plant beans (Co, Ζ) and women and children may help with the harvest (Ca, Co, Hp) or the gleaning of harvested fields (Z). Only in Chamula do women hoe, plant maize, or weed. The care of smaller livestock—pigs, poultry, sheep—is generally entrusted to women and children. Pigs in Chenalho are gelded by men, in Huitiupan by both sexes. Sheep in Zinacantan are gelded by both sexes. Men slaughter pigs, men or women dispatch poultry. Pack animals are in the care of men. In Huistan bulls and sheep are herded together by women and children. The preparation of food is chiefly women's work, though men butcher cattle and on occasion clean and dress chickens. The hauling of water is a chore of women and girls. Firewood is collected by men, women, and children. In Chenalho and Huitiupan women use only a machete, unlike the axe-wielding Chamula and Zinacantec women. A wife's first duty is to light the fire each morning (H, Hp, P, Z). In Chamula this task falls on the husband. Spinning and weaving are women's work. Men generally tailor and sew their own clothes when the material is factory-made. Men weave and sew palm hats. A man launders his own clothing in Chamula and Chenalho, but in other towns this is considered a ridiculous reversal of responsibility (H, Hp, P, VC, Z). The construction and repair of buildings, the erection of fences, the hafting and re-

FIG. 7 — T H E REGIDORES (CARGOHOLDERS) IN ZINACANTAN PRAY TO A CROSS ALTAR IN THE CEREMONIAL CENTER. (Photo by Frank Candan.)

pair of tools is a man's duty. Chenalho men build animal traps, make tumplines and loom parts. Carpentry, leatherwork, stone-cutting, basketry, twine and net-making are male labors. Pottery is a feminine craft, but in Chenalho men provide the raw materials. Market goods are generally sold by those who produce them; for instance, a man sells maize whereas his wife sells chickens and eggs. The female members of a Zinacantec household share with each other the preparation of wood, hauling of water and wood, herding of sheep, but not the making, mend-

ing, or washing of clothes, nor the care of poultry. Children are cared for by their mothers and elder sisters. The division of labor in ceremonial contexts is both precise and rigid, particularly in respect to those who handle food and drink. The assignment of ceremonial tasks by sex varies greatly, however, from town to town. Specialization Full-time specialists among the Tzotzil are rare. Maize is man's primary economic concern. Salt merchants (Z), a few shamans 165

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(Ca, VC), harp and guitar makers (Ca), and potters (Co, H, P) hand down their knowledge through the family. There are a few specialists in every craft and industry: male hat-sewers, and female weavers of ritual clothing (Z). A few middlemen are dedicated part-time to the sale of chicha (Ca, Co, Η, SM, Ρ) and bootleg liquor (Ca, Η ) , flowers (Ca, Ζ), maize (Ζ), peanuts (Ρ, Ζ), and fruit (Ca, Co, Η, L, Ρ, Ζ). Native barbers, storekeepers, schoolteachers, truck drivers, and male nurses are on the increase. Midwives (H, Hp, P, Z, but absent in Co), male bonesetters, and shamans of both sexes are intermediaries between the supernatural and the natural. In Huistan and Pantelho only men are shamans. The shaman's role is achieved by knowledge revealed in dream or trance, often by an initial series of three experiences (Ca, Mc, Ζ). In Huitiupan three trances are required. These practitioners are obliged to perform their services on request. They are remunerated by gifts of food and drink (Ca, Co, Hp, L, P, Z), supplemented (H, Hp, P) or substituted (L, VC) by cash. Ceremonial roles are rarely hereditary, though the official musician of Chenalho and the guardians of the teponaxtli and other ceremonial regalia in Zinacantan hold hereditary posts. Male ritual directors, female censer-bearers, and the like are selected for their roles on the basis of their age and experience. The direction of fireworks is usually entrusted to young men. Ceremonial assistants are recruited from kin or ritual kin, or, if their service is short, from neighbors (Ca, Z). Property Property-holding shows a strong male bias. All land in the most conservative communities is owned and controlled by the patrilineages (Cn, P, S). In six other communities (H, L, Ms, P, SM, VC) women inherit no land. Only in the absence of male 166

heirs does a daughter inherit land in Chenalho or Huitiupan. Women inherit land in Zinacantan, but their shares do not equal men's. Equal inheritance obtains only in Chamula; if the deceased leaves no issue the property reverts to his or her siblings. Egalitarianism in inheritance is otherwise pronounced; sons may inherit equal portions of land (H, L, P ) , or the youngest son receives the house and, therefore, less land (Z), or all possessions of both parents may be inherited equally, even the house dismantled and the building materials distributed equally, as is each bead of a deceased mother's necklace (Ca)! The youngest son receives the house plot (Ca) or the house (Co, H, L, P, Z). As the elder sons marry and leave their natal home they receive their portion of land (Ca, Co, H, P, Z). Household objects are inherited with regard to the sexual division of labor (Ca, Co, H, Hp, P, but not Z). In Chenalho and Pantelho a woman's household goods are distributed first among the unmarried daughters. Land may not be sold outside the community. If a man dies with no land to bequeath to his children, his spirit will be offered no candles, no food at Todos Santos —he will be forgotten (Ca, Ζ). Traditionally, land may be bought only temporarily; if the previous owner ever returns the payment, his former land must be relinquished to him (Ca, Co), or if a purchaser is later found guilty of immorality, the land may be reclaimed (Ζ). Land is rented during the agricultural season for double the amount of maize seeded (Co). In towns where private property is owned communal land is restricted to mountainous or infertile areas useful only for grazing and the gathering of firewood. Rights to ejidal land, granted less than two decades ago, may be inherited by only one son (Z). Reapportionment of unused land is under the control of the ejidal commissary.

TZOTZIL

Vast expanses of Ladino property in the lowlands are rented by Zinacantecs for 1 or 2 fanegas of maize per almud planted. Production and

Consumption

Maize production in Chenalho per standard milpa (i.e., a doble-decálitro, or approximately 26 lb. of maize) ranges from 8-10 tzontles in high elevations to 20-25 tzontles in the temperate zone, to 30 tzontles in the tropical lowlands. A family of three consumes 20 tzontles annually. The lowland fields farmed by Zinacantecs produce from 4 to 8 fanegas per almud. An "average" family consumes 5 fanegas annually. Markets and Trade The marketplace, buzzing with social and economic activity that involves far more than the wares on display, is an allurement irresistible to the Tzotzil. San Cristobal, the commercial hub of the highlands, offers the Indians daily markets and rows of hardware stores, barbershops, and cantinas. Here the Tzotzil sell agricultural produce and crafts, using the proceeds to buy ribbons, candles, fireworks, tools, brown sugar, and liquor. Weekly markets are held in several Tzotzil communities (Ca, the center and five hamlets of Co, L, P, one hamlet of Mc and one of Z). Markets are major attractions of every major community fiesta. Ladinos own stores in the political center of most towns (not Ca or Cn). Chamula liquor vendors and Ladinos, seeking perhaps pigs for sale, travel through the area. Chamula and Zinacantec fruit and flower merchants frequently sell their produce in Tuxtla, traveling sometimes as far as Arriaga. Maize is no longer an important medium of exchange though small goods (Co, Ρ) or woven articles (Hp, Ζ) may be bought with maize. The cash payment for commissioned articles (e.g., ceremonial sandals, atole pots) is preceded by substantial gifts of liquor (Ca, Z) or food and liquor (Co).

Minor goods are bartered in Chenalho and Larrainzar but not in Chamula or Zinacantan. Bargaining is everywhere the rule, even for a peanut. Labor Export Labor export, once prominent, particularly to the coffee fincas near Tapachula, has dwindled to a trickle, Chamulas, driven from their homelands by the scarcity of fertile fields, may be found working far beyond the perimeters of the Tzotzil region. Nearer to home many young men are employed temporarily in highway construction (Ca, VC, Ζ). A few girls become maidservants in San Cristobal (Ca, Z). Wealth Destitution and hunger are not characteristic to Tzotzil life. Although some towns do not live far above the subsistence level (Ca, Cn, H, L, Mc), others are noticeably prosperous (Co, Hp, Z). Formerly, wealth was manifest in children and health, in food and clothing. Today labor may be hired, land and pack animals purchased or rented, showier houses built, and greater sums of money expended on religious posts. In Zinacantan (1963) a laborer charges 4 pesos a day, a tile-roofed house costs 3000 pesos (sixfold the cost of a traditional house), a religious post may cost over 14,000 pesos. Drought and sickness, however, may still drastically deplete the treasury. Fear of envy discourages hoarding and promotes frequent exchanges of food and drink, carefully distributed in equal portions. Wealth must be shared; a religious official's request for a loan may not be refused (Co, P, Z). Interest is not normally charged (except in H, VC), but always accompanying the request is a gift of liquor (Ca, P, Z) or liquor and food (Co), and a tacit understanding that the favor may be reciprocated. Ceremonial items and houses are loaned (Co, Ζ) though a few individuals are now charging rent (Ca, Z). 167

FIG. 8 — T R A D I T I O N A L ZINACANTEC HOUSE. Woman is soaking com in lime preparatory to grinding for tortillas. (Photo by Frank Cancian.)

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SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

Family and Kinship (see also Courtship and Marriage)

LIFE CYCLE:

Tzotzil social structure is strikingly variable. Pure Omaha (patrilineal) kin terminology occurs in Chalchihuitan, Hawaiian (bilateral) terminology in Chamula and Larrainzar. Kin terms in Huitiupan and Zinacantan represent bilateral systems which stress age relative to ego and lineal vs. collateral criteria. Three such systems with two intermediate forms have been elicited from contemporary Zinacantecs. The direction of change there is clearly toward descriptive terms for collateral relatives. Two forms, transitional between patrilineal and bilateral systems, occur in Chenalho: in the northern and central barrios MoBrCh are merged with siblings and parallel cousins; in the southern barrio all cousins are merged with siblings, but FaSi is merged with Si, and MoBr with Br. Everyone related by marriage to lineages of first and second ascending generations is considered kin (Co,Z). A single Spanish surname of each parent is given to a child in Huitiupan and Pantelho, but generally two surnames, one Spanish and the other Indian, are inherited patrilineally and retained throughout life (Ca, Cn, Co, L, Mc, VC, Z). In Huistan, however, an individual possesses either a Spanish patrilineal surname or an Indian patrilineal surname, but not both. Elsewhere the Indian surnames (of which there are 87 in Zinacantan, over 100 in Chamula, and 266 in Chenalho) correspond to exogamic patrilineages. The name group is recognized in Chalchihuitan only within the same barrio. Localization of Indian surnames is absent in Chamula, uncommon in Zinacantan, common in Larrainzar, predominant in Chenalho, and universal in Chalchihuitan. Indian surnames are combined in particular ways with the limited number of Spanish surnames (41 in Ca, 12 in Co, 13 in L, 14 in Mc, 17 in Z). Span-

ish surnames signify exogamic clans in Chenalho; elsewhere (L, Ζ) they delineate phratries, lacking special functions. Kin ties have been superseded by neighborhood ties for the composition of cooperative groups in V. Carranza. Barrio endogamy is generally (Ca, H, VC) or strictly (Cn, Co, P) maintained, at least for first marriages. In Larrainzar a man seeks his bride outside his own hamlet. Hamlet endogamy generally obtains in Zinacantan; in the hamlet of Paste? 50 per cent of the wives were recruited from the same waterhole group, 30 per cent from neighboring waterhole groups within the hamlet, only 20 per cent from other hamlets. Ritual Kinship The importance of ritual kinship varies according to the observance of the Catholic sacraments. None of the holy sacraments are offered with frequency in Chenalho. In Chamula, Larrainzar, and Pantelho the sacraments are generally restricted to baptism, in Huistan and Huitiupan to baptism and marriage. In Zinacantan baptism is universal, a church wedding frequent, confirmation occasional. Thus although it is rare for an individual of Huistan or Pantelho to claim more than five compadres, a prominent Zinacantec may boast over 100! From his supply of ritual kinsmen a Zinacantec requests special favors, lodging for the night, and physical, but especially financial, assistance in the execution of his religious offices. In V. Carranza, where there are compadres of baptism, gospel, confirmation, and marriage, ritual kinsmen are conspicuous in the composition of work groups. Social Classes The existence of social stratification of Tzotzil communities has been suggested for Larrainzar (Holland, 1963a, pp. 65-67) and V. Carranza (Salovesh, 1965). It has been clearly established for Zinacantan (Cancian, 1965). In Larrainzar and Zinacantan prestige is gained primarily by service in the 169

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religious hierarchy. In Zinacantan wealth is the chief, though not exclusive, qualification for a distinguished career in the hierarchy. There is a strong tendency for status to regulate the choice of marriage partners, and to be maintained in the family for more than one generation. Settlement

Patterns

Tzotzil settlement patterns generally subscribe to the vacant-town type, whether in modified (Ca, H, Hp, P, Z) or pure form (Cn, Co, L, Mc, Ms). Surrounded by outlying hamlets, the center is the focus of ceremonial, political, judicial, and often economic activity. Compact settlement, subdivided into five barrios, and surrounding a Ladino center occurs, however, in V. Carranza. Elsewhere the barrio or calpul is a major unit that serves to group the many parajes or hamlets of a municipality (hamlets are lacking in P ) . Mitontic has 2 such barrios, Chamula and Chenalho 3, Chalchihiutan 5, Pantelho 2, and Huistan 17. Each barrio must be equally represented in the religious hierarchy in Mitontic, and standard rules of apportionment exist also for Chamula, Chenalho, and Pantelho. Larrainzar and Zinacantec hamlets are not mustered in barrios, but report directly to the central government. The 15 hamlets of Zinacantan range in population from about 50 to over 1200 individuals. The compactness of settlement varies in response to water supply and slope. Chamula, Huistan, and Larrainzar possess over 50 hamlets each, but many of these settlements contain only two or three households, and because of land scarcity are extremely unstable. The barrio may function as a ceremonial unit (Ca, Cn, VC), administer justice for minor crimes (Cn), determine land use (Cn, VC), maintain vital statistics (Cn), appoint representatives to the municipal government (Ca, Co, VC). In Chalchihuitan witchcraft does not cross barrio boundaries. The hamlet in Larrainzar and Zinacantan acts as a ceremonial and political 170

unit. In Larrainzar and parts of Chamula land use and family problems within the hamlet are judged by resident elders. The hamlets of Zinacantan are further subdivided into waterhole groups that act independently of each other for the celebration of Santa Cruz. The search for fertile land has recently promoted the mushrooming of new "colonies," often only loosely associated with the town of origin (Ca, Co, H, Hp, L, Ms, P,VC). Political and Religious

Organization

Throughout the Tzotzil area the civil duties of the local governments are concerned primarily with the administration of justice and the supervision of public works. The local governments serve as liaisons between the Indian communities and the outside Ladino world. Since 1962 the formal organization of all municipal governments in Chiapas has been standardized so that the municipality is represented by a presidente, síndico, six regidores, three alternate regidores, a judge, and an alternate judge. The term of office, prior to 1952 of one year's duration, was lengthened to two years, and in 1962 to three. The past century has witnessed considerable resistance and extremely variable adaptations of local Tzotzil governments to the demands of the state and nation. As response to the law of 1962 is documented only in Zinacantan, discussion here is restricted to this community. The political officials, although theoretically elected by the community, are actually chosen by local bosses, whose choices are promptly ratified. The presidente is the principal authority of the community. The síndico, supposedly in charge of "social welfare," is actually a vice-president or alternate to the presidente. The duties of the newly appointed regidores have not yet been clearly established. Contrary to law, the judge and alternate judge are accorded equal authority and are supplemented by two alternates. Local custom

TZOTZIL

FIG. 9 — Z I N A C A N T E C WOMAN COOKING TORTILLAS ON GRIDDLE. (Photo by Frank Candan.)

demands that disputes be publicly heard and settled by the presidente, aided by any or all of the above officials. The civil government is further staffed by eight mayores, serving as policemen and messengers. Their positions are annual and, unlike other civil posts, are incorporated in the religious hierarchy. A secretario municipal, or town clerk, is hired jointly by the civil government and the State Department of Indian Affairs. As in most other Tzotzil communities, the town clerk is a Ladino. This office, formerly a much-abused source of Ladino power over the Indian community, is now merely authorized to prepare and maintain vital statistics and official documents.

Although law requires that civil officials receive salaries, the functionaries of Zinacantan serve without compensation. The presidente acquires a meager income from liquor taxes, and minor fines or special fees occasionally are collected and divided among the officials, but political service is widely considered "a waste of time." Local custom persists in the half-time active occupancy of office. Aside from the presidente, who must always be on duty, the officials generally serve for two-week periods, alternating in a specified pattern. The hamlets are represented in the central government by one or two principales, young men serving annual posts, entrusted with the collection of community taxes, and 171

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the relay of messages and announcements between the center and the hamlets. Permanent education committees are responsible for maintaining school attendance and for guarding the schoolhouses. The ejido committee, an extremely powerful independent organization, controls the distribution of ejido lands. Numerous temporary committees are appointed to collect funds and supervise fiesta and public works activities. The religious hierarchies among the Tzotzil (now restricted to six posts in Huitiupan and recently lost in V. Carranza) provide community service to the deities, and a means for ranking prestige in the society. By his sacrifice the individual hopes to gain special grace, a guarantee of abundant crops, good health, and long life. Data on the religious structure are too

sketchy for inclusion except in the case of Chenalho, Zinacantan, and Larrainzar. As detailed analysis of the religious hierarchy in the two former communities is provided by Cancian (vol. 6, Art. 14), only Larrainzar is discussed below. Table 2 illustrates the alternation between religious and civil posts in Larrainzar where, in 1961, these two sectors of public life were smoothly integrated. On the political side the presidente and the mayores serve the same functions as their correspondents in Zinacantan. Regidores, gobernadores, and alcaldes assist in the administration of justice. Regidores represent their hamlets, soliciting support and labor for municipal projects. Gobernadores organize fund collections. Both gobernadores and alcaldes swear in their successors. Bilingual, literate escribanos assist the town clerk, interpret official

TABLE 2—POLITICO-RELIGIOUS HIERARCHY OF LARRAINZAR1

1 Adapted from Holland, 1963a, p. 61.

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documents, and aid monolinguals in disputes involving Ladinos. On the religious side two mayordomos are appointed for the care of each of the important saints. The capitanes montados ride horseback around the plaza during fiestas, while the capitanes danzantes dance. The former serve for six years, the latter for eight or nine. Alfereces supply food and drink during fiestas. Fiscales direct fiestas, fix fiesta dates, teach Catholic prayers in Spanish, assist the priest during Mass, and serve as interpreters during the sermon. The men of Larrainzar, alternating religious and political positions, pass slowly and at great financial sacrifice through the hierarchy to become principales. Ranked strictly by age, they are the leaders of their hamlets. The patriarch of the principales is the ultimate authority for the entire municipality; in his prayers rests the disposition of the many souls. Shamans in Larrainzar belong to an informal hierarchy based generally on age and effectiveness, and composed of three ranks: lowest the bonesetters, next the shamans proper, and finally the diviners (who alone among the townsmen may perform baptism). In Zinacantan a formal hierarchy of shamans based exclusively on length of service, and restricted to males, functions three times annually. External Relations Both formal and informal relations bind together neighboring Tzotzil communities. Reciprocal visits of patron saints are renewed annually between Larrainzar, Magdalenas, Santa Marta, and Santiago; between Chalchihuitan, Chenalho, and Mitontic; between Ixtapa, Zapotal, and Zinacantan; between Huitiupan, one of the colonies, and Simohovel. At fiestas members of neighboring Tzeltal and Tzotzil towns may be seen in the market and in the church. Zinacantecs are acknowledged by many

other Indians and by Ladinos to be at the top of the social ladder (but beneath Ladinos), but Huistecs and Indians of Chalchihuitan, the latter considered little better than wild animals, are assigned to the bottom. Indian intermarriage is uncommon but may occur between women of Chenalho and men formerly of Chamula or Mitontic who have settled on Chenalho land and adopted the Chenalho costume. Individuals of both sexes, formerly of Chalchihuitan, may also intermarry with the people of Chenalho. Women of Simohovel occasionally marry Huitiupecs. Chamula women, often employed as weavers, may adopt Zinacantec dress and marry into the community. Shamans of a number of municipalities (Ca, Cn, L, Mc, Ζ) may be sought out by the people of Chenalho. Similarly a Zinacantec may bring in a shaman from Chamula or Chenalho, but the latter recourse demands the utmost secrecy as it implies witchcraft. Trade between the neighboring towns occurs on market days or fiestas. Chamulas provide much of the clothing for a number of towns (Co, H, L, Mc, Ms, SM), woolen sashes for Pantelho, and certain ceremonial items for Zinacantan. Labor from Chamula and Mitontic is hired individually by members of Chenalho, from Chenalho by Chalchihuitan, from Chamula by Zinacantan. The explosive growth of Chamula has caused numerous disputes with neighboring towns as Chamulas encroach upon their territory. Considerable ejido land is being "sold" to Chamulas by Indians of Magdalenas, who, in turn, are moving northwards. Some Chamulas also regularly winter their sheep on Zinacantan land. Individually, Indians seek Ladinos for ritual kinsmen, but otherwise relations are usually restricted to trade. In V. Carranza, Indians and poor Ladinos, however, are allied against the wealthy Ladino cattlemen. 173

FIG. 10—ZINACANTEC SHAMAN (CENTER) PRAYS TO ANCESTRAL GODS IN CURING CEREMONY ON TOP OF SACRED MOUNTAIN. (Photo by Frank Candan.)

TZOTZIL

Ladinos virtually never choose Indians as compadres and as a rule, whether paternally or aggressively, parade their superiority. RELIGION

Tzotzil religion, despite significant community variations in myth and ritual, is sufiiciently uniform to permit an individual to worship in neighboring Tzotzil towns. Christian beliefs, often greatly distorted, have become embedded in the native religion. Cosmology and Cosmogony The world is generally conceived as a cube, its interior or lower portion inhabited by the dead and by dwarfs (Co, Hp, L, P, VC, Z). It is supported by four (Co, P, VC, Z) or eight pillars ( L ) . In Zinacantan they are variously conceived in the form of mountains, men, and snakes. Earthquakes are attributed to the shaking of these pillars (Co, Hp, Z), in Huitiupan by a jaguar rubbing its cosmic itch. The world is surrounded by water (Co, H, Hp, P, VC, Z). In Larrainzar the sky is conceived as a pyramid supported by a giant ceiba. From the earth's surface the sun rises to high noon by six steps, and by six steps descends, marking the 12 (VC) or 13 (L) hours of daylight. In Huitiupan the sun ascends and descends three steps during the day. The nine hours of darkness are traversed on the pyramid of the underworld sky ( L ) . Only the East and West are denoted by specific terms; North and South are called "the sides of heaven" (Ca, Co, Hp, P, VC, Ζ). Specific colors are associated with the cardinal directions: North—white; West—black; South—^yellow; East—red (Co, P, VC, not Z). Creation myths, often internally contradictory, speak of multiple creations and destructions (Co, Hp, L, VC, Z), often three in number (Co, L ) . Destruction is by flood (Co, Hp, L, P, VC, Z), sometimes of boiling water (Hp, L, Z). Monkeys represent the chastised survivors of an earlier race of humanity (Co, Hp, P, VC, Ζ); in Huitiupan

ordinary mortals became spider monkeys, while the priests had their heads and buttocks reversed and so evolved into howler monkeys ("who to this day howl like priests at Mass."). Christ, the Creator (Co, Hp, L, Ζ), and Adam and Eve (Co, Ζ) figure also in the genesis. It is feared that the present precarious domination of the forces of good will shortly yield to the denizens of darkness and the underworld, resulting in universal destruction (Co, H, Hp, P, VC, Z). The location of the gods on the cosmic map is not always clear, but certain gods are considered inhabitants of the sky: these include San Salvador, or "god the father," who is known in Chenalho as ?ohoroš totil, in Larrainzar as san salik, or in Larrainzar and Zinacantan as san salvarol. He records the sins of man and determines the life span of his subjects (Z). The sun and Jesus Christ are associated together (Ca, Co, Hp, L, Z), though in Larrainzar they are compounded with San Salvador. Christ is also known as manohel tohel (Co), hman ?osil ( H p ) , and hmanvaneh (P, Z), the buyer of sins. The moon is considered to be the mother of the sun (Co, Hp, P, VC, Z). She is associated with the Virgin Mary and fertility (Ca, Co, Hp, L, P, Z). Among the stars and planets only Venus is accorded importance (L, Z). The saints are often considered siblings of lesser importance than Christ and the Virgin Mary (Co, H, L, P, Z). Each of the many images in the church is thought to represent a separate deity (Ca, Ζ). In Chamula, unlike Zinacantan, each of the saints has particular functions, e.g., San Sebastian is patron saint of sheep, San Miguel of musicians. A special category of saints are the me? santo (Co, L) or hk'opohel rios (Ρ, Ζ), the "talking saints," saints who appear in the dreams of shamans, who subsequently buy the appropriate images and establish shrines in their homes. In Huitiupan and Pantelho only San Miguel (as archangel) assumes the role of a talking saint. Emerging from the earth and closely allied to the earth lords, 175

FIG. 11—AN ALFEREZ IN ZINAGANTAN IN CEREMONIAL DRESS INDICATING A CHANGE OF GARGO RITUAL. (Photo by Frank Gancian.)

TZOTZIL

they communicate in falsetto from wooden chests as oft-visited if somewhat questionable sources of oracular knowledge. In Chenalho and Huitiupan persists the Maya concept of 13 sky gods. Chief of these evil forces is the fireball, poslom, whose animal incarnation is the jaguar. In both Larrainzar and Zinacantan the poslom and the jaguar are evil beings though apparently not linked to each other. The earth, č''ul balamil, in Chenalho, is a female deity, "the most compelling power in the universe . . . all-producing, all-maintaining, all-devouring" (Guiteras Holmes, 1961b, p. 289). The ?anhel is the beneficent rain god, lord of the thunderbolt, the mountains, and the forest animals, the giver of corn and the god of waters (Co). Elsewhere (Hp, L, P, Z) the two deities seem to be merged in yahval balamil, the earth lord (also called ?anhel and cauk), a masculine god conceived as a wealthy cave-dwelling Ladino who may capriciously bestow treasure or death. The ?anhel's daughter, cob, is the multiplier of maize (Co). The cross is the sacred tree (Co) and the doorway to the underground (Hp, L, Z). It is a guardian of man, closely associated with water resources; wooden crosses stand at the town entrances, crossroads, mountain shrines, wells (Ca, Co, H, Hp, L, VC, Z), in front of (Ca, H, Z) and atop every house (Ca, Z). Within the sacred mountains live the totil mef?il (Co, L, Z), or tatal me?il (Hp) ancestor gods. They watch over their subjects, protecting the worthy and punishing the wicked. Their animal incarnation (Co) or assistant (Hp, Z) is the hummingbird. In Larrainzar they are more specifically lineage gods, ranked according to the prestige of the lineage they represent. Remote deities are the vasak-men (Hp, L, Z), associated with the pillars of the world (L, Ζ) and credited with the creation of a river (Hp) and the construction of the church of San Sebastian (Z). Apparently peculiar to Chiapas is the

hi?ik'al, a cave-dwelling black-skinned spook endowed with a meter-long penis, cannibalistic appetite, and the power of flight (Ca, Co, H, Hp, L, P, VC, Z). Other figures from the underworld are the vinik ton (Co), who lures women to their death; šp'akin te? (Ca, Co, Hp, L, P, Z), a treacherous forest maiden; natikil hol (Hp, L, Z), a longhaired devil; hvalopat ?ok (L, Z), also known as hča?-hot sat (Z), a two-faced devil with feet pointing fore and aft. These evil figures are classified under the generic term, pukuh, and are joined by the various horrifying transformations of humans into k'atahem vakas, bulls, yalem bek'et (H, Hp, L, P, Z), also called hi¢'il bak ( L ) , flying skeletons, and hk'uš ?ak'al (Z), charcoal-crunching, bouncing heads. Human

Nature

The natural world is animate. Natural phenomena, plant and animal life, manufactured objects that have received human use, all are endowed with a č'ulel or immortal soul, which, among humans, may be multiple (13 in Hp, L) or composed of 12 (VC) or 13 parts (Z). The soul is essentially the dream image. Humans, in addition, possess a vayihel (Cn, Co, H, L, Z), vayohel (Hp, VC), čanul (Z), or con (Ca), a mortal animal spirit acquired at birth. In Huistan only the powerful have animal spirits, here, and in Larrainzar more than one may be possessed. In Huitiupan the "witches" alone possess animal spirits, always jaguars. The well-being of the companion spirit is entirely dependent on the well-being of the soul. A wide variety of animals, both domestic and wild, are the fleshly embodiments of the animal spirits; their identity reputedly corresponds to the temperament of the human to whose destiny they are bound (Ca, Co, L, VC, Z). Four animal companions are distributed among the Chamulas; margay, weasel, opossum and skunk; to the Ladino is ascribed the jaguar. In Larrainzar, unlike Chenalho and Zinacantan, a man's companion spirit may change iden177

178

Larrainzar

Mitontic

÷

·

χ

χ

χ

χ

÷

•

''

.'

χ

· '

χ

χ

χ

χ

χ

χ

χ

'· χ

χ

χ

χ

χ

tity, reflecting through time his increase of power. These spirits may reside together in a corral within the chief sacred mountain (VC, Z) or be distributed within the mountains ascribed to each lineage ( L ) . In Larrainzar the more powerful (feline) animals dwell in the highest levels of the mountains. "Heat" is another human characteristic related to power and possessed in greater measure by men than by women (Co, Z). In Zinacantan "heat" is constant, in Chenalho it increases with age and community service. Ritual

'-

χ

χ

χ

χ

χ

χ

·

·

χ

χ

χ

χ

χ

'^

χ

χ

χ

χ

χ

'' χ

χ

χ

χ

χ

χ

χ

χ

χ

χ

χ

χ

χ

'.

''

Bromeliad Geranium Liquidambar bough Pine bough Candle Cane Hquor Cross Incense

Huistan

'.

Chenalho

χ

Chamula

Huitiupan

x

'.'.'.·

XX

Ritual Item

TABLE 3-STANDARD RITUAL PARAPHERNALIA

Pantelho

V. Carranza

Zinacantan

ETHNOLOGY ÷

Human survival is thought to depend entirely on the preservation of harmonious relations with the deities. Failure to do so, as illustrated in many myths, provokes immediate, remorseless punishment. Through annual maintenance of the religious hierarchy the community endeavors to win the continued support of the gods. Divine satisfaction is assured by prayers, periodic renewal of floral decorations, by dancing, drinking, and feasting. Offerings of candles and incense symbolically provide "food" for the gods (Co, H, Hp, L, Mc, P, Z). Although the activities of the hierarchy revolve around the saints, it is presumed that the ancestor gods, custodians of ancient practice, are also actively concerned. The fiesta of Santa Cruz holds a special position in Tzotzil religion (Ca, Co, Hp, L, P, VC, Ζ). At each of the waterholes prayers are addressed to the earth lords as the waterholes receive their annual or twiceyearly cleaning. In Zinacantan the heads of every household sharing the same waterhole form a clearly defined ceremonial unit, led by their own shamans. In Larrainzar the principales, rather than the shamans, lead the Santa Cruz processions. A series of three ceremonies performed in the churchyard and at the mountain shrines are financed by the community of Chenalho to mark the beginning, middle,

TZOTZIL

and end of the 260-day agricultural cycle. A similar series is performed in Zinacantan, but its association with the agricultural cycle is not acknowledged. Mountain shrines are also visited during natural catastrophes. The Maya 365-day calendar of 18 months of 20 days and five "lost days" schedules agricultural activities (Ca, Cn, Co, H, L, Mc, P, SM, but not Hp, VC, Z). The earth (Co, Hp) and the earth lord (Co, L, Mc, Ζ) are the focus of agricultural rites. In Chenalho man and wife fast two days prior to planting. A ceremony is performed in the center of the cornfield (Co, Hp, Mc, P, Z), though in Zinacantan such ceremonies are largely restricted to the more productive fields in the lowlands. In Chenalho four candles, four pine boughs, and 13 balls of incense are placed in the center of the field. In Huitiupan 12 candles are lit, in Mitontic a cross of 13 grains of com is laid out, in Pantelho candles and six pine boughs are set up, in Zinacantan candles and three pine boughs. Ritual food is consumed by all the planters in the milpa (Co, Hp, P, Ζ). A similar ceremony may be held before weeding (Ηp,Ρ,Ζ). The construction of a new house demands prayers and offerings to the earth (Co, Hp, I, P) or the earth lord (Z). A rooster (Hp, VC, Z), a pig head (P, VC, Z), a pig's head and intestines ( H p ) , a sheep head ( H ) or even a whole sheep (H, P) may be buried in the center of the floor and cane liquor and chicken broth are poured on the roof and in the corners (Ca, Co, Hp, Z) to "tame" the house. Daily prayer is offered by every adult morning, noon, and night (Co, Hp, L ) . In Zinacantan the ordinary individual does not pray on waking, but at noon the men doff their hats (Ca, Hp) and bow to their elders, and before retiring pray conscientiously. In Chamula and Huitiupan hats are removed at noon. Prayers are commenced and terminated by making the sign of the cross on forehead, breast, and lips (Co, H,

FIG. 12--ZINACANTEC BOY AT MARKET IN SAN CRISTOBAL. (Photo by Nicholas H. Acheson.)

Hp, P, Z). Visits to the ceremonial center on market days demand prayers in the church on arriving (Co, H, P) and departing (Co). The constant recourse to public ceremony and private prayer reflects a basic mistrust of the supernatural and natural environment of the Tzotzil. The ancestor gods may actively punish their protégés or passively acquiesce in their destruction. So, too, the earth (Co, Hp, I, P) and the earth lords (Hp, L, Mc, Z) may imperil human survival. Prayers endlessly appeal for protection against the angry, the envious, who stand on all sides poised for attack. 179

Pulsing Com divination "Confession" Calling of soul Vein-sucking Spraying of cane liquor Bathing Steam (bath) Smoking of herbs on hearth Blowing Bloodletting "Seizing" with branches, eggs, chicken Flagellation with branches Massage Salves Exposure of body to rising sun Herbal teas Washing and changing of clothes Censing of clothes Consumption of cane liquor Chicken sacrifice Communal chicken meal Visit to churches, mountain shrines Food taboos Continence Post-ceremonial isolation

Curing Method

X

X X

X

X X

X

X

X X

X X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X X

X X

X X X X

X X X X

X

X X

X X

X

X

X X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X X

X

X

X

X

X

X X

X

X X

X

X X X

X

X

X

X X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X X

X

X

X

X

X

Zinacantan

X

X

X

X

V. Carranza

X

X

X

X

X

Pantelho

X

X

X

X

X X

X

X

X

X X

X

X

Larrainzar

X

Huitiupan

X

X

X X

X

X

X

X

X

Huistan

X

X

Chenalho

X

X

X

Chamula

TABLE 4 - C U R I N G METHODS

TZOTZIL

Curing Sickness is a constant preoccupation of the Tzotzil. The most common maladies are grippe, influenza, bronchitis, diarrhea, dysentery, enteritis, arthritis, rheumatism, and malaria. But in native terms the causes are many and difficult to isolate; divine and human responsibility are inextricably combined. The most serious illnesses are caused by damage to the soul. The soul may be lost in a moment of fright, battered by a blow from the ancestor gods or the earth lords (Co, H, Hp, I, L, P, VC, Z), it may be "sold" to the earth lord by an enemy, "eaten" by the soul (Co, H, Hp, I, L, P, VC, Z) or animal spirit (L, VC) of an enemy. A black chicken, ideally the age and sex corresponding to that of the patient (Co, H, Hp, I, L, Z), is sacrificed and offered as a substitute. In Pantelho the color of the chicken's plumage is irrelevant. If the animal spirit has been endangered by an enemy or abandoned by the assistants of the ancestor gods, appropriate magicoreligious rites are performed. The distinction between h?ilol (Ca, Co, L, P, Z) or h?ilvaneh ( H p ) , shaman, and h?ak' camel (Ca, H, Hp, I, L, P, VC, Z), hti?oval (Hp, Z) or ti?bol (Co, H, I ) , witch, depends largely on one's point of view, for the shamans exercise power for good and evil. By the offering of small, colored (Hp, L, Z) or inverted candles (Hp, Z) he may return the evil to its source, as his own soul (Co, Z) or animal spirit ( L ) is sent out to combat the enemy's. A witch may project animals into the body of his victim, inflict "cold air" or fever. Intrusive objects are removed by vein-sucking or by emetics. The restoration of proper body heat is achieved partially by the consumption of proper foods, i.e., foods whose presumed "coldness" or "heat" will restore the balance. In Chenalho foods are classified "hot," "cold," and "refreshing"; the latter category is absent elsewhere (H, Hp, I, L, P, Z). In Zinacantan exists a further category

of "good" foods, i.e., foods which are not characterized either by "hot" or "cold." "Cold air" is a natural result of childbirth and death. A pregnant woman may involuntarily inflict "cold" upon a child. Sickness may be caused by one's own anger or by mere evil wishes (Co, Hp, Z). In Chenalho imperfect knowledge of prayers may cause sickness. Epidemics are believed to travel in the air from other regions (Co, Hp, L, Z). While a shaman may prescribe herbal teas and other "practical" cures, curing techniques emphasize the physical restoration of the patient by the re-establishment of harmony between man and the divine. Curing ceremonies in Zinacantan generally last throughout the night, and require of the "dying" patient liberal consumption of cane liquor and an arduous tour of the mountain shrines!

Mythology Tzotzil oral literature, recounted informally in everyday speech, by both men and women, is the "historical" record of events occurring in a shallow past, which could be repeated today. A majority of the motifs are shared by the Tzeltal and many are known also from southern Mexico and Guatemala. Picaresque tales of European origin are related with relish. Though myths seldom provide direct explanations for ritual activities, they describe the creations and destructions of the world, the discovery of maize, the apparition of saints and Spaniards. They recount the dangerous adventures of mortals in confrontation with the forces of the underworld and the ghosts of the dead. The town elders, assuming the shape of lightning and whirlwind, battle the armies of Chiapa, Mexico City, and Guatemala. Many a story wistfully concludes, "and but for that the town would still be wealthy and the Ladino face up." No sooner has an event slipped into the recent past than it is related in the image of mythic events, history becomes myth, and 181

FIG. 13—ZINACANTECS SHELL CORN BY POUNDING IT WITH STICKS ON A COWHIDE PLATFORM. Kernels of corn fall to the ground as cobs are left on the platform. (Photo by Frank Cancian.)

TZOTZEL

so, with no loss of credibility, a dancing tree becomes a protagonist in the Mexican Revolution. Dreams As dream events represent the soul in action, the interpretation of dreams is vitally important. While it is conceded that dreams often play tricks rather than reveal the truth, nevertheless they form the basis for the shaman's power, often advise an individual of his appointment to a religious post, and promote the creation of a new fiesta. Not only is the divine in intimate contact with the soul, promising, warning, and chastising, but dreams are the battleground of the soul in its struggle against other souls for survival. Dreams, here, are analogous to a two-way communications system between man and the gods, and between man and fellow man. Dream symbols with standard interpretations, the majority direful, number well over 100 (Ζ). AESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL PATTERNS

Arts and Crafts (see TECHNOLOGY: Arts and Crafts) Music, Dance, Drama Music is an ever-present feature of Tzotzil religious celebration. Frequently a musician has been inspired to learn his art through dream experience (Ζ). In Zinacantan, drum and flute music is generally restricted to major fiestas, whereas trios of violin (2string), guitar (11-string), and harp accompany nearly every private and public religious celebration. Elsewhere musical instruments are represented by flute and drum (Ca, Co, H, Hp, P ) , violin (Co, P ) , guitar (Ca, Co, H, Hp, P ) , harp (Ca, Co, P), marimba ( H p ) , and accordion (Ca). Native music consists of sones (one from Zinacantan is clearly related to Matachines music of Taos, New Mexico!). It is customary for the musicians to defer singing until slightly intoxicated. The musicians sing in chorus, often accompanied by the principal

FIG. 14—MAN AND HIS WIFE FROM NALHO. (Copyright, Gertrude Duby.)

CHE-

participants who stand facing them, dancing in a slow unvarying step (Z). A wordless yowling refrain is characteristic (Ζ). In Chamula the accordion is supplanting native instruments. A "modern" band from Zapotal performs at major fiestas in Chamula and Zinacantan. Popular tunes blare from the cantinas. Dancing, except for wedding guests and 183

FIG. 15—CHURCH IN CEREMONIAL CENTER OF HUISTAN. (Copyright, Gertrude Duby.) incense-bearers, is strictly a male affair (Ζ). Men and women dance in separate groups (Z). The right or duty to dance is reserved for the principal religious participants, but heavily intoxicated spectators can seldom resist the urge to dance in total self-absorption (Z). Dramatic activity is associated with the major fiestas. The forces of evil are frequently mimed; the monkey (Ca, Cn, Co, VC), the jaguar (Ca, Hp, P, VC, Z), the blackman (Co, Hp, P, VC, Z), the Ladino (Cn, Co, H, Hp, Mc, VC, Z), Chamulas (VC), Lacandons (Z), sickness (Co), and a variety of lesser figures. Traditional farces spoof religious officials and shamans (Co, Z). A skit involving a straw bull, "maimed" men, and their "wives" is played in Mitontic 184

and Zinacantan. Even the sexual act itself is mimed (Co). Humor and Games There is considerable freedom in the expression of humor. Sexual joking is not greatly curtailed by the presence of women (Ca, Z). Young married couples enjoy sparring at each other, ridiculing the other's clumsiness or stupidity (Z). A word game is played often by men, matching rhyming words or phrases in rapid succession (Ca, VC, Z). Other adult games do not seem to occur. Etiquette Deference is shown according to sex and age. Except in Huitiupan men always pre-

TZOTZIL cede women in walking order (Ca, Co, H, L, P, VC, Z). A man sits on a chair, a woman on a mat (Ca, VC, Z) or stool ( P ) . A young person will stop on the path to let a superior pass by (Co, H, Hp, P, VC, Z). A person bows to and is "released" by his or her superior (Co, H, Hp, L, P, VC, Z). Contemporaries touch or shake hands (Ca, Hp, VC, Z), or touch the other's palm with two fingers ( L ) . To show respect one stands obliquely (L, VC, Z) while talking in a high-pitched nasal voice (Ca, H, VC, Z). Self-abasement, uncertainty, procrastination, and repetition are the hallmarks of polite conversation (VC, Z). Great reluctance is displayed before entering another's home or accepting any invitation. Every significant request should be accompanied by a bottle of cane liquor (Ca, Co, Hp, Ζ) or a gift of food ( H p ) . Drinking order follows the criteria first of sex and then of age (Ca, Co, H, Hp, L, P, Z). In Larrainzar and Huitiupan the donor of a drink receives the first share, his drinkpourer the second. In Chamula and Zinacantan the donor follows his guest, and the drink-pourer serves himself according to his age (Ca) or at the end of the round (Z). In public drinking situations strict reciprocity is expected (Ca, Co, H, Hp, P, Z), though in Larrainzar an older man is freed from the obligation to match glasses. Table manners demand a rinsing of mouth and hands before the meal (Ca, Co, H, Hp, P, Z). Stimulants Cane liquor is the lubricant for all social and religious activity. Nonsocial drinking is virtually unknown (L, Ζ). The consumption of alcohol is disapproved only when it interferes with economic, social, or religious obligations. A crime committed under the influence of alcohol is considered far less serious than premeditated, sober crime (Ca, Co, H, Hp, P, VC, Z). Drinking is usually ceremonial (Ca, L, Z). Although intoxication may lead to aggression, it just as often

FIG. 16—HUISTEC MEN. (Copyright, Gertrude Duby.)

increases ceremonious behavior until the individual sinks into sleep (Ca, VC, Z). Intoxication among the Tzotzil is not a stimulant for sexual interests. Children are offered weak cane liquor when 4 or 5 years of age (Ca, Co, H, Hp, P, Z). In Larrainzar women and children drink to excess, but this is untypical elsewhere (Co, H, Hp, Mc, VC, Z). Native tobacco is a traditional defense against the supernatural forces of evil (Co, H, Hp, Mc, P, Z). Mixed with lime, it is still chewed by a few old men (CN, Co, H, Hp, Ms, P, Z). Cigarettes (H, P, VC, Z) or cigars (B, Hp) are a standard, if minor, 185

ETHNOLOGY

ingredient of male social and religious activity. Fiesta Patterns

Mitontic Larrainzar Huitiupan Huistan Chenalho

LIFE CYCLE

Conception and Birth Pre-fiesta abstinence of certain officials Pre-fiesta continence of certain officials Self-flagellation of certain officials Washing of saints' clothes Dancing Repartition of food Explosion of rockets Counting of saints' rosaries Veneration of stajff of office Changing of banners Veneration of cardinal points Horse race Foot race on burning track Sexual skit Lighting of sacred fire Bull-running

Chamula Fiesta Activity

TABLE 5—FIESTA ACTIVITY

Pantelho

V. Carranza

Zinacantan

The standard fiesta lasts three (Ca, Hp, L, Z) or four days (Co, Mc). The major fiestas honor the patron saints, Christmas and Epiphany, San Sebastian, Carnival, Holy Week, and All Souls' Day. The primary fiesta attractions are food and drink. Religious rites, dancing, horse racing, skits, etc. provide added diversion. Adults are not keen spectators at these events which, nevertheless, form a major source of education for the young. Families sit in tight clumps in the churchyard, munching and talking, while the boys wander about aimlessly, glancing at pretty girls or spying on their elder brothers and fathers as they drink themselves into a stupor. Major fiestas generate considerable tension and aggression as large numbers of people stream into the ceremonial center from their widely scattered hamlets. Unfamiliar or hostile faces are crowded together in cantinas and in the marketplace. But despite the ambivalence of fiestas, they serve as milestones during the year. They are looked forward to months in advance with the greatest anticipation, and long before the last drunk has staggered home people are wistfully expressing the hope that they will be alive to enjoy next year's celebration.

186

The Tzotzil are aware that the mixture of the seminal fluid of man with the ovum of woman is responsible for conception. Signs of pregnancy are generally welcomed. Sterility is a motive for divorce (Ca, Co, Hp, VC, Z, not Η ) . Abortion is practiced only by unwed women (Co, Hp, Z) either by pressing the stomach against a metate (Co, Hp) or by using an herbal abortive (Co, Hp, Ζ). During pregnancy a woman fasts (Co,

TZOTZIL

Ρ) and prays (Co, Hp, P ) . But in Zinacantan she does not pray, and her cravings for food must be satisfied. With the arrival of the ninth month a woman is relieved of heavy labor. She may not weave or have sexual intercourse. In Chenalho there are no sexual restrictions. A midwife is called in first during the fourth to sixth (Z) or fifth to seventh (Co, Hp) months to massage the expectant mother. Miscarriage is explained as the transferral of the foetus to another woman by a witch (Ca, Co, Hp, P, Z), or its abduction by a "monkey" (Co, Hp, P, Z). If a pregnant woman dies, an autopsy is performed to remove the foetus for separate burial so that the mother's soul will not be tormented (Ca, Co, Z). Babies are thought to be gifts from God. Boy babies are preferred. If a girl is born, the mother may be blamed for her "carelessness" (Ca). The mother may be mistreated, even replaced if there is no male issue (Ca, Hp, P, Ζ). In Zinacantan a male child is "woman's luck," a female child, "man's luck." In Chenalho the soul of an offspring is under the care of the parent of opposite sex. Present at the delivery are the husband and midwife alone (Co), or a large group including the bilateral kin, drinking rounds of cane liquor to alleviate the woman's suffering (Ca, Z). The husband may only offer comfort (Co) or actively assist, tightening his wife's sash (Hp, L, Ζ). The woman kneels clutching the back of a chair, a post, or a rope (Co, Hp, L, Ζ). The newborn infant is first handled by the midwife (Co, Hp, P) or by the mother (Z). The umbilical cord is tied with thread close to the body and severed by a red-hot machete, leaving a 6-inch long stub. For the operation the cord is held taut in the air (Z), held against a corncob (Co, H p ) , or if a male baby, against an axe head (L, P ) , if a female baby, against a metate ( L ) . The baby is washed (H, Hp, P, Ζ) and swaddled (Co, Hp, Z). Salt is placed in its mouth

FIG. 1 7 — H U I S T E C WOMEN. (Copyright, Gertrude Duby.)

(Co, H, Hp, P, Z), chile (Co, H, Hp, P, Z) or tobacco (Hp) rubbed on its lips. The baby is offered to everyone present to greet or embrace (Co, P, Z). The mother is washed (Z) and bandaged (Co, Z). The afterbirth is buried inside (Co, Hp, L, Ρ) or outside the house (Co, Hp, Ζ). If it is buried deep or far away, the next pregnancy will be postponed (Hp, Z). The umbilical cord is placed in a treetop (Co, Hp, P, Ζ), roof top ( H p ) , or next to the hearth (Co). In Chenalho mother and infant bathe on the third day. The mother may take sweat baths (L, Ζ). In Zinacantan she takes three baths as soon as she is able. For the first few days mother and baby are confined under blankets (Co, Hp, P, Ζ). They may remain inactive and house-bound for as long as a month (Co, Hp, L, Z). The mother may eat no "cold" foods for 20 days (Hp) or until the rest period has ended (Co, H, P, Z). Sexual relations are deferred until she has recovered. Infancy and Childhood In Chenalho a child is named after a respected friend or family member; the 187

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 1 8 — C H A M U L A CHILD. (Photo by Nicholas H. Acheson.)

FIG. 1 9 — C H A M U L A CHILD. (Photo by Nicholas H. Acheson.)

father's name is repeated by one son, the mother's, by a granddaughter. In Zinacantan a child may not be named after its parent or the parent will die. Here, and recently in Chenalho, the child is named according to the saint's day. In Chenalho a secret name is given, known only to the parents and grandparents. A baby's soul is thought to be only tenuously possessed by the body (Co, H, Hp, P, Z). If a baby dies before it is baptized, its soul will become a devil (Co, H, Hp, P, VC, Ζ). Infants and young children are cherished (Co, VC, Z). For the first one and a half years of life a baby is in constant physical contact with its mother, fed on demand (Ca, Co, H, P, Z, but not VC). Solid food is initiated at around six

months (Co, Hp, Z). A baby is weaned gradually when it is between one (H, Hp, P) and two and a half or three years old (Co, VC, Z). Sphincter control is learned by two (Co) to two and a half (Ζ) or three years ( H p ) . Toilet training is not severe. A child is helped to learn to walk (Co, Hp, Z, not Ca). Independence training is gradual. After three years a child suddenly falls from its privileged position and is expected to keep out from under foot (Z). Food, though, is never denied, and special treats are always brought from the market for the children (Ca, Co, H, Hp, Z). First toys are flowers, pods, pieces of wood, string. Siblings and neighboring cousins imitate their elders' domestic chores, commercial

188

TZOTZIL

FIG. 2 0 — C H A M U L A WOMAN AND CHILD. (Photo by Nicholas H. Acheson.)

and ritual activities. Later amusements are toy looms, pots, metates, dolls for girls, toy trucks, marbles, tops, slingshots, bows and arrows, blowguns, basketball for boys. By the age of six, boys and girls are competent in the home, and good shepherds (Ca, Z). At seven (VC), eight (Co, Z), or nine or 10 years (H, Hp) a boy is expected to work in earnest. School attendance, virtually restricted to boys, is sporadic. A girl of 12 is able to make good tortillas; at 13 she can weave properly. At six (Hp) or 12 years (Ζ) boys no longer sleep next to their sisters. Their knowledge of sex is gained from their peers. Premarital sexual experience is rare in Chenalho, common in Huistan and Zinacantan, and en-

couraged for young men in V. Carranza. Overt homosexuality is nearly nonexistent. Prostitution does not occur. Venereal disease is rare. Mother-son incest is unheard of (Co,Z). Courtship and Marriage Courtship proceedings are initiated when a girl is 12 to 16 ( H p ) , 14 (P, VC), 14 to 18 (Ca), 16 (Co), 16 to 17 years old (Z), and when a boy is 16 (VC), 16 to 20 (Ca, H, P ) , 17 to 25 (Z), 18 (Co) or 18 to 25 years old ( H p ) . The initiative may be taken by the boy's parents or by the boy himself, with his parents' consent. The petition for the bride is made by the boy's parents alone (Cn, Co, H, H p ) , or 189

ETHNOLOGY

FIG.

21—CHAMULA

CARGOHOLDER

CHICHA. (Photo by Nicholas H. Acheson.)

DRINKS

by his parents and special petitioners (Ca, P, VC, Z). In Huistan the girl's family is first advised informally, but in Zinacantan a surprise assault and entry is made into the girl's home. The petitioners plead on their knees (Ca, Co, H, Hp, I, P, Z), offering cane liquor (Ca, Co, H, Hp, P, VC, Z), bread (H, Hp, P, VC, Z), brown sugar (H, P, Z), chocolate (H, Hp, VC, Z), oranges and plantains (Co), and money ( H p ) . The gifts are angrily refused, but finally accepted. Acceptance of the gifts implies acceptance of the suitor. This may occur on the first visit (H, Z), after three (Hp, VC), three to seven (Co), four to five (Ca), or up to seven (P) visits. In Zinacantan, for a period lasting up to two years, the groom 190

pays the bride price with comestible gifts. Elsewhere, after one (Ca, VC) or two (Co, H) further visits the marriage date is set for several weeks (Ca, P, VC) or months (H, Hp, VC) hence. The bride price may be paid in cash (VC) or gifts. The gifts are presented before and during the groom's formal entrance into his bride's home. They consist of cane liquor (Ca, Cn, Co, H, Hp, P, VC, Z), bread (Ca, Cn, Co, H, Hp, P, VC, Z), brown sugar (Ca, Co, H, Hp, P, Z), chocolate (Co, Hp, VC, Z), fruit (Ca, Co, P, Z), maize (Co, H, Hp, P, VC, Z), beans (Co, H, Hp, P, VC, Z), meat (Ca, Cn, Co, H, Hp, P, Z), salt (Co, H, Hp, P ) , chile (Co, H) and pitch pine (Co, P ) , cofiEee (Hp, Z) or atole (Ζ), a wedding blanket (Co, Z), skirt ( H p ) , nets and woven napkin (Co), and cigarettes (Co). The formal entrance signifies the wedding itself when neither civil nor church weddings are celebrated. In Chenalho it is followed by a three-day fast. Ritual scorn and rebuke are cast at a groom's family in Chamula even at this time. The gifts of food are widely distributed among the bride's entire family on this occasion (Ca, Co, H, Ηñ,Ρ,Ζ). If a church wedding does occur, a wedding banquet is offered at the groom's house (Hp, VC, Z) or alternately at the groom's and then the bride's house ( H ) . In Zinacantan bride service may be substituted by a cash payment. There it precedes the church wedding and may be only of two weeks' duration. Elsewhere it may last from a week ( H p ) , three weeks (Ca, Co) to a year (Cn, H, H p ) , or even two years (Cn). A year of matrilocal residence is expected (Ca, Cn, Co, H, L, P, VC, not Z). Eventually the groom usually settles in his father's house or builds a house in the same compound (Ca, Cn, Co, H, L, P, VC, Z). Marriage is considered the attainment of maturity; only after its consummation may

TZOTZIL

high religious posts be held (Ca, Co, Hp, Mc, P, Ζ). Unmarried males of Chalchihuitan are disqualified for all official posts, religious or civil. Virtually every adult male marries. Polygyny may be frequent ( L ) , infrequent (Ca, Cn, Co, H, Hp, P ) , or nonexistent (Z). The levirate and sororate occur (Cn, Co). Fear of infidelity far exceeds actual practice. Separation is always initiated by the wife, who returns to her parents' home (Ca, Cn, Co, H, P, Ζ), or, if they are dead, to a brother's house (Cn). Separation and divorce stem from a husband's continual poverty and drunken aggressions, a wife's rebelliousness and laziness (Z). The first years of marriage are frequently punctuated by an unhappy wife's fleeting abandonment of her husband (Co, Hp, P, Z). Maturity and Aging While maturity signifies economic and organizational responsibility, old age connotes experience and wisdom. Old age is proof of survival power, of having withstood evil. With advanced age many taboos cease (Co). In Zinacantan there is no reverence for senility, however; an old man, no longer able to work efficiently, is called "a left-over man." Death

FIG. 22—OLD MAN OF LARRAINZAR IN CEREMONIAL COSTUME. (Copyright, Gertrude Duby.)

Death, "the end," is not accepted impassively by the Tzotzil, but is always a sudden surprise that shakes every man's uneasy security. Generally it is deemed premeditated murder—trailing tears and laughter, for everyone one day must provide entertainment for the envious and food for the worms. No matter how solicitously the lifeless body is equipped for its journey to the afterworld the dread finality of death is a constant concern. The corpse is laid on a bench ( H p ) , table ( H p ) , mat (P, Z) or mat-covered board (Co), the mat placed upside down and wrong side to (P, Z). The head is to the

west (Co, H, Hp, P, Z). The body is washed by an older woman (Z) or by an older person of the same sex as the deceased (Co, Hp, P ) . The body is dressed in new or best clothes (Ca, Co, H, Hp, P, VC, Z), the eyes closed and the hands folded on the chest (Co, H, Hp, Z). A man is covered with his blanket, a woman with her child-carrying cloth, both are placed with the bottom hem at the neck (Ζ). Next to the corpse's head is a bowl containing a cooked chicken head, its sex matching that of the deceased (Hp, Z). Two candles are 191

192 TABLE 6—GRAVE GOODS Chenalho

Chamula Man only: nail parings Woman only: comb needle thread yam spindle hair ball

Larrainzar

Pantelho

V. Carranza

÷

÷

X

( 3 turkey feathers) X ÷

X

χ

÷

χ

÷

χ

X

÷ ÷

÷ X

÷ X X X ÷

÷ ÷

X

X X

÷ ÷ ÷

X

X X

÷

÷

÷

X

÷

÷ ÷

Zinacantan

÷ ÷

X

÷ ÷

÷ ÷ ÷ ÷

X ÷ ÷

X ÷

X

÷

÷ ÷

÷

ETHNOLOGY

Man and woman: needle thread money half-gourd full watergourd 3 burnt tortillas corn dough 13 maize kernels 3 maize kernels 13 beans 3 beans coffee fruit net 3 sticks to scare dogs candle stubs rosary scapulary napkin

Huitiupan

TZOTZIL

lighted at head and foot in Chenalho and Huitiupan, one candle, alternately wax and tallow, in Zinacantan. The inclusion of candles and ribbons varies according to the civil state of the deceased (Ca, Co, L, Z). Music must be played throughout the wake (Ca, Co, Z, but not H p ) . Weeping should be indulged in only by the intoxicated (Co, not Z). Close contact with the deceased is prohibited to unmarried persons (Hp, Ζ) or young consanguineal relatives (Co). In Chalchihuitan a lineage must not bury its own members. A chicken meal is offered (Ca, Co, Hp, VC, Z). Guests contribute candles ( H p ) , food (Ca, Hp, VC), or money (Ca, Hp, VC, Z). Burial takes place after the deceased has "rested" for a day (Ca, Co, H, Hp, P, Z). When the coffin is removed from the house salt water is scattered in and around the house (Hp, Z) or the hearth (Co). Chile is burnt, and the soul called to the cemetery (Co). The funeral cortege makes frequent stops on the way to the cemetery to offer water to the corpse (Ca, Hp, Z). The deceased is laid to rest on lineage land (Cn, Co), in a hamlet cemetery (Z), or at the ceremonial center (Hp, L, Ρ ) . The body is buried with head to the west (Ca, Co, H, Hp, P, Z) in the afternoon (Co, H, P, Z), after sundown (Ca), or precisely 24 hours after death ( H p ) . Grave goods are placed in the coffin to equip the dead for his journey. Leather clothing and a man's hat are buried on top of the coffin (Ca, Co, Z) or not buried at all ( H p ) . Woolen clothing is either not buried (Hp, Z) or else placed with the leather sandals (Co). The rosary (VC) or responses are chanted (Z). A drunken binge at the cemetery usually follows (Ca, Co, H, Hp, P, VC, Z). Candles burn for three (Z) or 15-20 (Hp) days in the house of the deceased (Ζ). In Chenalho an old person tends the house for three days while the family lives apart, fasting and praying. Candles are lit in the graveyard every morning for eight (Hp) or nine

FIG. 23—TZOTZIL WOMEN OF SAN BARTOLOME DE LOS LLANOS. (Photographed by Donald Cordry, 1940.)

days (Z). A Mass is said a month later (VC). The souls of the dead, è'ulelal (Co, Hp, VC, Z), are ferried by a black dog across a river to k'atin bak (Ca, Co, Hp, L, VC, Z), the underworld. There, following a period of punishment, they enjoy their existence for a term corresponding in length to the life span of the deceased. Growing younger year by year, they are reborn "tabula rasa" into persons of opposite sex (Co, Hp, L, Z). In Chenalho and Huitiupan the souls of women who die in childbirth and those of individuals who die by drown193

ETHNOLOGY

ing, lightning, or murder travel straight to heaven. The souls of babies feed at a "breast tree" (Co, Z). Until their term in the underworld has expired, each year on All Souls' Day the dead are offered candles, food, and drink (Co, Hp, L, VC, Z). A

special "government of the dead" sits in solemn authority before the church door (Co). 5 5 My field work, initially as a member of the Harvard Chiapas Project, was supported by the National Institute of Mental Health grant no. MH-2100.

REFERENCES Aguirre Beltrán, 1953 and Pozas Α., 1954 Basauri, 1940c Becerra, 1933 Berhn, 1951

Bunzel, 1940, 1959, 1960 Calnek, 1961 Cancian, Francesca, 1964, 1965 Cancian, Frank, 1963, 1964, 1965a, 1965b Cerda Silva, 1957c Colby, 1960, 1961, 1964, 1966 and van den Berghe, 1961 Collier, in press Cowan, 1962 Duby, 1961 Favre, 1964 Guiteras Holmes, 1948a, 1951, 1961a, 1961b Holland, 1961a, 1961b, 1963a, 1963b, 1964 and Tharp, 1964 Inst. Nacional Indigenista (Mexico), n.d.,a,b,c

194

Laughlin, 1962 Menget, 1968 Miles, 1952 Miller, F. C , 1960, 1964, 1965 Modiano, 1968 Montagu and Hunt, 1962 Pozas Α., 1945, 1952a, 1959a, 1959b, 1962 Price, 1966 Rojas González and Cerda Silva, 1941 Salovesh, 1965 Schulz, 1942, 1953 Tax, Sol, 1944 Tax, Susan, 1964 Villa Rojas, 1962, 1963, 1964 Vogt, 1961, 1964a, 1964b, 1964c, 1964d, 1964e, 1965a, 1965b, 1965c, 1966, 1967, 1968 Weathers, 1946 Wüson, 1966 Zabala, 1961

9. The Tzeltal

ALFONSO VILLA

O

CCUPYING A REGION east of the Tzotzil, the Tzeltal live in the central part of the state of Chiapas, Mexico. Three natural zones divide this land: gentle slopes and plains in the south (Amatenango del Valle, Aguacatenango, Pinola, Soyatitan, and Socoltenango); high peaks and irregular terrain in the central part (Chanal, Oxchuc, Tenejapa, Cancuc, Abasolo, and Tenango); lower peaks toward the north. GEOGRAPHY AND DEMOGRAPHY

Vegetation varies with climate and altitude. In the temperate or cold lands, evergreen oaks and pines predominate; in the lower and warm areas are high evergreen forests, alternating with savannas and subdeciduous forest ( F . Miranda, 1952, vol. 1, ch. 3). In the temperate and the warm zones coffee and a great variety of fruit trees—orange, annona, peach—are cultivated. Few rivers of any volume cross the mountainous terrain. None are navigable. The hydrographic system is delimited by the Usmacinta and Grijaiva rivers; the former

ROJAS

flows through the eastern part of the region, the latter through the western, both draining large basins. According to the census of 1950, the population of the zone totals 76,617 individuals, distributed over 15,970 sq. km. Of these 49,053 persons are Indian, 27,564 are Ladino. This population is distributed according to Table 1. San Cristobal de las Casas is omitted from the table because its population is predominantly Ladino (19,758 individuals) and because the Indians who live there (3,296) are of the Tzotzil tongue. Socoltenango and Nicolas Ruiz are also omitted because they no longer have an Indian-speaking population. The central region has the municipalities of the highest density of population: Oxchuc with 129 inhabitants per sq. km., and Tenejapa with 115. The northern part has an area seven times as large with only twice as much population; the municipality of Ocosingo has hardly one inhabitant per sq. km. in spite of the fact that its lands are the most fertile of the entire region. Although it 195

ETHNOLOGY

TABLE 1—DISTRIBUTION OF THE POPULATION BY MUNICIPALITIES (Census of 1950) Municipalities

Area in sq. km.

Tzeltalspeakers

Spanishspeakers

Total Population

North Zone: Sitala Yajalon Chilon Ocosingo

550 145 462 12,143

5,435 6,026 9,049 9,170

1,385 4,010 2,070 3,770

6,821 10,036 11,118 12,940

Subtotal Central Zone: Chanal Oxchuc Tenejapa Altamirano

13,300

29,680

11,235

40,915

192 42 67 1,559

2,328 4,074 6,215 2,945

553 1,338 1,535 1,810

2,881 5,412 7,750 4,655

Subtotal South Zone: Teopisca Amatenango Pinola

1,860

15,462

5,236

20,698

270 355 185

754 1,773 1,384

4,601 756 5,736

5,355 2,529 7,120

Subtotal

810 15,970

3,911 49,053

11,093 27,564

15,004 76,617

GRAND TOTAL

has an average of 19 inhabitants per sq. km., the southern zone has lands that are suitable for agriculture and for irrigation, such as in Amatenango. Later I shall discuss the influence of these factors on the uneven economic and social development of the three zones. T h e figures on Indians are based exclusively on use of the Indian language and so include both monolinguals and bilinguals. To differentiate each group, however, I have m a d e corrections based on field work as shown in Table 2. T h e average height of these Indians ranges from 1.55 to 1.60 m. Referring to

the Tzeltal of Tenejapa, F . Starr (1902a) gives measurements of 1.557.1 of height for m e n a n d 1.438.4 for women. Local variations exist between municipalities and between zones of different climate and altitude. Blom and L a F a r g e (1926-27, 2:328-29) describe the Tzeltal of the lower area of Bachajon: Physically, the Tzeltal, like all the Mayance Indians, are short, averaging probably about 160 centimeters (5 feet, 4 inches) for the men, and slightly less for the women. Their build is slender, with stringy muscles, except for a good development of the calves. Hands and feet are small and well formed. Their slender-

TABLE 2 — S P E A K E R S OF TZELTAL

(Distribution by Zones) Zones North Zone Central Zone South Zone TOTAL

196

Monolingual

Bilingual

Total

23,429 11,291 323 35,043

8,251 4,171 3,588 16,010

31,680 15,462 3,911 51,053

TZELTAL

ness is deceptive, for their great strength lies in their legs, back, and neck, seen in their ability to carry loads of 45 kilograms (100 lbs.) and upwards, all day up and down hill without undue fatigue . . . Hair form is straight, coarse, and black. Gray hair or baldness are very unusual. Body hair, as far as could be observed, is negative. As many as 99.56 per cent of Tzeltal belong to blood type O, which is one of the highest frequencies registered in the Mayance area. According to Matson and Swanson (1959, p. 50), "In general the more isolated peoples such as the Lacandon, Tzeltal, Tzotzil and Cakchiquel show the highest frequency of the O gene." This condition is attributed to the absence of racial mixture. CULTURAL CONFIGURATION

Like the Indians in the highlands of Guatemala (Tax, 1937), the Tzeltal group themselves in communities which are distinct social and cultural units, as is characteristic of the tribe. Each community has its welldefined lands, its own dialect forms, wearing apparel, kinship system, politico-religious organization, economic resources, crafts, and other cultural features. Any native of the region finds it easy to identify the origin of other Indians by noting their speech, wearing apparel, or the goods they sell. Solidarity between the members of each community is strong and becomes manifest in times of conflict with outside groups or in their way of gathering according to their "nationality" on fiestas or market days when people of other communities attend. On the other hand, no ethnic solidarity whatsoever exists. Each community restricts itself to its own affairs and nothing else; whatever happens to the other Tzeltal communities is something altogether apart. The territorial limits of these communities do not always coincide with those of the municipalities, as in Guatemala. Various well-defined communities exist (in the terms described above) which belong to

other municipalities (Aguacatenango, Cancuc, Tenango, San Martin, Sivaca, Guaquitepec, and Bachajon). Petalcingo belongs to the municipality of Tila, where Chol is spoken. The reason for these heterogeneous municipalities is that, within the political constitution of the state, only communities containing a sufficient number of inhabitants may achieve the status of municipality; the rest are considered merely as agencies of the municipality to which they have been assigned. Another cultural variation stems from its ecological location. Communities of the southern zone, which have good lands, roads, mechanized transportation, and therefore greater contacts with the outside world, occupy a more advanced place in the process of acculturation, which is revealed by the scant number of monolingual Indian residents and by their better economic condition. Communities of the central zone, of irregular landscape and high demographic pressure, isolated, and without economic opportunities, are the poorest, most conservative, and most untrusting of the entire region. The northern zone has a high index of Indianness because of the number of those who do not know Spanish, but their economic condition is better than that of the central zone, because there is more opportunity to cultivate coffee and work on the plantations. HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS

I shall mention only the periods of greatest social significance in the past four centuries. The dates are approximate. The period of the conquest, from 1524 to 1545, saw the most violent encounters and occasional skirmishes between Indians and Spaniards. The fortress of Chamula was taken by Captain Luis Marin in 1524, and four years later Ciudad Real (now San Cristobal de las Casas), destined to be the politico-religious center of the region, was founded. The period of catechization and consoli197

ETHNOLOGY

dation of the Spanish dominance lasted from 1545 (when Fray Bartolomé de las Casas arrived with 17 Dominican friars) until 1600. During this period a vast movement of population took place characterized by changes in location of some towns, reductions, and congregations. During the entire 17th and early 18th centuries, the period of slavery and royal land grants, Indians were subjected to heavy tributes and to forced labor on the plantations and in transporation systems of the encomenderos, as tememes or carriers. Great caravans of 300-400 Indians, at the command of 10 or 12 Spaniards, transported goods the 1000 km. from San Cristobal de las Casas to Veracruz. Many died from excessive loads and lack of food (B. Metzger, 1960, p. 19). From about 1720 to about 1850 may be considered the period of resurgence and autonomy of the Indian community, when the system of royal land grants was suppressed, the Order of Dominicans was weakened, and Spanish authority became relaxed and even indifferent. Bishop Polanco sent a report in 1781 to the Royal Court of Justice of Guatemala, complaining of the abandonment of the Indians (Trens, 1942, p. 200). It is wondrous that in the town of Chamula, contiguous to Ciudad Real, Indians have need of interpreter to defend themselves or to beg for what they desire. So that they are as they were twenty years after their conquest; in such a state of blindness and ignorance they find themselves. In the town of San Andres, next to Chamula, there are many saints, old and indecent, whom I thought of burying; I did not do it because those evil souls say that they make them see clearly and alleviate their needs. I suspected a riot without having assistance. . . . Oh, my Lord, their audacity and shamelessness are such that they even come to command in the church, without respect for the priest. They hold to the idea that the third person of the Holy Trinity is the Sun, because, they say, it was thus taught to them by the old fathers. 198

The mistakes, lack of attention and pretensions of the Indians in regard to the Christian doctrine, who they say they know, and the ones instructed best in them, say as many heretic words as Christian, is consequence or necessary sequel of the lack of care in the secular and ecclesiastical government. This situation became more and more acute owing largely to the political unrest which absorbed the attention of the authorities, unrest which culminated in the separation of Chiapas from Guatemala and in 1824 its incorporation with Mexico. The next period, invasion of lands by Ladinos, extends from about 1850 to 1911, when the first sparks of the Mexican Revolution reached Chiapas. In this period Ladinos began to invade lands of the Indian communities by bribery or by force. Toward 1856 the Indians complained against the invasion of lands in San Martin, San Miguel Mitontic, San Pedro Chenalo, Cuncuc, and Tenejapa, but failed to halt Ladino inroads (Trens, 1942, pp. 274-75). The history of recent times, from 1920 on, is marked by increasing support from federal authorities throughout the entire republic. In the Tzeltal area progress has been slow but constantly improving (see LaFarge, 1940; Reals, 1951). ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDIES OF THE REGION

In his first trip through the Mayance area in 1839 and 1840, Stephens (1841) visited the northern zone of the Tzeltal, from Ocosingo to Yajalon, going through Bachajon and Chilon. Traveling the same route two decades later in the opposite direction, the French explorer Désiré Charnay recorded his impressions in a small book (1863). In 1901 Frederick Starr (1902), from the University of Chicago, made a short visit to the region. In 1925 Blom and LaFarge traversed from north to south a large part of Tzeltal territory, publishing their data in three chapters of their Tribes and Temples (1926-

TZELTAL

27) but without touching on social organization. Study of social organization began in 1938 when I made my first trip through the region under the auspices of the Carnegie Institution of Washington (Redfield and Villa Rojas, 1939, pp. 107-19). In 1942-44 we spent several periods among the Tzeltal of Oxchuc, establishing camp at Yochib, and published the results soon thereafter (Villa Rojas, 1946, 1947). Since 1957 various investigations by the universities of Chicago, Harvard, and Stanford have been headed by the anthropologists Sol Tax, Norman A. McQuown, Evon Z. Vogt, Julian Pitt-Rivers, and A. Kimball Romney. SUBSISTENCE PATTERNS AND FOOD HABITS

The Milpa Nothing is of greater importance to the Indian than to have a good milpa. Three classes of milpas are cultivated: sijomal, planted in mid-January and harvested three months later; nal-aual or "March milpa" planted in mid-March and harvested toward the end of August; the main milpa, jabil· caltic or "milpa of the year," sown between April and May and harvested between November and December. The first two types are most often cultivated in the lower zone of Tierra Caliente, where humidity is favorable. Among the Tzeltal of Oxchuc (Villa Rojas, 1946, pp. 510-39), milpa work begins in February with the measuring of the plot. The measuring rod (jaubtic), which presumably corresponds to a brazada (the distance between the arms extended), is equivalent to 1.98 m. The area 8 brazadas square takes the name of tarea (about 256 sq. m.). The area of the milpa is also computed according to the number of ears of corn needed for seeding; 60 ears of corn are required to fill 1.5 hectares, the average in milpas that we observed. Since the bush is short, only a hatchet (eche) is necessary to cut it down. The

machete (machit) or the luk, a sort of curved machete with a long handle, are the implements needed. The cutting of the grass from the plot where the milpa had been the previous year is selab; the cutting of bush grown for three or four years is sok'uej. The work of cutting the bush is done by the entire family, including children of seven or eight years old. The planting is done between April and May after the first rains, with a long stick whose tip is hardened by fire or protected by a metal point. The seed must come from large, healthy ears whose tips have been cut off because they have small corn. The olote, or corncob, is either kept or thrown away at a distance to avoid its being used as fuel, for this would hurt the milpa which then would produce ears with broken kernels. The task of planting is a very delicate matter, to be performed after fasting and sexual abstinence. It is exclusively a man's affair. A great banquet is served at noon, generally outdoors as the hut interiors are small, to the friends and neighbors who will participate as helpers. Sometimes as many as 10 men help to plant a friend's milpa. The meal is offered "precisely when the sun stops for a moment midway on its run and the doors of the Church of Heaven are opened, from where the quality of the banquet is observed." This is s-uelil-abal ('meal of the planting'). When things are properly done, the meal consists of a number of items. First the atole (pajal-ul) is served, which is slightly sour and sweetened with panela. As "companion" to this atole are tamales (chenkuluaj), which are prepared with cornmeal and ground beans. It is said that both things are to be served together so that "the seed may penetrate deep into the ground." After this preliminary snack comes what is considered the main course for each person: a hard-boiled egg in a thick reddish broth prepared from dough and ground chile dissolved in water; a large tortilla; 199

FIG. 1—PARAJE REPRESENTATIVES VISITING THE CEREMONIAL CENTER OF TENEJAPA. (Copyright, Gertrude Duby.)

TZELTAL

boiled beans; other tamales (petul), which are made from dough and whole beans; and finally, still more atole. The atole is served not in individual jicaras but in two or three large ones (batzil-booch), which are passed from person to person. The same is done with the other foods; they are served in one or two large pots (mucul pulato) out of which everyone serves himself. This banquet is given only on the first day of the planting; if other days are required, the milpero himself does the planting. Since weeds grow rapidly during the rain season, the milpa must be hoed twice before it reaches maturity. For this the luk or coa is used and also the hoe (asron), the same one used to break the soil before planting. The first weeding is done in June, the second between July and August. Women help their husbands in this chore and sometimes do it entirely themselves, since the men are in the habit of leaving for Tapachula to work as peons on the coffee plantations. Also in the milpa beans of several varieties are planted: chuil-chenek (or ibes, according to the Ladinos); botil, a large common bean; xakil-chenek or frijol de vara; and the x-luumil-chenek or frijol de la tierra, thus called because it is a creeping plant. Chile is planted on a separate lot, 15-20 m. square. The planting is done during the first weeks of March, in alternate years so that it will not coincide with the year when the people of Cancuc plant cotton. Chile planted by the people of Oxchuc is dzajalik or red chile. Toward the end of August, the first fruits are ready (unimajam or jilote, according to Ladinos). These are received with great joy by the families which are by then lacking food. From each plant, which provides two or three jilotes, the farthest down is picked to let the other two grow bigger. These jilotes are boiled without salt and are eaten whole, including the husks.

Between September and October, when the tender ears are ready, some are torn loose to prepare atoles and tamales. Toward the middle of October, when the milpa has reached maturity, all hands proceed to the task of the dobla, folding or breaking the stem of the plant so that the ear dries and may later be put into the barn. This is an easy task, in which men, women, and children take part. The harvest takes place in November and December with the participation of the whole family; it is a joyful task which compensates for all the moments of anxiety in the previous months, when subsistence was scarce. The produce from the milpa is gathered in large nets and later stored in a corner of the house or in some improvised structure nearby. The crop is measured by zontles, units of 400 ears, which are formed by counting the ears by fives; two ears are taken in one hand and three in the other until 400 are reached. The family of five members which manages to harvest from 15 to 20 zontles considers itself happy, since that much will last them the entire year, consuming 20 ears a day plus feeding one or two hogs and 10 or 12 chickens. The milpa also produces various squashes, manioc (dzinté), and peanuts, which the Indians call caxlan-chenek ('Ladino's bean'). Exceptional among the Tzeltal is the cultivation of wheat in Amatenango. There the small valley and a creek have favored its development. The most important ceremonies take place immediately after planting. They entrust the germination of the seed to the care of God, of the "thirteen holders of Heaven," and of "Tatik Jesucristo." The "thirteen holders of Heaven" refer to the principal saints who are mentioned in the prayers. The ceremonies consist in offerings of prayers and incense before the crosses kept in caves belonging to each paraje, and in one bikit mixa ('small Mass'), which the cabildos and principales of the 201

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paraje perform before the altar of the church in the ceremonial center. All prayers are said in Tzeltal; some are Christian in origin, others entirely pagan. This prayer I recorded in 1944: Here we come to bring you your food, to light your candles, to play the harp, to play the guitar. Here we come to perform your fiesta, so you may be happy, so you will not abandon us. We have already planted the milpas; the seed is already in the soil. Father, do not forsake us; let the rains come properly; let them not be abundant nor deficient. Let there be a little sunshine and a few clouds. Let the soil be happy. Father, let no hail come; let no wind come; let no locust come; let no harmful animals come; let no robbers come, lest they steal from us and leave us in poverty. Father, let the year come well; let the corn turn out well; let the beans turn out well. Let there be no sickness; let there be no sorrow. Father, the mouthful has already entered; the word had already entered. The word "mouthful" refers to all the gifts, "word" to all the prayer. A similar ceremony is the mukul mixa ('great Mass'), organized by members of each calpul. Each calpul has its own patron saint and its own chiefs. For this ceremony many more people gather, for representatives and musicians (flute, drum, harp, and guitar) come from all places. The candles offered as "mouthfuls" are greater in number and size. Household ceremonies follow as the head of the household, in private, prepares the small home altar, where the cross which protects the home is always found. He adorns it with juncia and five candles; he says appropriate prayers at 6 o'clock in the morning or at midday, as he observes fasting and sexual abstinence. These family prayers may be repeated occasionally, depending on the condition of the milpa. At the beginning of the month called 202

chin-uch (May 20-June 8), an offering is made to the supernatural being which reigns over it. The natives have vague notions of the nature of this being. They say that uch is the name of a small insect which spoils the pozole and, also, of the tlacuache or zarigueya which often destroys the milpa. The offering, hung at the entrance of the hut, consists of a ball of pozole wrapped in plantain leaf, a red chile, a tortilla, an ear of corn, and a little stick like the kind used to turn the ear cooking over hot coals. All objects are minute in size. When the offering achieves its purpose, on the completion of a 20-day period, the atmosphere becomes hazy "as if there were smoke." It is explained that "the chin-uch burned its house," which forecasts a favorable sun for development of the milpa. If such a sign should not appear on the indicated date or at the end of the next month of mukul-uch (June 9-28), the forecast is ominous and indicates that the rains will be excessive, greatly harming the milpa. Another mukul-mixa is performed in Oxchuc, in homage to the hill called Ikal-Ajau, near the ceremonial center, of which the Indians say "it is a living hill." The name of the hill is that of the ancient hill worshipped by the Oxchuequeños. Nuñez de la Vega (in Becerra, 1933, p. 293) reports: "Those of Oxchuc and other towns of Los Llanos venerate very much the idol which they call Icalajau, which means principal Negro or lord of the Negroes." This Mass, performed the first days of June, prevents locusts and other plagues from coming. Once the crop is in the granary, other family prayers are said before the household cross, to give thanks for the good received and to petition the supernatural beings to protect the grain from insects and rodents. Other Subsistence Resources Other food resources include raising chickens and pigs. A family averages about 10 chickens, using the eggs as money when

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they visit the regional market. Only during illness or fiesta are both chickens and eggs eaten. In towns like Tenejapa and Cancuc, Indians buy small pigs from the Ladinos of the center, fatten them for 8 or 10 months, then sell them to the Ladinos, who slaughter them and sell the meat to the Indians. As may be supposed, in this sort of symbiosis the greatest profit accrues to the Ladinos. However, the Indians more often keep the money from selling pigs to meet emergencies or expenses of clothing, tools, and fiestas.

ious meats, and canned foods such as salmon, sardines, and sausages. The keeping of bees is not widespread. The Indians instead take advantage of the wild honey, which is commonly gathered during certain parts of the year. Tenango was the only town where I observed beehives next to the huts. The bees, large and yellow, are called aja-chab and are brought from the woods. When a tree is found with one of these beehives, the section containing the hive is cut off and is taken to town; the ends of this section are covered with jicaras, which are stuck on with clay.

Food Habits Corn, beans, chile, and squash are the core of Indian diet, supplemented by manioc, sweetpotato, potato, and chayote. One or more chayote trees next to the house are common; every part of the chayote is used— fruit, tender leaves, and root—usually boiled with salt. Wild herbs are eaten raw or cooked. Among the raw ones are culixuamal, xhix-uamal, and alauanex, the last a wild radish which Ladinos call "the Indian's radish." Herbs that are cooked include tzul and tuxac. Some herbs are eaten both raw or cooked: verdolaga or chic-xecul, muem (hierba mora), maj-tas, tzuy, and San Sibro Uamal. The last is a small grass with long thin leaves which the Indians grind and add to give a better taste to the pilico or wild tobacco. This is called poxil-may, which is like saying "medicinal pilico." Ladinos use its leaves in tea sweetened with panela. There are three main meals during the course of the day: breakfast (ue-el sab), which consists of atole or pozole, beans, chile, and tortillas; lunch (ue-el olical) of the same foods plus a vegetable such as squash or chayote; and supper (ue-el xmalcal), with atole, tortillas, beans, and chile. In Tenejapa rabbit meat is frequently on the table. In Amatenango, Aguacatenango, and Pinola, greater contact with Ladinos has added coffee, wheat bread, var-

SETTLEMENT PATTERNS

Town and Parajes All the communities consist of a town center and a number of settlements, called parajes, which are scattered over the municipio. The town is the political, religious, and commercial center of the entire community; there the municipal authorities have their offices, and the church and shops are located. In general, the Ladinos reside in the center, their houses arranged in aligned streets, but some communities (Chanal, Amatenango, Aguacatenango, Cancuc, Bachajon) refuse to accept Ladinos in the town permanently. The Indians prefer the parajes, where the huts are dispersed irregularly. As observed by Sol Tax for the highlands of Guatemala (1937), the proportion of Indians who reside in the town center varies. In some communities (Chanal, Aguacatenango, Cancuc, Tenango) nearly all the people live in the capital. In Chanal, with a population of 2,881 persons, 2,386 reside in the center and so it is a "nucleated town," according to Tax's terminology. In contrast, the most common community is the "vacant town." Tenejapa, for example, has only 517 inhabitants of a total 7,750 residing in the center. The least frequent is an intermediate type, where some live in the center and some in the parajes, as typified by 203

FIG. 2 — T E N E J A P A WOMAN AND CHILD. (Copyright, Gertrude Duby.)

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Amatenango del Valle, a community of 2,529 inhabitants, of which 1,470 reside in the town center. The town centers are divided into two sections, called barrios by Ladinos and calpules by Indians (Oxchuc and Cancuc). The imaginary line which separates one barrio from another passes through the center of the town, sometimes east-west, sometimes north-south, with no fixed orientation. Each barrio has its own local authorities and sometimes its own patron saint (Oxchuc and Bachajon). The principal function of the barrios was not only political or religious but also social, in regulating marriage. Endogamy was common to all barrios, but today that rule is losing its rigidity. In Aguacatenango, B. Metzger (1960, p. 8) tells us that, "The rule of barrio endogamy, which is viable in 86% of the known marriages, contributes to the localization of related families limiting the geographical range of marriage choice." A similar situation obtains in Amatenango (J. Nash, 1959, p. 3), Cancuc (Guiteras Holmes, 1947, p. 7), and Bachajon (Guiteras Holmes, 1961c, p. 167). In Bachajon, Guiteras Holmes states that: "In the old days there was no marriage between the barrios. If a boy from San Sebastian took a walk through San Geronimo, he was beaten; they would give him a 'maciza,' as they say. If a boy from a barrio approached the waterholes to court a girl, he fared very badly." The calpules of Oxchuc, although they have politico-religious significance, have no influence at all in the selection of wives. The parajes have a few scattered huts among the cultivated fields. Each paraje is bound by religious ties to a given cave where a cross, the supreme sacred symbol, is kept. The name of the paraje is generally taken from the name of the cave. Sacred caves of secondary importance also exist. This mystical regard for caves is based in the belief that they are the place from which issues the lightning to punish the

natural elements (hail, wind, storms), which often threaten and destroy the cornfields. Distribution of Huts In the parajes as well as in the centers the tendency to cluster huts in patrilineal nuclei is strong. One perceives this tendency also where lineage or clan ties still persist (Oxchuc). The majority of households consist of the elementary family, a couple and their offspring. The habitations include a hut, which serves as dormitory and kitchen, plus chickencoop, pigpen, and, sometimes, the temascal (pus) used for steam baths. Among industrious families another small hut serves exclusively as a kitchen. Seldom does a fence separate this nucleus from its neighbors, but it may protect a vegetable patch from animals. In the capital, however, each family must fence its lot. Relationships between

Communities

Communities establish commercial and other ties according to their ecological distribution and cultural condition. In the southern zone, Amatenango and Aguacatenango form a kind of unit, based on physical proximity and cultural affinity. Their residents meet frequently at the Sunday market of Teopisca. In the central zone, Oxchuc, Tenejapa, Cancuc, and Tenango, which more or less share ways of life and natural environment, form another informal association, contacts resulting from the weekly markets of Tenejaya and Yochib. In the northern zone, Sitala and Guaquitepec form another unit. Ocosingo, Chilon, and Yajalon are centers of commercial and political importance, occupied largely by Ladinos but used as trade centers by Indians throughout the northern zone. TECHNOLOGY

Tools and Techniques Farming tools are the most important: axe 205

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(eché), hoe (asron), machete (machit), coa (luk), and digging stick (avutel). In a few towns (Amatenango), where lands are flat, the plow is made of wood and pulled by oxen but only for wheat farming. During corn planting, the seed is carried by the planter in a morral hung from the shoulder, in a gourd with a large spout, or in containers made of armadillo shells. The harvested crops are placed in deep baskets, made of reed-grass, or in big pita (chojak) net bags. The ear of corn is cleared of its husk by a sharp bone or a small deer horn. The axe, machete, and knife are used in wood working, which is very rudimentary, though handsaw and hammer have a place. With these tools the Indians make doors, tables, seats, small benches, shelves. Blom and LaFarge (1926-27, 2:351) add that the Tzeltal near Ocosingo also make violins of a shape similar to the European type, but they have no resonance and poor tone. They also manufacture pipes and combs roughly finished. No village of this group has specialists in carpentry to compare with the Chamulas (Tzotzil-speaking), who supply furniture at low cost to San Cristobal de las Casas and other places of the area. Stone carving requires a pickaxe with one end very sharp, the other very flat to serve as a hammer, and a short wooden handle. This is the tool used in Tenejapa for making metates. These metates have three legs, but Blom and LaFarge (1926-27, 2:338) mention metates without legs (Ocosingo municipio) which are made of volcanic stone found along the San Martin River. According to the Tzeltal of Oxchuc, the name of the metate is chá, its handle kab-chá. An iron bar to break the ground, an axe, and a machete are the tools for building huts, chickencoops, sweat houses, and other small structures. Another tool, used in the making of pita rope, is karet, which probably comes from the Spanish carreta. It consists of a wooden disc fixed to a tree trunk that is nailed to 206

the ground. This disc has two hooks to which the fiber is knotted; when the disc is turned by a crank, it braids the fibers into rope. A thick board, smoothed by a metal knife (manufactured by the Indians from iron pieces bought in the city), is used to scrape the pita and remove the fiber. The most complex machine that the Tzeltal own and build is the wooden cane press, which was imported by the Spaniards to grind sugarcane (fig. 6). This machine is operated by two men, who move the rollers by a handle (kabal-té) at each end of the machine. The juice pressed out by the rollers drops into fluted containers made of pieces of banana tree, and finally into a pot. This juice is used in the preparation of an alcoholic beverage, chicha (chi-ja, 'sweet water' ), and for panela. Chicha is prepared by fermenting this juice by bran, corn, or wheat, in a special container (canoja) made from a fluted tree trunk. The bran or other fermenting agent is smé-chi-já ('mother of the chicha'). Some communities (Tenejapa, Cancuc, Oxchuc) have greater preference for this beverage than other Tzeltal groups. A gun has become very common in hunting. Sometimes (Oxchuc and Tenejapa) rabbits are taken by striking them with a coa, after cornering them with the aid of dogs. Blom and LaFarge (1926-27, 2:352) state that the Tzeltal of the lowlands usually hunt wild boar with long wooden spears with fire-hardened or metal points. Traps protect the milpa as well as snaring game. Cooking utensils are mainly indigenous. The usual set consists of clay containers of varying size and shape, jicaras, baskets, wooden spoons, a comal, a metate, hooks, and wooden tripods for hanging items over the fire. In the last few years metal pots, dishes, frying pans, boiling pans, and especially handy nixtamal mills (which are gradually displacing the grinding stone) have been introduced. Other items that come from the city are flashlights, small kerosene lamps, watches, scissors, and (infrequently) battery radios.

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Handcrafts Among the few handcrafts practiced in the Tzeltal areas, ceramics, produced mainly by women, is the most widespread. Tenango and Amatenango del Valle are the only communities which have made a specialty of this craft. Tenango exports its products through the northern zone, Amatenango through the southern zone, including neighboring Guatemalan villages. Both places use a similar ceramic technique but different shape and ornamentation. Referring to Amatenango del Valle, Blom and LaFarge (1926-27,2:396) state: The pottery, which is their chief product, is almost all of one shape; a sphere, with three handles and a narrow bottle-neck with a flat lip. The decoration does not vary. Both shape and design, however, are of considerable charm. The polish is fine and smooth, giving an even golden-red colour all over, with the decoration in a deep, reddish brown. No such fine, finished work is done by other tribes in the area. The pots are baked by placing them on a rectangle of boards, two or more meters square, around a hot fire. The woman in charge turns them until they are done. These pots are carried by the men as far as San Cristóbal, where they are redistributed, and to Nenton in Guatemala. Another widespread craft is spinning and weaving of fabrics for clothing. No village in the Tzeltal area trades these products because production barely meets their family needs. The backstrap loom of preHispanic origin is the chief tool. Pita articles—ropes, bags, and nets to gather the harvest or carry loads—are mainly produced in Oxchuc and Cancuc. In Cancuc wooden combs are also manufactured. Houses and Furniture Houses, from 3 to 5 m. on a side, are predominantly square with thatched roofs. The walls are wattle-and-daub or plain tree trunks tied with vines. Floors are of hardened earth. The houses only have one door and no windows, except in some vil-

lages of the lowlands where the houses have small windows, which improve ventilation and illumination slightly. In places like Chanal, where there is abundant lumber, the sides of the houses are built with wooden boards set vertically. The largest and best-built houses are in Tenejapa center. Generally, the hut is divided into two rooms: the front is parlor and kitchen, the rear is bedroom. In Bachajon the rear room serves as bedroom and kitchen, the front room for sewing and grinding and the reception of visitors. In Amatenango del Valle the front of the house is open and used as a porch for visits. Ceramic work is also performed here. In one room of the house a bin of wood or reeds stores corn. Sometimes, small structures which serve as granaries are built inside the hut. Among the auxiliary structures outside is the temascal (pus) used for steam baths. Not every hut has a pus since one is enough to attend the needs of several neighboring families. The pus is a small room 1.5 m. high by 2 m. on each side, built of stones and clay. The roof is flat. Inside a hollow forms a hearth for heating stones. Water thrown on these red-hot stones produces the necessary steam. On the floor are boards on which people lie while taking the bath. Among the Tzeltal and Tzotzil the pus is not only for cleanliness but also for the cure of certain diseases and to strengthen women after childbirth. Sweat baths are more commonly taken in Tierra Fria than in Tierra Caliente. The other structures near the hut are the chickencoop and the hogpen. Furniture is limited to essential items. In the kitchen are the three hearth stones, the comal (samet), the grinding stone (chá), a bench or strong table to hold the metate (ah-ken), one or two small tables (matzmalté or vebalté) 25-39 cm. high and 30-40 cm. in diameter, and small benches 15-20 cm. high made of scooped-out tree trunks (tzanté). Kitchen equipment includes earthenware (pans, pitchers, and jars) and 207

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containers made of jicara (boch) or tecomate (tzu). In the bedroom is a bed (uaybal) made of boards placed on four forked poles, usually with a sleeping mat on it. Only the very poor sleep on mats on the floor. Small chairs, wooden chests for clothes, baskets of all shapes and sizes, pita bags and nets, shelves made of wood ribs, and pegs for hanging clothes are scattered around the hut without order. The most important article is the altar with the family cross. Its construction varies in different areas: it may be a plain small table made of tree trunks or better material. The altar is generally ornamented with pine needles. Occasionally, the figure of a saint is placed by the cross. Clothing and Ornaments Each community has its own style of clothing, which gives a sense of unity to its members and permits the observer to identify easily the groups during fiestas or market days. This variety applies only to a few items of clothing, which is basically the same for the entire region. Men's costume consists of short pants (uesh) and a long shirt (nátil'kú) which reaches the knee, both made of cloth that women weave; a red sash or belt (chuj-chut) of cotton, 1015 cm. wide by 1.5 m. long; a palm hat (pishol); and leather sandals (shanabil). Residents of cold areas wear a woolen chamarra which is manufactured by the Chamulas. Women's costume consists of a skirt made of wool (tzek) or blue thick cloth, made in one piece and wrapped around the body with two pleats in front; it is belted at the waist by a red wool sash, which the Chamulas manufacture. Occasionally, they wear a wool rebozo. They tie their hair with a red woolen ribbon (malal) and wear earrings (yulel-chikinil) and glass necklaces (ual) bought in the city. Women always go barefoot, even during long trips. When outdoors they cover their heads with a cloth or wool fabric. Each municipio has made of these clothes 208

a typical outfit with special characteristics. For instance, the men of Tenejapa wear a hat of broad brim and pointed round crown, trimmed with thin ribbons of different colors. They also wear a dark chamarra or poncho with thin white stripes. The characteristic clothes of Cancuc are short, tight pants and a long shirt trimmed with red wool yarn. In Tierra Caliente the wool chamarra is not used nor is the variation in outfit so well defined. Transportation Men and pack animals are the principal carriers in the Tzeltal region, which is crossed in all directions by narrow trails. Men carrying loads of 40-50 kg. usually walk, in one day, as far as 8 leguas (leagues). According to Blom and LaFarge (1926-27, 2:386), the Tzeltal of the highlands are so strong "que ponen en vergüenza a una mula." In 1944 I observed Indians passing by my Yochib camp, carrying chairs on their shoulders, in which a lady or a child of upper-class Ladinos from Ocosingo and Yajalon would be sitting. Pack animals are now becoming common among the Tzeltal, some of whom also have saddle horses. Part of the Tzeltal-Tzotzil region is crossed by the Pan-American Highway joining Guatemala and Mexico City. In recent years, roads called "brechas de penetración" for motor vehicles are being constructed. The natives of some communities (Oxchuc and Chanal) have organized cooperatives and purchased their own trucks. Units of Measure The system of measures still retains aboriginal characteristics. The main units are: Nab: Distance between the end of the thumb and the middle finger extended. Chutub: Distance between the end of the thumb and the index finger extended. It is equivalent to the jeme. The Indians do not use the cuarta (distance between the thumb and little finger extended).

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Shucubil ("codo"): Distance from the elbow to the end of the middle finger extended. Jaub ("braza" or "brazada"): Distance between the ends of both extended arms. Yankabal (equivalent to the meter): Distance from the armpit to the extended middle finger of the opposite hand. The "legua" is also used and is equivalent to the distance a man can walk during one hour (approximately 5 km.). Of square measures used for the milpa, the most common is the tarea (equivalent to a square of 8 jaubs). This is equivalent to a square of 16 m., which is very close to the mecate used by the Yucatec Maya. The standard most often used for measuring maize or beans is the almud, which among the Tzeltal of Cancuc, Oxchuc, and Tenejapa, is equivalent to 4 quartillas (each quartilla is equivalent to 8 large borcelanas). The borcelana is an earthen cup or pot, which can be either small or large. The large one is equivalent to ½ kg. of maize, the small one to ¼ kg. of maize. The borcelana is used to measure chile. ECONOMICS

Division of Labor and Specialization Care of the milpa is men's work, but sometimes women help with light tasks such as weeding or harvesting. Seeding does not require great effort, but it is considered a job for men exclusively. Women may participate in chile seeding—but in the planting only; the holes in the ground can be made only by men, who use a macana or planting stick. Cutting and carrying firewood are tasks for men, but women may perform them when men cannot. Women can handle an axe or machete skillfully. Fetching water, from river or fountain, is work for women. It is considered inappropriate and ridiculous that a man carry a cantaro on the hip. Laundry and all kitchen duties are performed by women, as well as spinning, knitting, sewing, embroidering, and making of earthenware. Manufacture

FIG. 3—INDIAN GIRL, FINCA EL REAL. (Copyright, Gertrude Duby.)

209

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FIG. 4 — W O M E N FROM AGUACATENANGO. (Copyright, Gertrude Duby.)

of palm articles (sleeping mats and hats) as well as articles of wood, stone, or leather are tasks for men; the same applies to basketry but women may occasionally help. Government matters are under the exclusive supervision of men. In religious affairs women may participate but only in a very minor way—to say prayers or to take care of the saints in the church. The most important ceremonies—on hills, in caves, at waterholes, or in other mountain spots— are performed by men who specialize in the ritual. 210

All activities related to curing of disease are also performed by specialized men, though in some places women occasionally participate. Help at childbirth is always assigned to experienced female relatives; there are no professional midwives—nor professional marriage brokers. Specialization is little developed. Only in the largest centers are there a few individuals concentrated on carpentry, tailoring, trading, masonry, or some other activity. The families in Tenango and Amatenango who carry on the ceramics industry also

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handle the milpa. It is rare to find an Indian who does not have a milpa since this is the work that ensures his existence. Property Rights This is a matter that varies according to the degree of acculturation reached by the community. In the most conservative groups (Oxchuc, Cancuc, Tenejapa, Tenango) there are still family property rights, but they seem to depend on lineage rather than on the immediate family (Villa Rojas, 1947, ch. 19). As these lineages are patrilineal, a woman does not count when inheritance is involved. She can own her parcel of land only when she has saved the money to buy it, but this is not frequent. Any man can claim lands that previously belonged to his lineage; it is enough to give back the money paid for them two or three generations ago. Of course, he has to prove by witnesses or documents that those lands were the property of his lineage. According to a document dated 1861, which I found in the possession of the Gómez Ichiloks (they belong to the Gómez clan and to the Ichilok lineage), residents of the paraje of Tzajalchen of the municipio of Oxchuc, this property system seems to be very ancient. The document is of special interest. DOCUMENTO DE TIERRAS DE Los GÓMEZ IcmLOK

Por pedimento de los ciudadanos Domingo Gómez Ichilok, Tomás Gomez Ichilok, otro Tomás Gómez Ichilok, Miguel Gómez Ichilok, Diego Gómez Ichilok, otre, Domingo Gómez Ichilok, otro Diego Gómez Ichilok y su hijo Diego Gómez Ichilok y por ultimo su hijo menor Manuel Gómez Ichilok, y como antiguamente se acostumbra en este pueblo que segun los hermanos de una propria familia, se les demarca un retazo de terreno de ejido para que en lo sucesivo no haya pleitos con los vecinos como suele suceder, nosotros los Gobernadores, Auxiliares, Justicias, Escribanos y Testigos, pasamos al paraje denominado Tzajalchén a

ponerles sus mojones y a darles al posesión que les corresponde segun el número de ellos. "Donde principió parar primer mojón Busulton Pactan que está en el camino derecho; 2° mojón Oxloton que está en el camino; 3er. mojón Tzovilton; 4° mojón Tequelton, mojón con Pedro Moreno; 5° mojón Yolílnelej Lomchen; 6° mojón de acuerdo con Juan Gómez Bet y Martin Sanchez Chelap se llama la raya Teguel Canté que es también la raya con Manuel Chinbak; 7° mojón Tequelton raya única con Marcos Hernandez López y Diego López y Diego Giron Vázquez; 8° mojón y último Basulton Pacton. "Habiendo quedado todos los vecinos colindantes contentos, ofreciendo ambos que en lo sucesive no tendrán el menor disgusto, pues, son nativos de su propio pueblo, bajo el concepto que si alguno delinquiese en trastornar el orden en que han quedado, el agraviado lo pondrá en conocimiento del Juez para aberiguarlo y aplicarle la pena que merezca, para acuya seguridad son testigos Lorenzo Ichilok, Martin Solel, Miguel Gómez Ichilok y Gobernadores Diego Méndez Chizna y Nicolas Jiménez Acux. Por los testigos y Gobernadores que no saben firmar. Abril 12 de 1861 y como testigo y escribano Alonso Santis. The descendants of the Gómez Ichiloks still live in the same paraje of Tzajalchen and share the same parcel. In other lineages the original parcel was subdivided on agreement between the interested parties. In this way single individuals now own pieces of land, a type of property ownership that is becoming more general as the old social organization based on clans and lineages gradually breaks up. The parcels can be rented to people of other lineages and of other communities. Often the Tzeltal of Oxchuc rent their parcels to natives from Tenejapa or Cancuc who are their immediate neighbors. Payment, made with food, chicha, and money, must be shared by the most important members of the same clan other than the ones of the same lineage (Villa Rojas, 1947, ch. 19). 211

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In the most acculturated communities (Aguacatenango and Amatenango) individually held property is more general. The head of the house is the owner of the parcel and he can manage it as he pleases. Referring to Aguacatenango, B. Metzger (1960, p. 11) states that:

her own clothes and her backstrap loom. A widow may continue living in the hut and use its equipment only if she has a son. Otherwise, she must leave the house and return to her father's home because the land will be claimed by the brothers or other male relatives of the deceased husband.

In general, land is "owned"—that is, controlled—by the household; as long as the son lives with the father, he may speak of "his land," but in fact he works the land with his father, planting what and when his father decides. The son who lives apart is usually given a piece of land by his father, and he acquires new land which he, in turn, will pass on to his sons at his death or, if he chooses, before.

Production and Consumption

At this level the lineage concept has disappeared, and the only recognized connection is the father-son relationship. Irrigated lands ("tierras irrigables"), however, in Aguacatenango and in Amatenango contain parcels belonging to private owners and parcels used in common, which are administered or given by the local authorities to be cultivated. Metzger (ibid.) informs us that: "Recently, land has been bought on the edges of the town by each of the two barrios for the exclusive use of their members, while in the irrigable area the holdings of members of the two barrios are separate and watered by separate canals." Ejido lands exist in almost all the region, distributed according to the Programa Agrario de la Revolución Mexicana since 1914 but in some communities not put into practice until after 1930. These lands are administered by the "comite ejidal" of each municipio, which gives to any individual who needs land the permission to cultivate it. These lands cannot be sold or transferred in any way, because they are considered common property. Family land as well as the house and its equipment belong to the man. When a marriage is dissolved, the woman goes back to her parents without taking anything but 212

Groups

The family controls all matters related to production and consumption. The head of the house, with the help of his wife and other members of the family, takes care of farming and producing the basic food crops. In the most conservative communities, the old custom of planting by a cooperative group, composed of relatives and friends, is still practiced. This is a task for men exclusively, since much skill and strength are required to dig up the ground in carefully spaced, perfectly straight rows. The owner of the milpa has to fast and observe sexual abstinence before starting the planting. Only the family shares in the rest of the labor, according to their sex: men take care of tasks requiring much effort, women perform those such as tending domestic animals. Help from relatives and neighbors may also be asked occasionally, to build up fences around the orchard, to open or improve irrigation systems, etc. Trade and Markets Tenango and Amatenango concentrate on producing ceramics and trading them to neighboring municipios. Other municipios have a very limited commercial activity: Tenejapa exports a few sleeping mats; Oxchuc, ropes, nets, and pita bags; Cancuc, wooden combs; Bachajon, clay toys. These Tzeltal villages have no specialized merchants as do Zinacantan and Chamula. There are a few markets where a large number of people meet regularly: Teopisca, in the south, has a Sunday market where natives from Aguacatenango, Amatenango, and Pinola meet. In the central part of the region they meet every Sunday at the mar-

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ket of Tenejapa. Other commercial centers are Ocosingo, Chilon, and Yajalon in the north. These markets are also frequented by Ladinos, but others, located far from the cabecera, are exclusively for Indians. The most important of them is the Saturday market of Yochib near Tenejapa, Cancuc, and Oxchuc. It draws 300-400 natives, who arrive at dawn carrying agricultural and handcraft products. Most people come from 8 to 10 in the morning, after which they begin to depart; about 2 or 3 P.M. only those staying to drink chicha are left. Transactions are paid in trade or in money. Wage Work Because the cold climate and the rugged topography of the region produce little corn, the natives must work periodically as day laborers on the coffee plantations of the Soconusco area on the Pacific coast. About 7000 Tzeltal and a few more Tzotzil work there each year. Natives may go to the coffee plantations any time of the year but prefer to do so during the months the milpa requires less attention (either after planting or after harvest). Between Yajalon and Ocosingo are plantations where men from the neighboring villages are hired for short periods. Use of Wealth Because of their social organization, it is very difficult for these Indians to accumulate wealth. The worst sin an individual can commit against the community is to store up crops, domestic animals, or clothes, or simply to build a better house. Whatever raises an individual above his fellows— buying a new house, improving an old one, buying a horse—can cause in them a deep fear of being the target of witchcraft (Villa Rojas, 1947). Those who, enjoying good health, are able to pile up some wealth, are obliged by the community to spend it in banquets and amusements for the community. It is believed that the old men and principales

know, with the aid of the naguales (supernatural spirits), about the wealth each member of the group has; those who have more than necessary must pay for the expenses of fiestas, etc. SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

Kinship The basic elements of the clan system of the ancient Maya can still be found in the most conservative groups. At the present time, the kinship system is divided into patrilineal clans, which are divided into patrilineages. In some cases, the name of the clan is of Spanish origin; the name of the lineage, of indigenous origin. In Oxchuc there are six clans whose names are: Gómez, Santis, López, Méndez, Encines, and Rodriguez. The first two clans are the largest, since the Gómez clan has 37 lineages, the Santis 39. The last two are almost disappearing as they have only one or two lineages. Among the indigenous names for lineages are: Ichilok, Nimail, Akux, Cojton, Chic, Molox, Nich, Antun, Chisná, Tib, and Mulesh. These designate names of animals, plants, or objects. A man whose name is Juan Gómez Nich, for example, belongs to the Gómez clan and to the Nich lineage. Generally, the name of the lineage is enough to show to which clan somebody belongs; if his name is Juan Nich, it is immediately known that he is from the Gómez clan. This special characteristic of the indigenous name is designated by the word Jol s'bij, which means 'head of the name.' In Cancuc (a community next to Oxchuc) clans have special names, such as Chik, Chejeb, Ijká, and Boj. If the indigenous name is known, the clan name is self-evident. The Spanish name has lost its specific function, and, according to Guiteras Holmes (1947, pp. 4-5), there are Indians who do not even remember it. However, the Spanish surname designates exogamic units of a patrilineal type throughout the region; without 213

FIG. 5—TENEJAPA GROUP WITH VESSELS CONTAINING CHIGHA. (Copyright, Gertrude Duby.) exception, both names (lineage and clan) are inherited from the father. In the more acculturated communities the clan and lineage system tends to disappear and to be replaced by the bilateral system, characteristic of Ladino society. In Aguacatenango, despite the belief that there is a relationship between people of the same Spanish name, they may marry. Moreover, they are starting to be ashamed of using the indigenous name differentiating the lineages. B. Metzger states (1959, p. 18): Lineage names appear to be used as surnames within the community—as we have discovered 214

by overhearing them spoken in unguarded moments—but their existence is vigorously denied or only cautiously admitted to outsiders. As a result, we have not been able to discover how these names are distributed in the community, how wide the lineage is, and whether or not kinship terms are applied throughout. In the more conservative municipios the clans are not centralized but dispersed throughout the parajes. Lineages are now fragmented, and the common ancestor is no longer remembered. Generally these lineages are localized in one or two parajes, but neither can remember its genealogy further

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than three or four generations. In the past, these lineages were localized, and in places like Bachajon, Cancuc, and Oxchuc the exact locations are still remembered. A few generations ago, the most distinguished members of each lineage were buried in the cave after which the paraje was named, the bones and ashes of the dead being placed in large jugs or urns. The caves were places for ceremonies honoring the ancestors. Blom (1954) made a study of these burials and mapped the distribution of the sites. These caves are still places for worship but not for burials; the cross protecting all members of the lineage is kept there, as well as, in some instances, small crosses belonging to the important members of it (Villa Rojas, 1946, p. 16). The words chapomal and tijinabal name the members of the clan in general. It is said that "the neighbors of this paraje are all chapomales," or "those cannot get married because they are chapomales." Tijinabal also means neighbor or member of the same paraje. Another word, patshunk, is also an equivalent of tijinabal. These words are currently used in Oxchuc, Cancuc, and Bachajon. On the other hand, there is no specific word to designate the lineage. The main function of the clan is to regulate marriage, as the union of two chapomales is considered incestuous. The clan also gives much self-confidence to the Indian who travels to other parajes, for he can always find hospitality among people of his own clan. It also has a function of social control, exercised by the old men of the group, who punish all transgressors against the established rules. Helped by the nagual (supernatural spirit), they find out about the behavior of the members of the clan and punish according to the crime (Villa Rojas, 1947). The lineage relationship is also important in inheritance (especially land), since the plots should always be under the control of individuals of the same Indian name. Only where such persons are absent or missing or

have no interest in the land is preference given to the chapomales of other lineages. The importance of the lineage is stressed again during events such as curing ceremonies, conflicts, weddings, burials, fiestas, or banquets, where members of the same lineage should be invited first, then the chapomales. The Omaha type of terminology still predominates in the more conservative municipios, where the same names are used for children of the father's sister as well as for children of the ego's sister, while children of the mother's brother are considered to be uncles and aunts on the matrilineal side (Murdock, 1949, p. 102; Guiteras Holmes, 1947, pp. 13-15; J. Nash, 1959, pp. 4-7). The name kichan, given to the mother's brother, is also given to all the patrilineal descendants, stressing the concept that they are regarded as persons from another clan. The most common kin terms collected in Cancuc by Guiteras Holmes (1947, p. 8) and in Oxchuc by Siverts (1955, pp. 16-20) are practically the same. Tzeltal Bankil Xibel uish Kitzin Tat Me Nichán Kaal Ta-jun Mee-jun Nicha-jun Kaal-jun Kichán Cha-mam Kil-al Mam Meel-kuj Mamalal Kinam Bal Jauan Mu

English older brother of a man older brother of a woman older sister; father's sister youngest brother or sister father mother a man's children a woman's children father's brother mother's sister the children of a man's brother the children of a woman's sister mother's brother; children of a man's sister a man's grandchildren a woman's grandchildren grandfather grandmother husband wife a man's brother-in-law a woman's sister-in-law siblings-in-law of opposite sex 215

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TABLE 3—DOMESTIC COMPOSITION

Nuclear Families: Man, wife, no children Man, wife, children Man, 2 wives, no children Man, 2 wives, children Widow, children Man, wife, children not own Extended Families: Man, wife, married son and wife Man, wife, married daughter Widow, married son Widow, married daughter Man, wife, married son, and married grandson

Number

Percentage

4 19 1 5 2 2 "33"

8.2 38.8 2.0 10.2 4.1 4.1

6 2 6 1 1

16"

Nial Kalib Nial-mamal Kalib-mamal Nial-meel Kalib-meel

son-in-law daughter-in-law a man's father-in-law a woman's father-in-law a man's mother-in-law a woman's mother-in-law

The word tatik (from tat, 'father') is usually applied as a courtesy name to all married males, without distinction of clan or lineage. The same applies to metik (from me, 'mother'), a term applied to all married females. Mamtik (from mam, 'grandfather') is the name given to old and also to very respected people. The ritual kinship terminology is: Tzeltal

English

Kumpare

compadre (GodFa of ego's children) comadre (GodMo of ego's children) godfather godmother a woman's godson a man's godson

Kumale Jalatat Jalame

Jala-al

Jala-nichan

Family Groups The nuclear family, formed by a couple and their children, is the basic pattern 216

67.4 12.2 4.1 12.2 2.0 2.0 32;5"

throughout the region. There are also compound families in which other members, married or widowed, from the same patrilineal nucleus, plus their children, share the same house or the same kitchen. Table 3, taken from J. Nash (1959, p. 2), was compiled from data gathered in Oxchuc parajes, where we had our headquarters. Of the 16 extended families, 13 are formed by married sons living in the parents' house; the married daughters living with their parents derive from the custom that the son-in-law spends a period of service in his father-in-law's house during the first months of marriage. These types of family composition continue even in acculturated communities like Aguacatenango. According to B. Metzger (1959, p. 8 ) , of the 174 homes that constitute this village, 121 are nuclear and 53 are extended families; of the latter, 15 are formed by parents living with their married sons and 10 are formed by widows living with an unmarried son. There are only two instances of parents who live in an unmarried daughter's house. Married brothers very seldom live in the same house. Though the nuclear family predominates,

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custom dictates that the house be near members of the same lineage or patrilineal group, perhaps because of the patrilineal system of land inheritance. In the parajes groups of houses in which families composed of mother, father, uncles, and other members of the patriline live are common. No fences mark the limits of the property; their infrequent presence merely keeps the pigs and chickens under control. This group of houses, easily accessible and inhabited by people related by kinship, constitutes the most important influence in the individual's formation, since it is here that he acquires his first experiences and cultural values, as well as the emotional links that will have the greatest weight in his life. This system of patrilocal residence is observed all through the region, even in compact villages like Aguacatenango, where lack of space favors dispersion. B. Metzger (1959) tells us: "Looking at the nuclear families to trace patrilocality there, we find that in 74 cases where we have adequate data, 39 are in the same block and 12 in adjacent blocks with husband's parents or siblings; 11 in the same block and 8 in adjacent blocks with wife's parents or siblings; 4 are classed to neither spouse's family." In villages or cabeceras of a compact type it is customary to mark family plots by a fence of stones or sticks, with entrance toward the street (Chanal, Sivaca, Amatenango, Aguacatenango.) Occasionally, when the nuclear family is divided because of the marriage of one of the sons, then the "solar" or the "sitio" (as it is called in the region) is subdivided by another fence that separates the portion now belonging to the new family. A door allows easy communication between both families. Sometimes, even three nuclear families live in a large sitio, divided by fences. Types of Marriage Types of marriage vary from that following the old traditional to one requiring the

procedures (trámites) of church and civil registry. The traditional marriage is an arrangement between two families. The young man's parents, with his agreement, select the bride and start the visits leading to the petition. The visits to the girl's house must be made at dawn, accompanied by two or three bottles of aguardiente. These visits continue for several months, because the girl's parents want to consult the old men or the most important members of the patrilineal clan. The wedding itself is simple, a family ritual concerning the boy's parents, the girl's parents, and old men of the clan she belongs to. Now the boy appears for the first time, bringing articles that will "warm up" the fiesta (Villa Rojas, 1949): 1 80 80 80 10 10 1 1

garrafón (about 18 liters) of aguardiente cooked eggs tortillas tamales of the chenkul-uaj type (corn and bean dough) kilos of pozole with chile kilos of pozole without chile kilo of ground chile almud (4 kilos) of beans

According to my informants from Oxchuc, these items represent what the girl's parents have spent for her during childhood. This marriage feast is called beybal-ja ('the first delivery of aguardiente'). These items are presented with the greatest formality to the girl's clan in oral forms that symbolize the wish for everlasting friendship between both families. The oldest member of the girl's clan responds by expressing on behalf of all members their satisfaction in receiving those articles and their good wishes for a successful union. Immediately, the couple kneels on a petate and listens to the oldest member of the clan, who formally announces they are married and recites the duties and obligations of each. Until recently in Cancuc the custom obtained of making these marriage arrange217

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ments through a special person (chunel) for each of the four clans, and differed from Oxchuc, where the case is presented to the nearest old man of the clan. In Cancuc, according to Guiteras Holmes (1947, p. 3 ) : The boy's parents dealt with the Chunel of the girl's clan when petitioning her. He received the gifts and gave approval; and then accompanied by the boy and his parents he went into the house of the girl's parents. There, he presented the boy's petition. Nobody could oppose the Chunel's decisions. The girl would die if she didn't obey the decisions of the elder of the clan. Once a marriage feast is finished, the boy stays in his parents-in-law's house to fulfill the bride price (stoiyinam), This service, which consists in helping the father-in-law in the milpa and in other duties, usually lasts a year, or less if arrangements are made in advance. Frequently during this period the man spends alternate periods of three weeks with his parents-in-law and with his own parents. When he has the means to do it, he builds his own house and starts the new cycle of a nuclear family. After the first year of marriage, if the couple get along together, the man must make a present of two garrafones of aguardiente and the same petitionary items of food, though in larger amounts. This time, more of the girl's clan are present, and so increase the importance of the event. The purpose is to celebrate the success of the couple and the union that will exist between the two families. This big tertulia, along with the corresponding meal, is called mukel-ja ('abundance of drink'). Old men of the clan who cannot attend receive at their homes the portion of aguardiente they should have drunk. On the other hand, if the couple could not get along during the first year and the union is annulled because of the woman's fault, her parents must give back all they have received during the first ritual. Finally, to bring all these duties to an 218

end, the husband gives a big meal sometime (even 30 years later) which must be attended by the important members of the wife's clan. Many illnesses in a family are attributed to the fact that the man did not fulfill this third requirement of a food gift (oshevuelto-uaj-matz, 'third delivery of food'). Another custom, known as yajk makte achish ('cover or secure the girl'), is practiced when the chosen girl is too young (10-12 years) to get married. To secure her in the future, the boy's parents make arrangements with those of the girl, offering them liquor that other members of the girl's clan also share. When she grows older, they proceed with the wedding arrangements and the customary formal ceremonies. Another form of marriage, existing among very traditional groups, begins with the capture of the girl. This happens when she has no father or important man representing the house. The boy and his parents must obtain cooperation from one of the male members of the girl's clan. With this accomplice the men go to the girl's house at midnight, take her, and bring her to the boy's parents either by persuading her mother with liquor or by force. Days later, they try to calm the anger of the important people of her clan, bringing further bottles of liquor. Usually the union becomes formally recognized after this, and the couple settle in their own home with the neighbors' approval. It is thus a sort of institutionalized capture. Among the less conservative communities, these forms of marriage are being replaced by Ladino forms, which regard marriage not as a contract between two lineages or families but as an agreement between two individuals. Furthermore, the Catholic ceremony is considered very important. Premarital sexual relations and elopement are frequent. Metzger states that, "in Aguacatenango, to a considerable extent, the marriage choice is made by the boy and the girl after sexual experimentation and a period of 'going steady.' The boy tells his family about it and they proceed to make the arrangements

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with the family of the girl. If the boy is accepted, the gifts are received and the marriage takes place. In Aguacatenango and Amatenango, the Catholic ceremony is sometimes delayed for several years after the informal marriage, because of the belief that the latter really consolidated the union. On the other hand, in places where the Ladino population is larger (Pinola and San Bartolo) the religious ceremony is considered by the Indians as a very important part of the customs. The compadrazgo relationship is stressed among these communities where Ladinos have great influence. There are baptism, confirmation, and wedding padrinos. The rights and duties established through this relationship are still respected, especially the compadre relationship. It is the duty of the child's parents to give occasional gifts to the godparents. If the child's parents die, the godparents must take care of him, except when there are closer relatives to the father. It is the main duty of the wedding godparents to help the couple maintain a good understanding and to dissolve, by advice, any disagreement. They always receive great respect and affection from their ahijados. Among conservative groups, the compadrazgo relationship arises only from the baptism of a child. Sometimes this relationship is established in a very informal way; perhaps during fiesta at the ceremonial center they may take advantage of the priest's presence to ask a very close friend to "embrace" the child. The padrino is then invited to have aguardiente. At other times the arrangement is made formally; the parents of the child go to the house of their future compadres to ask them that favor. Exchanges of gifts and dinner invitations are frequent, the child's parents feeling the greater obligation. These meals can be really banquets where many "platillos" and much aguardiente are consumed. Among some groups, padrinos neither give a gift to

FIG. 6—SUGARCANE PRESS.

1, Kabal-té. 2, Smete-al. 3, S-kab.

their godchild nor protect him if he becomes orphaned, but this is only because closer members of the same lineage take care of him. But the padrinos must attend the wake (kanka-almail) and the burial when the godchild dies, as is expected from the godchild when the godparents die. In these communities, compadrazgo constitutes both an important religious obligation and a means of establishing friendship and cooperation between families. POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATION

The political and religious patern is the same throughout all the Tzeltal communities, governed by two groups of authorities whose activities are interrelated. The first group, formed by members of the cabildo and ayuntamiento, manages political affairs of the community. The ayuntamiento maintains relationship between the local government and the national authorities. The presidente municipal and the intermediate authorities are popularly elected and then confirmed by the congress of the state. These authorities must represent both ethnic groups (Indians and Ladinos) to warrant the claim that "justice is equal for everybody." In 1936 the state government ruled that in all municipios where the indigenous population predominates, the presidente municipal should be an Indian. Next in authority after the presidente is 219

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the secretario, who is, without exception, a Ladino, for his responsibilities require a good knowledge of the Spanish language as well as office skills, which the Indians usually lack. Actually it is this official who controls all the administrative affairs of the municipio. He imposes fines, collects taxes, assigns communal work, and keeps in contact with the state authorities. After him rank the regidor, síndico, alcalde, police commander, and policemen. Besides these authorities, which are the oflBcially recognized ones, the Indians have their own government system, which in most places is still operating. Oxchuc is typical of the regional pattern. There the municipio is divided into two calpules, each of which is a kind of fraternity under the supervision of those old men having the greatest knowledge and prestige. Each calpul has also its own patron saint, venerated with special feasts and ceremonies throughout the year. (In Oxchuc the calpules are not geographically determined, and its members are spread in different parajes of the territory.) Authority is now integrated in the following oflScials: 1 katinab, supreme chief of the whole calpul 1 okil kabil, "feet and hands" of the preceding, i.e., secretary 2 dzunubiles, supreme "pulsers" or "curers" 1 alcalde, who carries a staff of ofíice 2 cornales (or governors), who also carry staffs of office 2 síndicos, who also carry staffs of ofíice 4 x-tules (or regidores) The four last jobs are reached by strict hierarchy and indicate the progress of each individual in the fulfillment of his social duties. This social-service career begins when the man is not yet married, when he is assigned the cargo of mayordomo of the church, which means that he has to attend to minor affairs connected with the church and to keep it clean. Shortly after his marriage he usually reaches the position of capitán, where he is responsible for the fies220

ta for minor saints. He alternates between a period of activity and expense and one of quiet and economic recovery. The cargos alternate between church positions and civil government positions, but in communities where Indian tradition is stressed, there is no clear-cut division between civil and religious matters, because of the influence of the sacred and supernatural in daily life. Those functionaries who have a staff of office wield great influence in their calpul. This cane (nabté), a sign of important status, is made of pine or other fine wood, and has a silver handle adorned with colored ribbons, primarily yellow, green, and red. The staff is ornamented by the owner and is considered a family object, usually placed on the home altar. Occasionally it is the object of prayers and offerings of incense. People carrying it are called bastonudos. It is the duty of the staff-carriers to communicate to every paraje the orders of the ayuntamiento and those coming from the supreme chief of the calpul; to summon people for communal duties; to apprehend prisoners in cases of crime; and to deal with public problems such as taxation and epidemics. Coping with transgressions such as minor stealing, adultery, disputes, and intrigues are also their responsibility within the paraje, following the traditional form of procuring mutual understanding on both sides, in a calm atmosphere, around a bottle of liquor. If conflict persists, those involved appear before chiefs of the calpul, who are called principales or "cabildos de justicia" even after they have finished their term of office. The cargos from dzunubil on up are sacred and are open only to people with superior knowledge, recognized moral status, and expert experience in church ritual and in the semi-pagan ceremonies practiced in the caves, waterholes, and special mountains. These cargos are thus obtained not by automatic advancement but by special merits which are usually not acquired until advanced age. AH such high representatives of

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the calpul must have a powerful nagual, through which they can learn about the private lives of their subordinates. This is usually the way they know who has enough money to pay for a feast, who can occupy special jobs, and which sinners deserve punishment. RELIGIOUS LIFE

The Catholic Cult The beliefs and religious practices introduced by Catholic missionaries in the 16th century have been adapted to the aboriginal culture. The largest and most important building of the village is the church, situated on the east side of the ceremonial center. In it are the image of the patron saint of the group, the holy cross, and lesser saints. The most profound ceremonies take place before the altar of these saints, who are looked upon as mediators between God and men, and are performed by the cabildos de misa, dzunubiles, and other elderly men of high rank who know both Catholic and Indian ritual. During the ceremonies the altar is decorated with flowers and with paper and ribbons of different colors. The floor is covered with pine needles, which give off an agreeable fragrance. Candles and copal are part of every prayer and ceremony, the copal having been used since pre-Hispanic times. Common prayers of people who visit the center also have a place. These people have to enter the church and make an offering of candles to the patron saint. The prayers follow a formal pattern but vary in content according to the need and mood of the suppliant. Each individual talks intimately to the saint, specifying the help he needs, much as he would to a relative or a friend in whom he has absolute confidence. The two most frequent matters of petition are health and food; as the latter depends almost entirely on the condition of the cornfield, people pray that "it may not be damaged by the wind, or by cold, sun, birds, or plagues."

In most of the prayers. Dios Tatik Jesucristo and the 13 fiadores who are in heaven are mentioned. These 13 fiadores are God's immediate helpers and correspond to the Christian saints. The cross is venerated as a representation of God wherever a prayer is said and so appears on the family altar, on mountaintops, in caves, at fountains, at entrances to the town, at the four corners of the plaza, and in front of the church. The local character of Catholicism is seen in the Masses offered to the mountain called Ikal Ajau, near the ceremonial center of Oxchuc. The Indians say that it is a living mountain" and give it great reverence, for Ikal Ajau was the name of the idol venerated by Oxchuc people in pre-Hispanic times. In almost all the municipios the saints are dressed as Indians. Towns with a large Ladino population have different saints for the Ladinos, who are dressed as Ladinos and to whom the Indians are completely indifferent, even to forgetting the names of them. Fiesta for the Patron Saint One of the major events in the religious life of the Indians is the annual fiesta in honor of the patron saint and the other saints kept in the church. The capitán principal and some of his immediate assistants are in charge of the organization and expenses of these fiestas. The length and cost of the fiesta correspond to the importance of the saint and range from one day and 100 pesos to four days and several thousand pesos, like the one for the patron saint. To become a capitán principal a man must go through all the ranks and be able to afford the expenses of any fiesta, from a small one to the very large ones of the patrons. The fiesta of the patron of each village is similar to that for any other saint but larger. There are Masses and other religious observances in the church, processions with the image of the saint along the main streets, large meals at the house of the cargoholders, and, above all, constant drink221

FIG. 7 — C A R G O OFFICIALS, AMATENANGO DEL VALLE. Note ceremonial hats and drum with which church functions are announced. (Copyright, Gertrude Duby.)

ing in and out of church. From the second day on, everybody is drunk, including women and young people. The sound of skyrockets is heard continuously and marks the gaiety of the people. An important part of the ceremony at the church is to clean carefully the face of the saint and to change his clothes for new or at least clean ones so that he can be happy during his fiesta. Another act is to take his image from the main altar to carry it in procession. This is important because there is danger that the patron of other villages may come to steal his power and he would then lose influence over the crops: the saint of Oxchuc helps the growth of corn, the one of Cancuc protects the cotton, and so on. To avoid this danger a substitute image is put in his place while the real one is taken out. 222

This substitute is called gelol, the same image but smaller, which is kept next the original one. During the procession the saint is carried in a litter. Incense is burned before him, while music with drums and flutes is played. Traditional Ceremonies There are other ceremonies held in the parajes which, although based on Christian ritual (including some of the prayers, presence of the cross, candles, etc.), still manifest ancient aboriginal traditions. Among these ceremonies is the one made before the house altar to Chulmetic (the earth goddess), to God, to Tatik Jesucristo and the 13 Fiadores del Cielo, for the soul of one newborn, to guard against sicknesses or bad influences of any kind. This ceremony is

TZELTAL

"sembrar el alma del niño" and must be performed by the dzunubiles and the cabildos de misa. A similar devotion is made to Uch, the supernatural being connected with the growth of the cornfield mentioned earlier. Also important are the prayers said by families before the cross of the ancestors, in the sacred caves. Finally, certain prayers and offerings are made to particular lakes considered sacred because they are inhabited by virgins who look after the well-being of the people. The best known of these lakes is Banabil in Tenejapa. Some day during the year, a small box containing a woman's dress and all its ornaments is thrown into the water. The dress must be made by a virgin or an old woman. Talking Saints Another religious form where Indian tradition is manifested through Christian formulae is the veneration of the talking saints, a widespread cult among the Tzeltal and Tzotzil. These saints are always private property and are usually kept in a small case on the house altar. The believers go to the house of those who own a talking saint and ask him about any secret problem that might require a special knowledge to be solved. Although any saint can be asked, the most popular one is San Miguelito. In order to consult him, people have to tell his owner their problems. The owner, who supposedly is the only one who can understand his saint, talks to him behind a curtain so that no one can see him. Often the owner of a talking saint succeeds in creating a cult out of the saint's box, making a special altar for him and asking the believers for frequent offerings and prayers. Sometimes there is no box, so the effigy is placed on an altar and concealed by a curtain when the private dialogue takes place. There have been cases, however, in which the talking saints exceed their function as oracles and advise people on political matters. This is why some talking saints have

been taken away by the local authorities and sent to the Indians' Affairs Office in San Cristobal. LIFE CYCLE

Pregnancy and Childbirth The strongest desire of every Tzeltal couple is to create a numerous family, preferably boys. The relationship between sexual intercourse and pregnancy is well understood among the Indians. They know that pregnancy lasts nine months and they keep a good count of it. On the other hand, there are ideas about the possibility of the woman being influenced by old men or "the owners of the nagual," who can interrupt pregnancy and change the fetus from one woman to another. This is why a woman who thinks she is pregnant for three or four months suddenly realizes that she carries nothing any more, while another one, maybe her neighbor, finds herself in advanced pregnancy, giving birth a few months later. It is to be stressed, however, that these changes can take place only among married women. In conservative villages (Tenejapa, Oxchuc, Cancuc) there is no professional midwife. Children are delivered by the oldest women in the neighborhood. When labor begins, the first thing is to give the mother a beverage made of powdered opossum tail dissolved in boiling water. It is very common for Indians to have a dry tail hanging next the fireplace. The woman kneels at labor, facing the midwife. The husband's belt or the woman's rebozo is tied very tightly around the upper part of the abdomen to prevent the child from "going up again." The mother can also help herself by seizing a rope tied to the roof, or taking firm hold of any post of the house. The umbilical cord is chopped with a machete or cut with scissors, supported on an ear of corn. This ear is afterwards used as seed and is considered very fertile. When labor has finished, the mother is given another hot beverage of pepper, 223

ETHNOLOGY

cloves, and corncake, to keep her "warm and fertile." The placenta can be burned, thrown to the dogs, or deeply buried in case the mother does not want another pregnancy soon. The umbilical cord is put under a three-stone fireplace if the baby is a girl, on top of a tree if it is a boy so that he may become brave and agile when adult. A few hours after childbirth, at the latest the next day, both mother and child take a temascal (steam bath). Some women stay in the temascal until they feel completely recovered. Childhood and Adolescence During the first weeks of life, children are in danger of losing their souls because their inexperience makes them an easy prey to the naguales and bad spirits who wander around. As protection, mothers place a small piece of beeswax at the back of the child's head or tie, as a bracelet, a red or blue thread around the wrist. If none of these precautions are taken, the mother has to cover with branches the paths her child walks, so that his soul can easily find its way in case he loses it. Because of all these dangers, fathers always try to perform the ceremony of "seed the soul of the child" as soon as possible. It is during this ceremony that the child is given a name, later confirmed according to Catholic ritual at the ceremonial center. A very important aspect of the ceremony is selection of the godparents. Sickness and Death Most sicknesses come from infection or malnutrition. To the natives, however, illnesses have a supernatural cause and are ascribed either to the anger of gods and spirits or to old people who have a nagual or who can throw a spell. The most frequent explanation is that naguales or supernatural beings are acting against people. They can adopt human or animal form or appear as 224

thunder, wind, or lightning. All the men who occupy or have occupied cargos in the political or religious organization are supposed to have a nagual, as do the older members of the lineage. They consider it their duty to punish those members of the group who have sinned and use their nagual, who can devour the soul of the victim little by little. According to this idea, everybody has two souls: one which can be eaten by the naguales, and one which follows the destiny that its patron saint has planned for it. When death comes, the naguales take away the first soul and have a banquet up in the mountains. In this feast, the naguales of the old people of the clan participate, joined by others induced to comradeship. It is a widespread belief that at midyear the naguales go to a place in heaven called Atimaltik, where an old man who possesses the Book of Life lives. Since in this book he keeps account of the time each person can live, it is a source of information for the naguales, who thus can know who is close to death. When the signature of a person disappears from the book, this means that the person died. People have to keep watch over the body for two days and two nights. It is placed on a wooden plank in the middle of the house after being washed or just given a change of clothes. Two candles are placed at the head. At night friends and neighbors come to keep company with the family. They play harp and guitar and drink chicha and aguardiente. At dawn, the men go home and the women remain crying near the corpse. Following the ancient custom, the dead are buried near the graves of other men of the same lineage. In Cancuc, however, dead are buried inside the house. The bottom and sides of the grave are covered with slabs to form a cofiin. The corpse, bundled up in a petate, is placed inside. His clothes and other articles he may

TZELTAL

need in the afterlife are placed with him: a comb, a bowl, a bottle with water to dissolve the posol, a needle and thread, and, if a man, aguardiente. The arms of the dead are crossed over the chest and a rosary (uenteshil) is put be-

tween his hands. The head is always placed to the west. During the following days, prayers are said to the memory of the dead. Sometimes the house is evacuated because people are afraid of the soul who remains saying goodbye to friends and relatives.

REFERENCES Beals, 1951 Becerra, 1933 Blom, 1954 and LaFarge, 1926-27 Bunzel, 1940 Charnay, 1863 Documentos históricos de Chiapas, 1956 Culteras Holmes, 1947, 1961c LaFarge, 1940 Matson and Swanson, 1959 Metzger, R., 1959, 1960 Metzger, D., 1960 Miranda, F., 1952 Murdock, 1949

Nash, J , 1959 Paniagua, 1876 Redfield and Villa Rojas, 1939 Roys, 1940 Siverts, 1955, 1960 Slocum, 1956 Starr, F., 1902 Stephens, 1841 Tax, 1937 Tozzer, 1907 Trens, 1942 Villa Rojas, 1946, 1947 Vogt, 1964e

225

10. The Tojolabal

ROBERTA

T

HE TOJOLABAL INDIANS live in the municipios of Comitan, Las Margaritas, La Independencia, and La Trinitaria (also known as Zapaluta) in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. The last three are on the Guatemalan border; Comitan, although contiguous with all the others, lies to the west. The region is almost unknown anthropologically: Daniel Brinton spent some time there between 1880 and 1890, Carlos Basauri made a visit in 1928, and I made a brief survey in 1958. The southern lands are predominantly large plains, stair-stepping, one higher than the other, toward north and east. These are separated by low rolling hills, formerly forested but now cut over for milpas and firewood. In the Indian part of La Trinitaria forested areas still remain, mostly oak, pine, and madrone. The northern half of the Tojolabal region is a rising highlands with limestone and shale outcroppings. Mountains lie to the east and northeast of Comitan. The entire region is tierra templada with stretches of tierra caliente in the jungle area of the southeast and in certain of the northern valleys. The annual rainfall in Comitan is 226

MONTAGU

1,016 cc., in Las Margaritas 1,250 c c , and in La Trinitaria 1,014 c c ; information is not available for La Independencia. To the north and northwest there are several rivers, but only small streams run through the main part of the territory. The Rio Grande de Comitan, except at flood, rarely exceeds 3 feet in width; where it has a gravel or sand bed, it can be forded even in the summer rainy season with a jeep or small truck. The main sources of water are natural wells, often resembling the cenotes of Yucatan, some artificial wells, pools, springs, and small streams. Many of these dry up before the start of the rains at the end of April, but all villages are near at least one constant water source. The Mexican Government census of 1950 gives pertinent statistics, listed in Table 1. Comitan, Las Margaritas, and La Trinitaria are Ladino (non-Indian) towns, but a large percentage of the rural population is Tojolabal. Probably the entire number, including La Independencia, exceeds 40,000. The Tojolabal are a linguistic division, not a tribal one, and, with a limited exception in La Independencia, they are not self-

TOJOLABAL

governing at municipio level. Their villages cover a continuum of cultural integration from monolingual Indians dressed in complete costumes (particularly in the Las Margaritas highlands), through a peasantry that wears an adaptation of that dress and is generally bilingual, to entrepreneurs who often speak no Tojolabal and who have been accepted, more or less, into the lower levels of Ladino society in the towns. It is a region that as late as 1900 was considered by map makers unpopulated. Every year there are many new villages, the increase probably owing more to population explosion caused by disease control and improved living conditions than to immigration, although some Tzeltal groups have moved into the northwest area. The region was predominantly one of large ranches until the late 1930's, many of clerical origin dating back to early conquest days, which became privately owned after the Reform Act of 1857. Nearly the entire population was "attached" or "semi-attached" to these fincas by one or another form of serfdom. The milpa agriculture system does not vary from that practiced by the TzotzilTzeltal Indians. Some areas, particularly in the three border municipios, grow coffee and, more rarely, sugarcane. Nearly every family has a few pigs, chickens, and probably turkeys. In the great plains horses and some cattle are raised for sale at the livestock fairs in Comitan. This is a recent innovation in Indian economy and limited to the Indian group in transition. Planting is done

in the spring, harvesting in December. A second milpa, seeded in November and harvested in June, is planted by some people in the damper climates. The milpa is cleaned twice before harvest. The family works the land as a unit, and often married sons return to help the father. Legally ejido lands are held in common, but the Indian regards his portion as private property. In general, only the sons inherit the land, but the childless widow or brotherless daughter may do so. The typical house, 7 by 4 m., is wattleand-daub with a high-pitched, four-sided thatch roof. The outbuildings may include a separate kitchen and a corn storage bin, both identical to the house although the bin may be quite small. Roofs on four upright poles are common for animal protection. Sweat baths exist in some areas. Most houses have only one room, but more and more the peasant groups are building adobe and tile houses, often with two or more rooms. The average house has a large walled sitio surrounding it. Here an extra small cornfield is planted, sometimes a few fruit trees. Women do most of the work in this milpa. The villages, called rancherías or colonias, are dispersed, owing primarily to this system of sitio milpa. Much of the land is ejido, some is private property or national lands yet to be turned into ejidos. New villages are constantly springing up, many formed by families fleeing either the threat of witchcraft or the accusation of being witches. Men do the heavy milpa work, but wom-

TABLE 1

Item Area in square kilometers Altitude of cabecera in meters Minimum temperature Feb.-May Maximum temperature Feb.-May Population (1950) Urban Rural Cabecera

Comitan 1349 1596 1.5-7.0 29-31.1 23,054 11,753 11,301 11,753

Las Margaritas 4250 1512 8.0-13.6 31-32.3 18,390 3,007 15,383 3,007

La Independencia 1037 1540

7,339 None 7,339 1,035

La Trinitaria 1512 1530 2.4-10.2 29-35.2 16,650 None 16,650 2,370

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en help, particularly in the harvest. In the sheep-raising area, bright-colored blankets are woven by men on upright Spanish looms; the wool is carded and spun by women. In Yocnahab pottery is made by the women. A daily market is held in Comitan and a Saturday market in Las Margaritas. Additional income is obtained by men going to work on the coffee plantations, especially those of Tapachula. Thousands, under contract, go annually for a few months. There is also considerable smuggling going on with Guatemala, but this is mainly in Ladino hands. Indians often go along as muleteers. With the possible exception of La Independencia, government is in the hands of Ladinos. Native government is generally limited to juntas, a group of five men (usually) who have been nominated by the adult male population to settle small local problems. These are nearly always older men who often serve several terms (the life of a junta is generally one year). After at least one term of service, these men, with those who have served religious offices, are called servidores or pasados, and in time can be considered principales if, in the minds of the people, they manifest the necessary qualities of judgment and wisdom. The junta is more of a counseling group than an active governing body; the principales' function, if any, is unknown. The more serious legal problems or those which cannot be solved by mutual agreement are taken to the municipal center. There are also authorities on the ejidos holding the offices decreed by agrarian law. These, too, may afterwards be pasados and principales. Where several villages exist on the same ejido, they consider themselves linked but generally maintain separate juntas. School and church juntas are separate from the governing groups. As school juntas are of little importance a man must prove himself in other cargos (offices) in order to become a pasado, but the fact of his having 228

held an office in the school is always mentioned proudly. The church junta is of great importance. Churches in the towns are in the hands of Ladinos, but chapels in the rancherías are built and maintained by Indians. The religious organization varies widely throughout the region, but can be divided into three sections, each with its authorities: the building and maintenance of the chapel; the giving of fiestas, particularly that of the patron saint; and the orchestra, usually drum and pre-Hispanic flute. Religious authorities generally serve from time to time in the civil hierarchy and vice versa. They become pasados and principales more automatically than do the others, because the constant preoccupation with the church and the saints helps to "purify" them and give them wisdom. There are also prayer makers and others who aid with the rituals. Milpa ritual—the lighting of candles and skyrockets and the saying of prayers in the milpas and waterholes—takes place in the spring and fall. After the harvest a man gives a fiesta for all who have helped him in the fields during the year. Caves are important places of worship, particularly for rain. Sickness is generally believed to have been caused by witchcraft, soul damage, injury to the person's animal soul, or the evil generated by night-walking spirits, although certain sicknesses are caused by microbes and must be treated by a doctor in one of the towns. Amber amulets for children ward off the evil eye. In the villages there are both herb doctors and prayer doctors. Sometimes one man will know how to cure both ways. Spanish kinship terms are used so much that, with the material available, it is impossible to reconstruct the Tojolbal system, but it may be noted that the importance of relative age to ego has been conserved. Ritual kinship (compadrazgo) is exceedingly important and exists for various sacraments.

TOJOLABAL

The solterada, a group of unmarried young men, formerly by force kept boys from other towns from coming in to marry girls from their village. The young man asks for the girl in marriage by coming on three separate occasions, accompanied by his parents and sometimes other members of his family, with gifts: bread, cocoa beans, chocolate, fruit, meat, and liquor. If he is accepted, the couple is considered married after the third visit. In civil and religious marriages, the boy must pay all costs, including the girl's new dress and the fiesta afterwards. The boy tries to have a house built before marriage, and they go to live there. Preferably it is close to that of his father and brothers. Rarely does he work a period of time for his father-in-law, although this may have been the old pattern. Large fam-

ilies are the rule. Child rearing is permissive, and there is little or no actual training. Children learn from the desire to learn and by watching. The dead are buried with their personal possessions. San Jose, Santo Domingo, San Fermin, San Antonio, and San Caralampio are the most important local saints. San Caralampio does not appear in the Roman Catholic hagiography, but since a plague in the 1840's he has been of increasing importance, until today he overshadows all the others. There are great pilgrimages in the spring to Santo Tomas in Oxchuc to pray for rain. The Day of the Dead is probably the day of greatest importance in the rancherías, but the fiesta of San Caralampio in Comitan (February) is the biggest fiesta.

229

11. Maya Lowlands: The Chontal, Chol, and Kekchi

ALFONSO

C

HONTAL, C H O L , AND KEKCHI

pcoples

are the subject of the present discussion.

THE CHONTAL

The Chontal of Maya origin should not be confused with other Indian groups in Oaxaca and Guerrero. The name Chontalli was given by the Mexicans and merely means "stranger," without linguistic or tribal connotation. Brinton (1892) tries to correct this error in previous writers. Geography The Chontalpa, "the land of Chontal," is a small area on the coast of Tabasco, Mexico. Until the first half of the 19th century the area was much greater, including 10 out of the 17 municipios of the state, but almost all Chontal are now concentrated in four municipios: Nacajuca, Centla, Centro, and Macuspana. In 1940 the population was 21,732, of whom 2,839 were monolinguals (I.N.L, 1950, p. 71). Nacajuca has the largest Indian population. The area is crossed by the Usumacinta 230

VILLA

ROJAS

and Grijalva rivers. The region is a wide alluvial plain with a few low hills, lakes, and marshes. The mean annual rainfall is 2000 mm. The atmosphere is always humid, and there is no well-defined dry season. The climate is hot, with an annual mean temperature of 26°C. The predominant vegetation is grass, plus a few scattered trees (nanche, jicara, ceiba). Popales (association of aquatic plants, usually herbaceous, growing in marshes and lagoons) are quite frequent. In general, the land is very fertile. History In the first decade of the 16th century, Chontalpa was prosperous and well populated. The economy was based on agriculture, fishing, and trade. The main product was cacao, a highly valued article used as money. The villages were grouped together in cacicazgos or provinces, each having a center surrounded by subordinate hamlets, like present-day municipios. After the Spanish conquest, tribute was levied on the Indians in cacao, corn, and

CHONTAL, CHOL., AND KEKCHI

chickens. This burden, as well as floods and epidemics, diminished the population, until by 1576 only 3000 tributaries remained, representing 15,000 inhabitants distributed among 61 villages. Language Recent classification of Maya languages places Chontal in the Cholan group, to which also Chol and Chorti belong. These three variants are mutually intelligible. Yucatec Maya is not very closely related, but people of both groups could understand each other. Jerónimo de Aguilar, who had been prisoner in Yucatan, could easily talk to the Chontal, acting as interpreter for Hernan Cortés. Bernal Díaz says of him that "he understands very well and speaks the language of that land." At present the Chontal of Tabasco have two dialectal variants. One (the better known) is spoken on the coast, the other in the interior (San Fernando, San Carlos, and other rancherías of the municipio of Macuspana). The latter variant is known as Yocotan, a name given by the natives themselves (Blom and LaFarge, 1926-27, vol. 2, app. 4). Material Culture HOUSES. The Chontal houses are rectangular (varying from 4 by 5 m. to 5 by 8 m.), and have palm roof and wood walls. The sides, sometimes planks instead of tree trunks, may be covered with palm or with a mixture of mud and cow dung afterwards covered with lime. Of the two doors (wood or woven rattan), one leads to the street, the other to the lot. There are no windows. The one room serves as living room, kitchen, bedroom, and dining room. In one corner there are three stones for the hearth; at the opposite side are the altar and the hammock. There may be a smaller building nearby, to be used as kitchen and as washing place. HOUSEHOLD EQUIPMENT. Near the fire is

a small table on which to make tortillas; another, very solid, supports the metate. A hand mill used for the nixtamal is tied to a tree trunk. Small wooden bowls and clay jars and containers are common; dishes, cups, pewter spoons, and knives, axes, and machetes complete the equipment. Farthest from the fire are several wooden chests to keep clothes. Here, too, are small tables, hammocks, and chairs. Candles and small oil lamps illuminate the room. Some families now have sewing machines. CLOTHING. Until a few years ago the Chontal wore the traditional clothes of the area. Men wore a short-sleeved shirt, cotton trousers to the knee, a red or blue band, and a hat. Usually they went barefoot. Women wore an embroidered short-sleeved blouse, and a percale skirt folded at the waist. They went barefoot also and covered their heads with a shawl. Today clothing follows the urban style. Men wear shirt and trousers, palm hats, and sometimes sandals. Women wear cotton underwear, flowered dresses, and shoes on special occasions. They also wear plastic and glass necklaces and earrings and decorate their hair with colored laces. FOOD. There has been almost no change in food. Maize products are basic fare, plus beans, peppers, squash, sweetpotatoes, and fruits. Tortillas are made on a banana leaf. The breakfast variety, gordita, is eaten with salt and lard. Meat is limited, but fish and turtle are easily caught in the nearby rivers and lakes. The beverage posol is prepared by dissolving corn dough in water. The addition of ground cacao to this mixture produces jorote, the typical beverage of the Chontalpa. It is drunk at any time and offered to visitors. Landa (1938, ch. 21) notes that "they make from corn and cacao a kind of very tasty drink with which they celebrate their fiestas." Another beverage, balché, is very popular, especially for religious ceremonies. It is prepared in Tapotzingo and 231

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Guaytalpa by fermenting sugarcane juice with a bark of a tree called palo de huarapo. Economy Agricultural land belongs either to the community or to the tribe, but there are also private plots and communal farms {ejidos). The arable lands are very limited, because the ground tends to flood, but the soil is fertile, producing one ton of corn per hectare and a half-ton of beans. In the opinion of some agronomists (Taboada, 1962, p. 39), these lands could produce twice or even three times as much if they were chemically fertilized. There are two kinds of milpas: one is tonalmil (dry season) and the other is milpa de año (rainy season). The tonalmil must be planted in February and takes about four months to mature. The other, the more important, must be planted after May 15 to bring harvest after mid-September, The bean crop is planted on very special days, such as the Fiesta of the Virgen de Guadalupe (December 12) or of the Virgen de Santa Lucia (December 13). The hat industry is the most important enterprise of Chontalpa. Men, women, and children use their free time to weave long strips of palm leaf. A strip of 25 brazas makes a hat. Usually two days are required to make a strip, which is sold for 2 or 3 pesos to the hatmakers. In each town there are several hatmakers who use sewing machines and wooden molds. The hats are sent to Villahermosa (the capital of the state) for sale and distribution. Political Organization The formal government is run by municipal oflicials, periodically elected according to Mexican federal laws. The municipal president and other functionaries live at the cabecera. Besides these are traditional officials, elderly men who have the cargo of patron in the church services. These patrones are elected every year by other old 232

men, for two terms if they are qualified. Important decisions are made by a council, never by only one person. Social Organization FAMILY AND KINSHIP. The kinship system is now bilateral. Certain kinship terms have persisted but the connotations have changed.

Pap Naa Kichak Secun Itzin Chich Jitok

father. mother. son, daughter; extended to sister's son, sister's daughter, brother's son, and brother's daughter. = older brother; extended to father's older brother and mother's older brother. younger brother; also younger sister, extended to father's younger sister and mother's younger sister, older sister; extended to father's older sister and mother's older

Haan Mam

= = =

Mim

=

sister. brother's wife. sister's husband. father's father and mother's father. The same term is used for grandson. mother's mother and father's mother. Reciprocal term for granddaughter.

The traditional form of the household is disappearing. Some years ago it was still the custom to arrange a marriage through the parents. Several preliminary talks were held between them, the boy's parents going to visit the girl's. If after these visits they agreed, the date was fixed and a more formal ceremony, where the girl's relatives were present, was held. This time the boy came with a valuable gift of two candles, corn, beans, cacao, and turkey to make a large meal for the announcement of the wedding. Three or four weeks later the ceremony took place. The bride wore new clothes, given by the bridegroom, who wore a new suit. The important part of the ceremoney was the civil one, occasionally followed by a religious ritual.

CHONTAL, CHOL, AND KEKCHI

Back in their village, the couple remained at the boy's parents' house until they were able to build a new house of their own. Today the arrangements for a wedding are less formal. The couple, after a more or less furtive relationship, decide to get married. The request for the bride can now be made without other formality. If the parents do not agree, it is easy for the couple to run away and live in free union, which is accepted by the community without further sanction. Life at home is steady and quiet as long as a man's authority is respected. Lack of obedience from either children or wife is punished with whipping. If a man punishes in excess, the wife's relatives can protest and take the case to the local authorities. Religion and World View The Catholic church has a very important role. Apart from being the most important building of the town, the church is a meeting place for all kinds of religious ceremonies throughout the year, especially during agricultural activity. At planting and harvest time, various ceremonies express gratitude to God and the saints. Each town has its own patron saint and some secondary saints. San Pedro Mártir is the patron of Guaytalpa, San Lazaro of Mazateupa, and the Virgen de la Concepción of Tapotzingo. The patron and the saints are always kept in their respective towns and have an annual fiesta with a large display of music, food, and prayers. This fiesta lasts two or three days and occasionally includes horse races and bullfights. Apart from the annual homage to the saints, similar respect is paid the owners of animals and mountains. These are duendes (elves) and have well-defined functions. According to an old man from Guaytalpa, my informant Carlos López Hernández, these elves are very small, look like and walk like human beings. They whistle to call each

other. Exactly at noon they take a walk through the cornfield, and this is why people stop their work at this hour and continue after the dwarfs are gone. These beings correspond to the kuilob kaaxob or gods of the mountain of the Yucatec Maya.

Life Cycle PREGNANCY AND CHILDBIRTH. A pregnant woman is surrounded with restrictions, such as avoidance of "cold" foods, eclipses, burials, and any kind of annoyances. In labor, the woman is assisted by her wedding godmother or by any female member of the family. Practices at childbirth are still very similar to those of pre-Hispanic times. The woman gives birth kneeling on a petate or on palm leaves, grasping a rope that hangs from the ceiling (Harris, 1946). In order to diminish the pains and accelerate labor she is given herbal beverages and her abdomen is rubbed with hot oil. If the newborn is a female, the umbilical cord is cut over a charcoal stick so that she may be a good cook; if it is a male, the cord is cut over an ear of corn. The placenta is always buried. The normal seclusion after childbirth lasts a week; the nursing is prolonged from one to three years. Apart from Christian baptism, which takes place at the church, another ceremony, xek-meke (in Yucatan, hetz-mek), awakens symbolically the mental faculties of the child and makes him a useful member of the community. A godparent is chosen, whose duties are to teach the child the different tools to be used during adult life. The godparent holds the child on his hip and carries him around the house altar three consecutive times, putting the child's hands on all the things he is supposed to use in the future. SICKNESS AND CURING. The prevalent diseases are malaria, tuberculosis, dysentery, and stomach ailments. The traditional therapy is based on herbs and massage given by curers. Although belief in witchcraft and

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nagualism as causes of sickness is still strong, it has been diminishing, especially since the arrival of medical men. When death occurs, the body is given a change of clothes and placed on a petate on the floor of the house for 24 hours. When the hour of burial comes, the body is put in a coffin and carried to the cemetery with a procession formed only of men. Women are not allowed to go. It is the custom to bury the dead with the head to the north. On November 1st and 2nd, the souls of the dead return to earth to be feasted by their relatives. Offerings and prayers are made at the house and at the cemetery. THE CHOL

Geography This group lives at the northern extremity of Chiapas, next to the border of Tabasco. Almost all the Indians are concentrated in the municipios of Tumbala, Tila, Sabanilla, and Salto de Agua. In ancient times the Chol occupied a large section of Guatemala, from the border of the Usumacinta River to Lake Izabal (Stoll, 1958). The Chol in Guatemala have disappeared almost entirely and now inhabit only a small town at the southeast end of the Peten. The topography of the Chol area is extremely rough in the south but lies in wide plains in the north. Tila and Tumbala, lying at 1200 and 1300 m. altitude, are the most representative Indian towns. The territory is extremely humid, for the rainy season lasts nine months; only March, April, and May are relatively dry. The annual mean precipitation ranges between 3,050 mm. at Salto de Agua and 5,029 mm. in Tumbala, the latter having one of the heaviest rainfalls of the entire republic. The weather varies with the altitude; the lowlands are extremely hot, the mountains are mild and even cold. Vegetation is exuberant, with large wooded areas where cedar, oak, and chestnut predominate. The lowlands have large sections of wild cacao. 234

Demography The population is scattered over a large number of parajes: Tumbala has 54, Tila 77, Sabanilla 31, and Salto de Agua 86. AU the municipios show a fast rate of growth. The 1950 census gives an increase from 44,929 inhabitants in 1950 to 61,169 in 1960, a rise of 16,240 in only 10 years. Of 36,866 people over five years old, 5,733 speak only Spanish, 17,860 speak only Chol, and 31,133 are bilingual. From a series of measurements taken in 1901, F. Starr reports (1908, p. 389) that: "The Chol have a well defined physical type. They are short, with large heads and dark skin and they are considered among those people with the most aquiline nose in all of Mexico." Starr (1902a, p. 59) also reports that 75 per cent of these Indians had a stature under 1,600 mm. for men and only 1413.2 mm. for women. A recent study by Harley N. Gould (1946, p. 94) gives the following readings: Stature: 158.55 cm. Cephalic index: 80.65 cm. Nasal index: 70.44 cm. Weight: 58.44 kg. Matson and Swanson (1959, p. 50) found that 86 per cent have blood group O, which indicates a certain degree of mixture, in contrast to their neighbors the Tzeltal, of whom 99.10 per cent have this type. History Originally the Chol were settled in small villages in the Lacandon area near San Quintin. Their reduction and move to the present region was undertaken by Fray Pedro Lorenzo in 1564, who brought the chief of Pochutla and his people to Ocosingo, Bachajon, Tila, Tumbala, and Palenque. The first ones were absorbed by the Tzeltal, but others followed and settled in the region (Ximénez, 1929-31, bk. 4, ch. 47). Because the Chol kept to the mountains during the colonial period the missionaries

CHONTAL, CHOL, AND KEKCHI

did not succeed in changing their way of life although they had been Christianized during the 16th century. Stephens, who went through Tumbala in 1840, writes (1841, 2:223), "it was the most savage but extraordinary place I have ever seen before . . . surrounded by high mountains almost inaccessible and deep gorges where Indians live almost in the same conditions as they lived before the Spaniards came." This independent life ceased in the 1860's when people from Chiapas, from Germany, and from North America established coffee plantations in the Tumbala and Salto de Agua areas. A system of exploitation called enganche or forced contract, by small amounts of money given in advance, kept the Indians constantly in debt to the patrons. This disguised slavery ended around 1915 when after the Mexican Revolution the debts of the Indians were canceled and they were free to settle wherever they liked. However, the benefits of the land reform did not reach the region until 1930, when Indian leaders began to appear. According to an economist, "the Chol are the cleanest, most intelligent, and progressive of all the Indian groups of Chiapas" (De la Peña, 1951, 1:181). Language Dialect variations between municipios are important. When Starr went through the country he noticed that: "There are three dialects among the Chol of Chiapas, corresponding to the three principal centers of population: Tumbala, Tila and Petalcingo. The two latter have been affected by the introduction of a considerable number of Tzeltal words. These dialects are still in use and they are very useful in identifying the origin of other small towns such as Hidalgo (a colony of Tumbala)." Material Culture HOUSES. The predominant house type is the palm hut, with side walls of bajareque

and earth floors. In some places (Tila) these huts are more carefully built, with good roofs and walls covered with lime. They range from 4 to 6 m. long by 4 m. wide and usually have two doors, one leading to the street and the other to the patio. Some have windows though very small ones. Inside these houses all domestic activities are performed: cooking, sleeping, talking with visitors, etc. Rarely, a separate small room is added as a kitchen. Other constructions are the henhouse and the pigpen, both made of wood and palm. HOUSEHOLD EQUIPMENT. In the kitchen there is a bench or a solid table for the metate, clay pottery of all shapes and sizes, bowls, glasses, dishes, knives, spoons, and several kinds of containers. In some houses, the hand mill has displaced the ancient metate. In the part of the house used for sleeping there are hammocks, petates, rough beds or tapexcos, nets, jute bags, and hooks made of deer horn. Scattered about are a wooden plow, hoes, digging sticks, etc. The backstrap loom is still in use though decreasingly so. CLOTHING. Dress is similar to that in the Tzeltal region. Men wear short pants and long-sleeved shirts (both made of cotton), palm hats, and sandals. When they travel they always carry a jute bag, a machete, a blanket, and a stick for aid in walking on slippery mountainous paths. Women wear a cotton blouse with short sleeves, sometimes with colored ribbons, embroidered. The skirt has folds at the front; it should be white if the woman is single, blue if she is married. They wear ribbons in their hair and earrings and necklaces of glass and plastic. They usually walk barefoot. Sometimes they cover their heads with a folded manta. Economy Apart from milpa products, the Chol cultivate coffee, sugarcane, rice, and potatoes, as well as vegetables. The raising of pigs and poultry is one of their most important 235

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resources. Occasionally they supplement their diet by fish, especially a certain kind of snail. Hunting by shotgun and trap brings in considerable food. Work in coffee plantations or chicle camps near Palenque supports many. Social Organization Today municipal authorities deal with all political affairs of the region but some older institutions such as the principales still function. Within the family organization are traces of the old clan and patrilineage system. Paternal surnames define the clan group. The Aulies report (1953, p. 157): On the basis of their names there are other nonconsanguineal relations; for instance, if a foreigner lives at my house and I know that his mother's surname is the same as my father's, I could then call her mother Chich, as if she were my father's sister, and the foreigner Lijel (cousin), who could in turn call me Na'jel. He would call my parents with the corresponding terminology: my father as Ichan and my mother St'in as if, based on the surnames, his mother were my father's sister. They name a generation iunlajm (literally 'one level'). The patronymic system resembles that of the Tzeltal municipios, where besides the first name and the Spanish surname, an Indian name is added referring to an animal or a plant. Starr says (1902a, p. 73), "the Chol have surnames used after their first names, such as Sanate, Tuzero, Cucaracha (cockroach), Venado (deer), Ardilla (squirrel), Paloma (dove), Ratón (mouse), Conejo (rabbit). Among the Tzeltal, this kind of surname designates the father's lineage: Diego Méndez Venado, Juan Díaz Conejo, or Miguel López Ardilla." Religion Catholic-pagan syncretism here works perfectly: people venerate Catholic saints in the churches but at the same time maintain belief in the sacred character of caves 236

and mountains where special spirits live and exercise control over weather, rain, winds, and other phenomena. According to Cerda Silva (1957d, p. 504), "in some places in the mountains there are still small stone idols to whom incense is burned, candles are lighted, and special offerings of fruit, flowers, and chicle are made." Beekman (1956, p. 262) says of the Chol in the Amado Nervo colony (Tumbala): Many of them still adore the sun and the moon. They also have a cult to the devil [sic] in many of their ceremonies. For this purpose, men and women prepare a liquor of sugar cane, and spend some days drinking and singing with dances accompanied by drums and savage shouts, often ending with several injured people. In case of an eclipse, they believe that the moon (which they call "mother") is being attacked by a jaguar and that she needs help. Thus they shoot their guns, beat drums and other people sing, while still others just cry and shout in order to save her. Tila is the religious center of greatest prestige in the whole region, and even in the whole Mexican southeast. In the monumental church the famous Black Christ of Tila is kept and highly venerated. The fiesta for this saint attracts thousands from Chiapas, Tabasco, and Campeche.

Life Cycle Among the many ancient customs the Chol still preserve are the wedding arrangements where all responsibilities lie on the parents. The boy's parents ask for the girl on several visits to her parents and always bring a present. The civil wedding takes place at the cabecera in the Civil Registry Office. It is becoming more and more frequent to follow this civil ceremony with a religious one. When a woman gives birth, her labor is always attended by other women of the family. According to the Aulies' study (1953, p. 158), the man or woman who acts as midwife is called Mam or Ko respective-

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ly. In their kinship terminology Mam means father's mother's brother, Ko means father's mother's sister. Curing ceremonies still form the treatment of disease. Belief in the nagual as the principal source of evil is very common. The nagual is a supernatural agent which can take human or animal form and which is under the control of the "owner," usually an old man of the town. There is also belief in espanto, which occurs when a person falls. An Indian from Tumbala said that, "when our child began to walk and once fell down we were very worried because we believed that the spirits inhabiting the caves could come and give him a mortal sickness" (Beekman, 1956, p. 261). Another cause of sickness is "bad blood." To cure it, the Indians bleed the patient. Funeral practices in some parajes require that adults be buried around the house, children inside. The government, however, stresses the use of cemeteries.

colony of Belize. According to J. E. S. Thompson (1930, p. 41), this migration might have resulted from a law in Cahabon which prohibited maize fields larger than the equivalent of four city blocks. The immediate neighbors of the Kekchi are; to the south, Spanish-speaking peoples; to the southeast, the Pokomchi; to the west, the Ixil; to the north, isolated groups of Mopan and Yucatec Maya, now Spanishspeaking; to the east, Black Caribs (Goubaud Carrera, 1946). Linguistic distribution differs considerably from that recorded by StoU in 1884 because the Chol and Mopan who occupied the Peten have now almost disappeared from that area. The Chol are now restricted to a small town in the extreme south of the department. Although much Kekchi territory is in the lowlands, there is enough variation in altitude (600-1800 m.) to cause rough terrain (see Karl Sapper's map, 1897a). The climate varies from warm to moderate. Tropical and subtropical vegetation predominates. Language

THE KEKCHI

Geography The Kekchi occupy the central part of Guatemala, mainly the Department of Alta Verapaz. In the early years following the conquest, this area was included in the socalled Tierra de Guerra or Tezulutlan, because of their strong resistance to the Spaniards, but missionaries finally brought these tribes under control. The municipios of Alta Verapaz which have the largest Kekchi population are: Coban, Panzos, Senahu, San Pedro Carcha, San Juan Chamelco, Lanquin, Cahabon, Chisec, Chahal, and El Estor. In the Department of Peten the municipios of San Luis and Sayaxche and in Izabal the municipio of Livingston have Kekchi tribes. During the past few decades, the Kekchi have expanded eastward to the district of Toledo, in the southern part of the English

Of the 23 Indian languages spoken in Guatemala, Kekchi is fourth in number of speakers. This represents 13.7 per cent in a total of 1,342,981 people over three years of age, registered in the census of 1950. Of this total 75 per cent are bilingual. Monolingualism predominates among women over age 35 and children younger than 7. Dialectical variations do not hinder mutual understanding. StoU (1958, p. 136) mentions that the Indians of Coban could perfectly understand those of Cahabon. Where the climate is hot people sleep in hammocks; where it is cold, in wooden plank beds with wool blankets. The hearth, made with three stones, is the center of daily cooking and tortilla making. The necessary implements are close at hand on small tables or wooden shelves. The altar is a very important part of the furnishings. The image of a saint is kept 237

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there, always adorned with flowers, ears of corn, bird feathers (generally guacamaya), and bird beaks. According to K. Sapper (1912a, p. 363), the huts have also a niche for the gods. Material Culture The Spanish heritage is marked in Kekchi culture. At the end of the 19th century, D. E. Sapper (1925, p. 190) still found that the parajes "were inhabited by Indian families with a primitive way of life, free and independent, very little influenced by modern civilization." Since then a growing Ladino population and the development of coffee plantations by Germans have modified language, dress, ceremonial practices, and other aspects. HOUSES. The style of the house has not changed at all. It is still a single room— with palm roof, wood walls, and no windows—usually serving as living room, bedroom, and kitchen. Sometimes a small room next to the principal one is used as a granary or extra space for children. Although not frequent, another room may be added for the temascal (steam bath). HOUSEHOLD EQUIPMENT. The furniture is

simple: small chairs, trunks, baskets of all sizes, pottery, agricultural tools, and fishing tools. Many pottery objects have been substituted by metal ones. The metate has been displaced, and some houses have Ladino furniture such as tables, lamps, and chairs. FOOD. The basic diet of the Kekchi is maize, beans, and chile, plus squash, sweetpotato, and tomato (K. Sapper, 1901). Beans are commonly cooked with salt and tomatoes. Maize is eaten as tortillas, tamales, and atole. Sapper mentions atole called rax-u-kumm, where the whole corn kernels are cooked and served very hot. This beverage is offered to visitors as a mark of hospitality. A ceremonial beverage prepared with cacao is served as a special meal after planting time. At dinner time people drink coffee. Alcoholic beverages, 238

apart from aguardiente, are chicha (fermented sugarcane juice) and balché (honey water fermented with the bark of a balché tree). The Kekchi eat the meat of the jabalí (wild pig), wild turkey, tuza, papagayo, deer, monkey, tepezcuintle, and different birds. The meat of large animals is broiled and salted in order to preserve it for some days. K. Sapper (1897a, p. 273) says the Kekchi from Cahabon and Lanquin used to eat turtle eggs and the meat of some snakes, the so-called Ic-volai and the K'amajil. During fiestas they eat chicken and pork. Several kinds of fish are popular. CLOTHING. Commercial clothing now predominates, especially among the men. In 1929, during Termer's visit, the only people who preserved traditional dress were the Mam, Ixil, Quiche, and Cakchiquel. The Kekchi wore white cotton pants and shirts, sandals, and palm hats. Some women still wear the blue skirt and white blouse common many years ago. The women of Coban used to wear an embroidered blouse which was especially attractive. The hair is still done in long braids and adorned with cotton ribbons. When women go out, they cover their head with a rebozo. In many places the backstrap loom is still in use and worked by women. Economy The milpa is the most important factor in the economic life. At the beginning of the year, the Indian chooses his field and marks its boundaries by stones or a ditch. From January to April he burns the bush preparatory to planting, which usually begins April 25. Meat and sex taboos are observed three days before and three days after the planting. J. E. S. Thompson (1930, p. 49) mentions an entirely different practice in the southern part of Belize. The night before planting the man and his wife have sexual relations. At midnight they remove their clothes, lie down with heads to the north,

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and simulate intercourse at three corners of the house. They consummate the act at the fourth corner. Three days before planting, copal is burned and prayers are said in front of the house altar, adorned with flowers, guacamaya feathers, and the ears of corn to be used as seed. People pray to Tzultacaj, god of mountains and valleys and the most important deity. We transcribe one of the prayers of the Coban region from Dieseldorff (192829, p. 320). PRAYER TO TZULTACAJ

Oh God! Oh my refuge! You are my mother, you are my father. Oh adored Tzultacaj! Today is the day. Today is the dawn when I give you a little food, a little drink. It is neither bitter nor thick what I give you. I have lighted the candles at daytime. It is dawn; thus in three days, in three suns, with not much work you will show the maize seed to my spirit and to my body so that without much work it will find my food and drink. Oh my Father! Oh my Mother! Oh adorable Tzultacaj! Who is then my father and my mother? You are they. You who help in the clearing and weeding of the land for food and drink. Now, oh God, from your feet and your hands may emerge my cornfield. Now it is the day. It is the dawn. In three suns and in three days you must emerge and help me in planting. You, Adored Pecmo (a cave near Campur). You Adored Cojaj (the principal mountain of Pocola), You, Adored Chiitzam (a mountain of Lanquin). You Adored Xecabyuc (Coban mountain which people believe was transported to Quetzaltenango by the humorous God of the Sun and which is now called the Santa Maria Volcano). You Adored Cancuen, you Adored Chakmayic (two small rivers which form the Pasion River). In three days, in three suns I will do the planting in your land, in your presence. Take care of the maize so that the animals do not touch it while I plant in your land and in your presence. I beg you to hide and to tie your children (the animals); send them over to 13 mountains, to 13 valleys. I don't want my maize to die. I want my maize to sprout and grow. In

7 days, in 7 suns I will see the gift of your land and the gift of your presence. I put it under your care since the day I plant before you. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. This prayer belongs to ancient Indian tradition and closely resembles others still in use among the Yucatec Maya and other Mayance groups of the Chiapas highlands. Planting is done by groups of 8 or 10 people, neighbors or relatives who walk in line, making holes 1.5 m. apart. It is believed that the day planting begins Tzultacaj appears at 12 P.M. to watch and bless the people. When the work is finished, the owner of the field offers a large meal of pork, chicken, and venison, and a special drink prepared with cacao (K. Sapper, 1912a, p. 366; Dieseldorff, 1928-29, p. 333). Dieseldorff lived in Coban and reported on beliefs connected with planting other than maize. When beans are planted the men of Chahal cohabit with women right in the field in order to have an abundant harvest. He goes on to say: "When they plant manioc, they don't sleep in hammocks, but on rough wood planks so that the roots of the manioc won't come out as feeble as a hammock. When they plant sweet potatoes they eat only hard tamal ('tamal duro') so that the roots will come out as hard." At harvest the end of September, new prayers and rituals are performed during the three preceding days. Candles and copal are burned, the altar is adorned. According to K. Sapper (1897a, p. 284), Tzultacaj does not receive any offerings except copal, but this seems unlikely in view of the great importance of this deity. The harvest also is done in groups by family and neighbors. The produce is kept in a troje or granary next to their house. The Kekchi supplement their diet with pigs and poultry. On leisure days they go hunting with modern shotguns, sometimes with blowgun and sling for catching birds. J. E. S. Thompson (1930, p. 87) found that the blowgun is used among the Maya of 239

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Belize, brought by Kekchi immigrants. Its length varies from 1.5 to 2 m. This weapon is also found in the Popol Vuh legends. Offerings and ceremonies are connected with hunting practices. K. Sapper (1897a, p. 268) mentions a ceremony he observed among the Tojolabal of Zapatula (Chiapas) where the Indians skinned a deer, cut its head off, and burned copal to it. His informants told him that this custom was followed among the Kekchi. Not the least piece of deer meat should be left over lest it anger the god. Fishing is another important source of food, caught by a straw basket called pesquera or by a harpoon. In some places, following the Ladino practice, dynamite is also used (Termer, 1957, p. 91). Political Organization Of the 15 municipios in the Department of Alta Verapaz, 10 are Kekchi, 5 are Pokomchi. The government of each municipio has a group of public officials, designated according to the municipal code of decree no. 1183 of the Guatemala Government (1957). In the Kekchi municipios the principal cargos are alcalde, consejal, and síndico, all elected by popular vote. These three authorities designate the alcalde auxiliar for the smaller towns and villages; the latter have as assistants alguaciles who act also as policemen. This cargo is obligatory. Another cargo system, of traditional character, takes care exclusively of Indian affairs, including fiestas and church matters. This system is hierarchically organized, and cargos are reached through a whole life of public service. Those who have served at all levels join the principales, the most important group whose members have special privileges and preferences. Among the various responsibilities to be undertaken in order to become a principal is that of mayordomo of a cofradía, a religious association whose function is to perpetuate the ritual performed in honor of 240

the different saints. According to Termer (1957, p. I l l ) , . . . each cofradía forms together under the protection of a saint whose image is kept in the Mayordomo's house and is carried out only when the fiesta of the town takes place, bringing it to the church where it is venerated with other images. The fiestas in honor of other saints of the cofradía are celebrated either at the mayordomo's house or at the principal square of the town. As far as I can tell, only in Alta Verapaz and in the region of Rabinal in Baja Verapaz, are these feasts celebrated in shelters or in huts purposely made. Social Patterns DANCES. These important features of Indian fiestas have a semi-sacred and traditional character, for they are connected with the feast of the patron saint of the church. The dances last throughout the fiesta and each one requires particular masks and clothes. Termer (1957, p. 202) says: "All costumes are of European style, made of colored velvet and adorned with braids and laces. At the front and at the back they wear little mirrors; they also wear shorts, socks, and shoes to complete the European dress. Sometimes they wear large hats like those worn in the 17th and 18th centuries by the Spanish army." They complete this outfit with a red or a blue handkerchief in the left hand and a rattle in the right. Some of these dances are the Dance of Cortés, Dance of the Monkey, Dance of the Devil, Dance of the Moors, and the Deer Dance. The last is supposedly the only aboriginal one (all the others being of Spanish origin), which Thompson (1930, p. 103) has described as a hunting enactment in order to have success in hunting. SACRED BOOKS. In the Kekchi region some ancient manuscripts are jealously kept and considered as sacred books. Stoll (1958, p. 138) says that "in Coban and in San Pedro Carcha, near Coban, there were some documents in Indian language, almost all of them being titles to land." Termer (1957,

CHONTAL, CHOL, AND KEKCHI

p. 143) reports that in San Pedro Carcha "there exists or existed at Sapper's time a sacred book owned by the community, from which history was told." In this book it was written that monkeys were brothers of the Kekchi, and so the killing of monkeys was prohibited. Termer believes that such documents can also be found among the Ixil and Pokomchi. Religion This aspect of Indian life has been heavily influenced by Catholicism. Apart from a church with tall towers at the cabecera, the Kekchi have family hermitages and house altars with crosses and images. The fiesta of the patron saint, the most important event of the whole year, lasts several days, while large quantities of aguardiente and chicha are drunk. The hermitages, which are big palm huts, belong to groups of families. Here different religious observances take place, as well as the burial of the members of the family to which the house altar belongs. The Day of the Dead and All Saints' Day are celebrated with special ceremonies. The altar is adorned with care; food, drink, and fruit are offered to the souls of those buried at the hermitage, who supposedly come to celebrate their fiesta. During these special days, traders and wanderers are not allowed to lodge inside the hermitage so that the souls of the dead will be left in peace. The Christian God occupies first place in the celestial hierarchy. Even Tzultacaj, the most important pagan deity, takes second place. The cross is an expression of all that is sacred. It is found on mountaintops, hermitages, house altars, and in any place of religious significance. When people are very tired, to relieve their fatigue they pick up stones and place them beside the cross on the road or they beat their thighs with a small branch which they afterwards put at the foot of the cross (Dieseldorff, 1928-29, p. 331).

K. Sapper (1897a, p. 271) adds that people try to keep the cross adorned with flowers and pine branches. When pine trees do not naturally grow in the region, they are brought and planted near the hermitages. Those who have lived among the Kekchi say that although they seem to pray to the cross, they actually pray to Tzultacaj (D. E. Sapper, 1925, p. 191). Tzultacaj is "the god of the mountains and valleys," and his power reaches over all nature—forests, water, caves, animals. There are no images of this god, but his way of living is described by D . E . Sapper (1925, p. 192): The Kekchi Indian imagines his god Tzultacaj lives in large caves in the mountains. There he lies in a hammock whose hangings are big snakes (icvolai). These snakes are his servants and he uses them to punish the sinners. The minor sins are punished with snail bites, whereas the major ones with terrible wounds made by poisonous animals, particularly the icvolai snake, whose bite is almost instantly fatal. K. Sapper (1912a, p. 369) says that each place has its Tzultacaj, who lives in a sacred cave where offerings and prayers are made. The Kekchi also believe that there is a Tzultacaj inside each mountain and so crosses are put on each to mark their sacred character. Although these Tzultacaj of the mountains are many, four are important: (1) the one who lives at the Xucaneb mountain in Chamelco; (2) the one called Xan Itzan or Cana Itzan, who lives in the Lanquin area; (3) the Kan Chama or Rey Chama (yellow god of Chama), who lives west of Chama; and (4) the Xacabyuc, who lives west of Quezaltenango. According to Thompson (1930, p. 58), these Tzultacaj are placed at the four cardinal points and are associated with the colors white, yellow, red, and black. Apart from these gods, considered benevolent, Dieseldorff (1928-29, p. 319) mentions Mam as a malevolent one. He says this god is constantly opposed to the good gods. Sapper does not mention this Mam; 241

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Thompson considers Mam and Tzultacaj to be the same thing. K. Sapper (1897a, p. 285) also mentions that the Kekchi worship the sun under the name of Kac-Vua (our father). Dieseldorff (1928-29, p. 332) affirms that prehistoric idols are still venerated and that "if an Indian comes across a clay idol, he puts some copal in its mouth and on its body, as his ancestors did." The same author mentions that in the village of Carcha there is a large stone in the shape of an altar called Cagua Xajompec (Señor Soltero) and considered a deity by the natives. Life Cycle According to K. Sapper (1897a, p. 279), there is no special ceremony at birth. In labor the woman kneels and is helped by a midwife or by her mother or mother-in-law. When the child is born, both mother and child take a bath in the temascal and stay secluded from 8 to 10 days. Termer (1957, p. 100) says that among the Kekchi of Lake Izabal this period lasts two weeks. The child receives Catholic baptism, taking only the father's name. Names correspond to animals, plants, and minerals, even to objects or qualities: Caal (cornfield), Kak (flea), Cok (turtle), Max (monkey), Po (moon). The nursing period is quite long, sometimes lasting until a new child is born. According to K. Sapper (1912a, p. 365), there are no children's games; play is usually an imitation of what the parents do. As early as six or seven years the boy begins to work with the machete, and the girl to deal with kitchen affairs. Termer (1957, p. 95) says that "among the Kekchis the girl is considered adult at 12 years, and the boy at 18. There is no special custom when they reach this age." The age for marriage is 13 to 15 for women and 15 to 18 for men. The arrangements are made by the parents during three or four visits. The boy's father visits the girl's parents, bringing gifts and a silver coin of 50 centavos the first time. The following 242

visits must be made on Sunday with the coin one silver peso. If after the third visit both sides agree, the wedding takes place. The new life can be begun at either parents' house. When the first child is born, the couple move to their own house. Of the wedding arrangements, D. E. Sapper (1925, p. 195) says, "the Kekchi Indian still has certain customs that reflect a great deal of the ancient form of man and woman purchase; almost always, the woman is the purchased one and the man the buyer." In rare instances, if the boy's parents are poor and the girl's wealthy, the latter can purchase the boy, who then has to work for the girl's parents for a certain time. Mutual cooperation is essential and monogamy normal, although instances of extramarital relations are increasing. Although the patrilineage is still important, there is no formal organization in clans or lineages. The restrictions are similar to the bilateral Ladino system. According to Termer (1957, p. 98), "marriage between siblings, aunt and nephew, uncle and niece are prohibited. Other kin forms are not an obstacle for marriage." Many ancient mourning beliefs and practices are observed. The body is wrapped in a petate and buried with all the things he may need on a long trip: hat, clay vessels, cups, a napkin, a pair of sandals, a net, a tumpline. Wool items are omitted because the animal may bite the soul of the dead. As a special act a rosary is placed in the dead person's hands, so that he can perform his religious observances. If something has been forgotten, it is placed among the objects at the next burial so that the new dead will give it to the preceding when they meet. Belief in a destiny after death follows the ideas brought by missionaries. As stated before, on the Day of the Dead the souls come down to the earth and celebrate their fiesta in the family hermitage. SICKNESS AND CURING. There are three

CHONTAL, CHOL, AND KEKCHI

kinds of specialists differentiated by their titles and functions (Dieseldorff, 1940, p. 92); the Ilonel, who cures by ceremonies and herbs; the Aj Ke or diviner, who advises, predicts, and tells the favorable and the unfavorable days, which in the past were reckoned by the sacred calendar of 260 days; the Aj Tul, who is a witch or sorcerer. Frequently, all three offices are found in the same person. The curer, who plays an important role in the community, has great knowledge of plants and herbs. Diviners used to be consulted about stolen objects or lost animals. They have also demonstrated their influence during messianic movements. D. E. Sapper (1925, p. 194) mentions a diviner who appeared in

the mountains of Cucanep (near Chamelco), announcing the end of the world and promising salvation to those who would go back to the primitive way of Iife and to absolute poverty and nakedness. He placed special emphasis on the fact that coffee plantations owned by the foreigners were going to be destroyed. Sapper heard a speech by another diviner, who had an extraordinary effect on the crowd. "Men and women took off their clothes; it seemed like a meeting of lunatics escaped from an infernal dungeon. Among this repugnant crowd of naked human bodies, dirty and frenzied, stood out the figure of the preacher of doom, who was also completely nude." Cases like this are not frequent.

REFERENCES Aulie and Aulie, 1953 Beekman, 1956 Blom and LaFarge, 1926-27 Brinton, 1892 Cerda Silva, 1957d Dieseldorff, 1928-29, 1940 Goubaud Carrera, 1946 Gould, 1946 Harris, 1946 Indianist Yearbook, 1962 Inst. Nacional Indigenista (Mexico), 1950 Landa, 1938

Matson and Swanson, 1959 Peña, 1951 Sapper, D. E., 1925 Sapper, K., 1897a, 1897b, 1901, 1912a Starr, F., 1902, 1908 Stephens, 1841 Stoll, 1884, 1958 Taboada, 1962 Termer, 1957 Thompson, 1930 Ximénez, 1929-31

243

12. The Maya of Yucatan

ALFONSO

HE PENINSULA OF YUCATAN (fig.

T

1)

is composed almost entirely of the Mexican states of Campeche, Yucatan, and Quintana Roo. In the extreme southeast is British Honduras. The aboriginal population has undergone uneven degrees of acculturation, from the forest zones of Quintana Roo, where tribal forms exist, to the city of Merida, with some 150,000 inhabitants and more advanced resources and refinements of modern living. Redfield (1941, p. 13), who used this situation for his study on the acculturative process, wrote: "In short, Yucatan, considered as one moves from Merida southeastward into the forest hinterland, presents a sort of social gradient in which Spanish, modern and urban, gives way to the Maya, archaic and primitive." Nevertheless, the substratum of Maya tradition permeates the entire peninsula, especially in the rural environment, where language and customs continue to be markedly indigenous. Everywhere one finds people who speak Yucatec Maya or who follow Yucatec Maya customs, such as the 244

VILLA

ROJAS

hetzmek or the cha-chac. Only small groups of Chol, Mopan, and Kekchi are excepted, as they settled in southern British Honduras during the second half of the 19th century (Thompson, 1930, pp. 37-38). If we take, as an index of Indianness, the number of Maya who still do not know Spanish, the central part of Quintana Roo has the greatest Indian concentration, followed by southeastern Yucatan around Peto and Valladolid, and finally northern Campeche, especially the municipality of Hopelchen. Except for the mountainous spurs of the Peten and of the Sierra Maya de Belize, the Peninsula of Yucatan forms a vast rolling plain which gradually descends to the sea. The Sierrita or little mountain range has altitudes of barely 300 m. above sea level. It extends from near Champoton, Campeche, to the northeast where it enters the state of Yucatan; from there, in the vicinity of Maxcanu, it drifts southeast, along a line formed by the large towns of Ticul, Oxkutzcab, Tekax, and Tzucacab, to the floor of Quintana Roo. (See vol. 1, Art. 2,

FIG. 1—MAP OF THE PENINSULA OF YUCATAN. Only the largest towns are shown. (Adapted from Shattuck, 1933, Map 1.)

ETHNOLOGY

fig. 18, and Morley, 1947, pl. 1, for physiographic maps of the peninsula.) In the zones adjacent to this mountain range, where organic matter has enriched the soil, important pre-Hispanic cities flourished—Oxkintok, Uxmal, Labna, Sayil, Kabah. No surface rivers or creeks exist in most of the peninsula; only in the far south, among the mountainous spurs, are important rivers, some emptying into the Laguna de Terminos and others into the Caribbean, after crossing Belize. In the central part, especially the Oriente, there are a few small lakes and lagoons. The most important sources of water supply are the cenotes, natural wells that are formed when the limestone surface crust collapses into underground caves. These cenotes are common in the north, the area always most populated, diminishing toward the south until they completely disappear. Vegetation ranges from the high rain forests of the Peten and Quintana Roo to the low scrub woods which cover most of the state of Yucatan, a diversity directly related to the amount of rainfall and to the nature of the soil (F. Miranda, 1959, 2;21571). The surface is for the most part outcropping limestone or very rocky and scanty soil, especially in Yucatan; the rest of the peninsula has areas where a humus layer permits agriculture. Rocky soil so predominates that Landa (1941, p. 186) noted: "Yucatan is the country with least earth that I have seen since all of it is one living rock and has wonderfully little earth, so that there are few places where one can dig down an estado without striking great layers of very large rocks." The climate is warm and quite humid, reaching maximums in the southeast (Chetumal and Belize) and becoming more moderate toward Merida. The average annual temperature is around 78° F., with a range of only 3° C. According to Steggerda (1941, p. 134), minimum temperatures were 246

registered in Chichen Itza in December and a maximum temperature of 107° F. in May. Nights are usually cool. In the peninsula precipitation fluctuates between 450 mm. per year in the northwest to more than 2000 mm. in the opposite corner. Rainfall in the Peten area is a little higher. (For more data on this subject see Contreras Arias, 1959). Historical Sketch Once the resistance of the Maya of the peninsula was broken after 15 years of fighting and the city of Merida was founded in 1542, the Spaniards established encomiendas and repartimientos, breaking the social, political, and economic structure of the ancient Indian provinces. To legalize the new state of affairs, the Real Audiencia de Guatemala sent the Oidor Tomás López in 1552, who dictated the famous ordenanzas by which an end was put to the most important practices of aboriginal life. Among such ordenanzas were those which compelled the natives to congregate into compact towns, leaving their milperws, to give up all rites, idols, and ceremonies which might recall to them their old religion; to discontinue their meetings and family festivities which served to maintain cohesion of their lineages; to liberate slaves and concubines; to discontinue the ceremonial beverage balché, to which they were addicted; in short, to adapt to the new ways imported by friars and encomenderos. Thus the Indian system of landholding was displaced by one of the crudest feudalism. The resulting violent social disorganization, along with mistreatment and disease brought by the conquerors, soon decimated the population. The Spaniards sought to leave in posts of command the old chieftains and batabs who had shown total submission, allowing them to use "don" in front of their name to denote noble ancestry and to have their milpa cultivated by the macehuales or plebeians. The

MAYA OF YUCATAN

ordenanzas prescribed: "That the chieftains be made each year a milpa of maize, and another one of beans for their administration and care in governing the towns" (López de Cogolludo, 1955, 2:103). The privileges lasted only briefly since by the beginning of the 17th century, the appointed chieftains were those of greatest ability without regard to whether they were descendants of señores. No consideration was shown members of the old nobility: ". . . today those of Tutul Xiu, who was natural lord and master by right, if through their hands they do not work in manual occupations, they do not have what to eat, which does not seem undeserving of being considered" {ibid., 1:328). The natives continued to use the term almehen (equivalent to hidalgo) to designate descendants of the old nobility. At the beginning of the 19th century this term still appeared in the Indian documents of Ebtun (Roys, 1939, p. 47). Among the descendants of the old Maya nobility some knowledge of the calendrical lore was retained throughout the colonial period. In Chilam Balam de Mani (included in the Códice Pérez, 1949) is a paragraph written perhaps by a member of the Xiu family: "May 10, 1756 was in the year 7 Cauac, 17 days in the month Muan, when I began to write the years of the katunes everything that has taken place during the days of our ancestors and which was written by them, from the time they began to write their series of katunes, when the New Year of the 8 Ahau katun began for them. Thus I extracted it from their writings" (Códice Pérez, 1949, p. 249). The lower classes did not forget their old ceremonies, especially those connected with the gods of the milpa, rain, and wind. The ordenanza to live in compact towns was gradually forgotten until, by 1766, it is recorded that "much more than half of the tribute payers of any town" were dispersed in farms, ranches, and solitary spots

(Scholes and others, 1936-38, pp. 11-12). Their social and political conditions were markedly inferior during the three centuries following the conquest. The Indians were not only required to pay tribute but to work without adequate compensation (Ancona, 1889, 2:142-43). Among the many attempts to throw off the yoke the last and most serious was the War of the Castes in 1847. Its failure drove the most adamant Indians to isolation in the thick forest of Quintana Roo. There, from 1849 to 1915, some 30,00040,000 Indians maintained open hostility. Another 12,000-15,000 living between Ixkanha and Ikaiche in Quintana Roo surrendered themselves to the government in the second half of the last century. With this last group of rebels I lived in 1935 and 1936 (see Villa Rojas, 1945, chs. 3, 4). In contrast to the Maya who isolated themselves in Quintana Roo, those who remained in their native towns, in the northern part of the peninsula, had a different fate, owing to the development, since the beginning of last century, of the henequen industry. The introduction of new techniques requiring heavy machinery and the emergence of a new economic system brought a marked transformation in customs. Maize, which until then had been the distinctive crop of the Maya farmer, began to be displaced by henequen, bringing the Indians into dependence directly on the farm as mere peons and in constant debt to its owner. The daily contact with machinery, railroads, roads, schools, and other elements of modern life accompanying the new industry pushed old customs aside in favor of new. Traditions were relegated to the peripheral areas, especially in the southern and eastern parts of the peninsula. Demographic Data According to the census of 1950, the Yucatan Peninsula has 666,964 inhabitants distributed over an area of 140,303 sq. km., a density of 4.75 persons per square kilome247

ETHNOLOGY TABLE 1—DISTRIBUTION OF

THE POPULATION (Census of 1950)

State Yucatan Campeche Quintana Roo TOTAL

Number Inhabof itants Inhab- Area in per itants sq. km. sq. km.

Number Who Speak Maya

13.4 2.4 0.5 4.75

279,380 32,816 9,579 321,795

516,899 38,508 122,098 50,952 26,967 50,843 666,957 140,303

ter. T h e distribution is shown in T a b l e 1. Nearly 50 p e r cent speak Maya; of these, some 50,900 are monolingual (León-Portilla, 1959, p . 6 4 ) . T h e Indian population of British Honduras, according to Thompson's use (1930, p. 4 0 ) of t h e data in t h e 1921 census, w a s 7,806 persons. Figures specifying t h e various Mayance dialects were not given. T h e greatest n u m b e r (2,660 Indians) inhabited the area of Corozal, having descended from the Maya w h o h a d fled Yucatan during t h e W a r of t h e Castes. Other Maya groups, living in t h e central part of the colony near Socotz, originated from the vicinity of Lake Tayasal which, at o n e time, w a s inhabited by the Itza. According to Thompson (1930, p. 3 7 ) , their language "is practically t h e same as that spoken in Yucatan." T h e Kekchi are found in small numbers inhabiting the town of San Pedro, near t h e ruins of L u b a a n t u n , in t h e southern part of t h e colony. T h e M o p a n and Chol are still fewer and live in the southwest area. T h e n u m b e r of monolinguals is b y now insignificant, so that in this sense they are more acculturated than the Maya of Yucatan or Quintana Roo. T h e census of 1960 shows an increase during the last decade as recorded in Table 2. For Yucatan a n d C a m p e c h e t h e rate of increase refers almost exclusively to t h e difference b e t w e e n birth a n d death rates; for Quintana Roo t h e growth is social (immigrants minus emigrants) owing to t h e

248

colonization policy adopted b y the Mexican Government ( D u r á n Ochoa, 1961, p . 6 ) . U p to t h e middle of 1959, 57 p e r cent of the peninsular population was urban, living in places of more t h a n 2500 inhabitants; t h e remaining 43 p e r cent inhabited smaller towns. T h e shift from rural to u r b a n environment is gaining in Yucatan a n d Campeche, t h e reverse in Quintana Roo. T h e sex ratio of t h e population of t h e entire peninsula was 98 females to 100 males. T h e age pyramid shows a wide base formed b y y o u n g people, narrowing without interruption to a n apex of those of 60 or more years representing scarcely 6 p e r cent of t h e population (Rosenzweig, 1959). Some of the conclusions reached b y Steggerda (1941, p . 231) from his study of t h e Maya of Yucatan are of interest here. We can now say with assurance that from the 605 individuals for whom we have both birth and death records, 68.76 percent died before they were five years old and 7.93 percent died between the ages of five and fifteen. After fifteen both males and females may be considered adults, and for them the average age at death is 38.53. We see that the majority of women develop early in Yucatan; most of them are married and have one or more children before they reach the age of 20. They produce an average of seven to nine children and raise a little more than half of them. Their reproductive span of about 17 years is considerably shorter than that of white women in the United States. The birth and death rates of these primitive Yucatan communities are approximately three times that of

TABLE 2—GROWTH OF THE

PENINSULAR POPULATION (in thousands of inhabitants)

State

Population in the census 1960 1950

Yucatan Campeche Quintana Roo

517 122 27

612 164 52

Percentage of Annual Increase 1.7 3.0 6.8

FIG. 2—BURNING BRUSH FOR PREPARATION OF MILPA. (Courtesy, Peabody Museum, Harvard University.) the United States. The high birth rates of Yucatan indicate the fertility of the population. The average lifespan is short compared to the 70± years of more advanced countries. Equally unfavorable are the infantile mortality and the reproductive span of women. Ethnological

Investigations

Passing over the writings of friars, encomenderos, and antiquarians who left valuable accounts of Maya customs, we

start with Jean Fredéric Waldeck who, between 1834 and 1836, made archaeological explorations through the peninsula, giving special attention to Palenque and Uxmal. His published results (1838) are of value principally in the fact that they stimulated the interest of John L. Stephens, who inaugurated modern studies of Maya archaeology and ethnology (Gallenkamp, 1959, p. 33). A Spanish edition of Waldeck's book was printed in Merida, Yucatan, in 1930. Although Waldeck's interest was primarily 249

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 3—MAYA HOUSE, CHAN KOM, YUCATAN. Fence-enclosed vegetable garden at right. (From Wauchope, 1938, pl. 13,a.)

archaeological, he occasionally mentions dances, festivals, and customs of the Maya of that time. Unfavorably impressed by the natives of the peninsula, he went so far as to consider them the "missing link" between monkey and man. "The native of this country, with his savage instincts, profound ignorance, prodigious agility, the development of his physical aptitudes, is the living transition from the monkey to man" (1930, p. 107). From 1839 to 1842 the great North American explorer John L. Stephens applied his acute critical sense, faculty of observation, and faithful accuracy in detail to Maya archaeology and ethnology. His two books (1841, 1843) record not only richness of archaeological information but also ethno250

graphic, folkloric, historical, and linguistic observations that offer genuine treasure to the present-day investigator. In 1874 Dr. Augustus Le Plongeon arrived in Yucatan and from then on dedicated himself to exploring Chichen Itza, where he discovered the statue Chacmool, which gave him a great fame (Palacios, 1940, pp. 43-56). Of mystical temperament and imbued with the ideas of Madame Blavatzky, "he thought that the Mayas had arrived from Atlantis and that the Greek alphabet was a Mayan hymn in which the submersion of that mystical land was sung" (Thompson, 1930, p. 36). His wife published a small book (1886) which presented aspects of Maya life which she observed. It mentions that in Dzidzantun lived an old man named

MAYA OF YUCATAN

Jacobo Canul who possessed an old Maya book with "sacred writings," which could very well have been a book of Chilam Balam. There also seems to have existed a similar book in the town of Espita, in the hands of an old man whose last name was Alayon (1886, p. 118). It was near Espita that the Chilam Balam de Tizimin was discovered in the mid-19th century. Just after Le Plongeon, Desiré Charnay arrived in Yucatan. While pursuing his great interest in archaeology, he noted practices and customs. Besides his principal book The ancient cities of the New World (1887a) he published a smaller volume Ma dernière expédition au Yucatan (1887b), which was translated into Spanish and published in Merida in 1933. It contains very pleasing descriptions of life in those days (1882-86) as well as excellent ones of people, panoramas, and archaeological sites. Of much greater scientific interest is the German geographer Karl Sapper, who, from 1888 to 1895, covered most of the Maya area, including Chiapas and Guatemala. In addition to his specialty, he made valuable contributions in geology, linguistics, ethnology, and economics. His book (1897b) contains important chapters on the ethnography of the Lacandon, Maya, and Quiche. The chapter on the ethnography of the Maya of Quintana Roo (where he traveled in 1894), published in English (1904), is the most valuable ethnographic contribution on the "rebel" Indians. Early in the present century, the period of scientific ethnology begins with the work of Alfred M. Tozzer, who, from 1902 to 1905, carried out important investigations among the Maya and Lacandon. His book (1907) continues to be a model of observation and method. In 1918 Thomas W. F. Gann reported on the Maya Indians of southern Yucatan and northern British Honduras. The ethnography section is rather superficial and disjointed. From 1927 to 1929 J. Eric S. Thompson

FIG. 4—HOLLOW-LOG BEEHIVES, XOCENPICH, YUCATAN. (From Wauchope, 1938, pl. 35,b.)

gathered excellent ethnographic material among the natives of Maya, Kekchi, Chol, and Mopan origin in the villages of San Antonio and Socotz, British Honduras. Published in 1930, this is the most important record available to date on the ethnography of that region. Around 1930 Robert Redfield began his studies of the Maya of Yucatan. I became part of his team and cooperated in the study of the Maya villages of Chan Kom, Yucatan, and Tusik, Quintana Roo. The published reports (see References) are the most ample, detailed, and systematic records on the ethnography of the Maya area. In 1961 Charlotte Zimmermann, of the University of Detroit, began new ethnographic investigations among the Maya of Quintana Roo, to evaluate changes during the last 20 years among the natives of Tusik, whom we studied during Redfield's project. SUBSISTENCE PATTERNS

The Milpa The economic life of the Maya hinges on the cultivation of maize. Almost all thought, labor, and ritual aim at a good milpa. According to Steggerda (1941, p. 89), maize comprises about 85 per cent of the diet. The 251

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 5—INDIAN HOUSE, TIZIMIN, YUCATAN. Both roof and walls are thatched. Note twined-vine door and stone boundary wall. (From Wauchope, 1938, pl. 24,a.)

average time required for the cultivation of one hectare of maize is about 50 days; generally the Maya of the peninsula make milpas of 3 or 4 hectares. According to Thompson (1930, p. 41), the milpas of British Honduras hardly average 3-4 acres. The unit of measure is the mecate, an area 20 m. square; 25 mecates make 1 hectare. The average production throughout the peninsula is 1 ton per hectare, increasing up to 2 tons in virgin lands of the Oriente and Yucatan and parts of Quintana Roo. Generally, the plot is cultivated for two consecutive years and then left fallow for 7-10 years. The techniques employed in milpa work (see vol. 6, Art. 3, figs. 1-5) have not changed at all from pre-Hispanic days. Landa (1941, p. 97) notes: "In cultivating the land they do nothing except collect together the refuse and burn it [fig. 2] in order to sow it afterwards. They cultivate the land from the middle of January to April, and then they sow in the rainy season. They do this by carrying a little bag on their shoulders, and with a pointed stick they make a hole in the ground, and they drop 252

there five or six grains, which they cover over with the same stick. It is a wonder how things grow, when it rains." Today, the pointed stick is still used in the identical way. For other work there are metallic tools of commercial origin: the axe to cut down the forest, the machete to cut the underbrush or small trees, and the coa (a kind of curved machete) to cut the grass. The daily consumption of maize per family of five is 3 kg. or some 600 gm. per person. Each family allots about 2 kg. for their hens and pigs (Steggerda, 1941, p. 127). Maize is the one foodstuff that permits the Indians to sell a surplus and thus obtain money for other needs. In general, 30-40 per cent of the crop is sold. In the milpa are also planted supplements to the daily diet: beans, squash, macal (yams), sweetpotato, yuca, jicama, watermelon, and occasionally peanuts. The same products are planted in the milpas of British Honduras (Gann, 1918, p. 20). The Maya of Yucatan and Quintana Roo grow onions, tomatoes, chile, orégano, epazote, and parsley in boxes or hollowed tree trunks raised up on four posts for protection from pigs or hens. These small raised plots (caanché) are built in the yard of the house, next to the kitchen (see Wauchope, 1938,fig.49,d,e;pl. 37,d). Special attention is given throughout the region to cultivation of fruit trees, planted in the house yard. The commonest are guayaba, orange (sour and sweet), banana, guanabana, plum, annona, pomegranate, and guaya. In some places of Yucatan and Quintana Roo it is customary to plant small quantities of tobacco; in British Honduras, cocoa, common in this region since pre-Hispanic days. Other Subsistence

Resources

Intimately related to the Indian way of life is the raising of pigs and chickens (Wauchope, 1938, pl. 35,d; fig. 49,a-c), with which the domestic economy is balanced.

FIG. 6—THATCHING THE ROOF, CHICHEN ITZA, YUCATAN. (From Wauchope, 1938, pl. 27,c.) Each family owns two or three pigs, which they fatten to sell in the course of the year or butcher on some festive occasion when abundant food is needed. Chickens are raised (fig. 3) mostly for the eggs, which are a source of easy commercial exchange. The meat is seldom eaten as it would be too costly, but once in a while it is served to someone who is ill or to compadres or important visitors. Generally a family has 1015 birds. Turkeys are less often raised because of the many cares and difficulties. Of recent introduction into the more conservative Maya communities are cattle, considered to be highly lucrative. The owner of three or four head is counted a rich man. They are raised for sale as they are seldom used for local consumption and

cow's milk is not thought desirable. In Chan Kom the milk was given to the dogs in spite of its nutritive values. On the coast and in the rivers of the south fishing brings in another food item. In British Honduras fish are caught by rope hook, harpoon, lance, nets, and traps made of thin bamboo strips (Gann, 1918, pp. 2526). According to Thompson (1930, p. 90), poisonous plants are also used for that purpose, commonly Serjania goniocarpa and Salmea scandens. The latter is called salta afuera because the effect of the poison is so violent that it makes the fish jump out of the water. Hunting also provides some variety to the diet. Deer and wild boar are still preferred but are becoming more and more 253

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 7 — D E T A I L OF HOUSE FRAMING, CHICHEN ITZA, YUCATAN. Crossbeam lies in forked mainpost and supports forked arm of A-frame and roof plate. Palm thatch. (From Wauchope, 1938, pl. 9,b.)

scarce; tepezcuintle, armadillo, monkey, wild turkey and other birds are hunted by guns. Bow and arrow are now limited to the Lacandon. The blowgun (dzonché) is occasionally used in British Honduras to hunt birds (Thompson, 1930, p. 87). Other resources in the Indian environment are chicle, lumber, and henequen fiber. Chicle is extracted in great quantities from the forests of Quintana Roo; lumber comes from these forests and also from British Honduras. Henequen, although predominant in Yucatan, is found in small lots in almost all Indian towns, since it goes into the making of ropes, bags, nets, and many other objects. Although of minor importance, beekeeping (fig. 4; see also Wauchope, 1938, fig. 48) provides honey for sweetening foods and beverages and wax for making ceremonial candles. Diet Maize, in the form of tortillas, atoles, tamales, pozole, and pinole, makes up about 85 per cent of the diet of the Maya. The comal and the grindstone (fig. 11) serve 254

for cooking the tortillas and grinding the nixtamal (maize cooked with lime). Tamales are sometimes cooked in pots or roasted in the pib (a hole in the ground where red-hot stones are placed). In some places Indians are starting to drink coffee and even chocolate. The latter beverage is considered to be tonic and is recommended for women recuperating from childbirth. The daily diet is supplemented by beans and chile. Meat is eaten when brought in from the hunt, beef or pork less often. Harvest brings variation to meals from squash, sweetpotato, macal, yuca, jicama, and many kinds of beans. Tamales and atole made from tender corn (atole nuevo) are much favored. Breakfast at 5 A.M. consists of atole, tortillas, chile and, sometimes, beans, or other food left from the previous day. Around noon, in the milpa, pozole, beans, and perhaps a few tortillas are eaten. In the afternoon, after returning home, a better meal includes hot tortillas, beans, chile sauce, a little coffee or atole. The heaviest meal is the one eaten at dawn; when work is slack and one can return to the house at noon, a meal then includes beans and chile. The most acculturated places stock canned food such as salmon and sardines and observe eating hours customary among the urban population. SETTLEMENT

PATTERNS

Towns and Hamlets Settlement patterns in the Yucatan Peninsula vary with the degree of acculturation. The people in the henequen zone (almost 50 per cent of the state of Yucatan) and along the so-called Camino Real of Campeche are settled in compact towns, with streets in a grid pattern and a central plaza surrounded by the main governmental buildings, church, and shops (see vol. 6, Art. 4, fig. 10). Generally, in these towns, the houses near the center are of masonry; those on the periphery, where the Indians live, are of palm leaves and wattle-and-

FIG. 8 — H O U S E INTERIOR, KITCHEN END, CHAN KOM, YUCATAN. Tray suspended from roof protects food from rats. (From Wauchope, 1938, pl. 32,c.)

daub (bajareque; Wauchope, 1938, pp. 3-4). The rest of the population (the minority) is distributed on farms and small ranches. The compact town which serves as the center and the other small villages that depend upon it form a geographic and political unit called a municipio. Outside the henequen zone, more conservative municipios (Tekom, Chan Kom, Kaua, Tahdziu in Yucatan, and Hopelchen in Campeche) have a different distribution as the great majority are dispersed in small villages of 15-20 huts, and the rest live in the center. In those small villages, the huts are scattered among trees and milpas; the social meeting place is the well or cenote (see Mexico, 1953). In the interior of Quintana Roo, where

tribal groups live, the settlement pattern is markedly Indian; the inhabitants reside not in compact towns of the western type but in small hamlets of 4-30 families. In the region of X-Cacal, which we studied in 1936, some thousand individuals were distributed in eight small hamlets plus a sanctuary which served as the center. The huts, without exception, are built of palm leaves and bajareque, and are scattered around the public well or cenote. There are neither streets nor fences around domestic plots as in the towns of Yucatan and Campeche. Another characteristic of these settlements in Quintana Roo is the grouping of huts by families, those of the married children standing next their parents'. The milpas are only a short distance from the settlements, so that the own255

MAYA OF YUCATAN

ers can come and go to them the same day, which is not always so in the rest of the peninsula, where milpas are 20 or 30 km. from the place of residence. In British Honduras, the Indian towns resemble those of Quintana Roo in the irregular distribution of the huts and the absence of fences around the domestic plot; but some towns are larger than those of Quintana Roo, with many dozens of huts. (See the town of San Antonio in southern British Honduras in Thompson, 1930, pl. 1.) Plots, Huts, and Associated

Structures

In Yucatan and Campeche the domestic plots, measuring 800-1000 sq. m., are marked off by a stone fence (albarrada; see fig. 5). Besides the hut and its associated structures are fruit trees providing shade and freshness and ramón trees for forage for beasts of burden. The huts of the peninsular Maya are made of palm leaves and wattle-and-daub walls (bajareque; see fig. 3); if the bajareque is substituted by masonry walls, the hut is called a ripio. Generally the hut is of apsidal plan in Yucatan (figs. 3, 6); it is rectangular farther south as well as in British Honduras and southern Campeche. In Tizimin, Yucatan, and in the lumber colony of Santa Maria, Quintana Roo, quadrangular huts are beginning to be built. (For this distribution of ground plans in the Maya area, see Wauchope, 1938, fig. 7.) The hut has a single room. One end is the kitchen, containing the three-stone hearth; the other, the dormitory. Sometimes another small hut serves as kitchen. During childbirth, a partition is improvised at one end to form a bedroom that isolates the mother. Structures associated with the hut are the chicken coop, pigpen, granary, and laundry, all of casual construction using tree trunks, palm leaves, and stone fences. There may also be an apiary, a bower or shed under which the hollow-log beehives are kept (Wauchope, 1938, fig. 47).

TECHNOLOGY

Tools and

Techniques

In general, Indian tools and techniques continue to predominate over those brought in by the first Spaniards and by recent agencies of acculturation. In 1934 we concluded for Chan Kom: O n the whole it is probable that the practical problems of life are solved today as they were centuries ago. . . . The fundamental tools of life lie rooted in the oldest folkways; we know they have not changed essentially in four hundred years; they are probably very much older" (Redfield and Villa Rojas, 1962, p. 32). Kitchenware and methods of preparing food also continue as in pre-Hispanic days. Agriculture and collecting honey have not shown much change from the time that Landa described it (1941, p. 193): There are two kinds of bees and both are very much smaller than ours. The larger kind of these breeds in hives, which are very small. They do not make honeycomb as ours do, but a kind of small blisters like walnuts of wax all joined one to the other and full of honey. To cut them away they do nothing more than to open the hives and to break away these blisters with a small stick, and thus the honey runs out and they take the wax when they please. Some communities of Yucatan and Campeche have recently begun to keep Italian bees and to replace the log beehive for the commercial, box-shaped type. This modernization in beekeeping enabled Yucatan to export 9,000,000 kg. of honey in 1957. Arts and Industries The Maya of the peninsula show little artistic skill in their crafts. Ceramics, utilitarian rather than ornamental, are produced in certain places of Yucatan and Campeche which have specialized in different objects. Lerma produces the best tinajas (large earthen jars); Becal is famous for its pots and apastes, Ticul, Maxcanu, and Uayma 257

FIG. 1 0 — H O U S E INTERIOR, KITCHEN END, TIZIMIN, YUCATAN. Three-stone hearth at left center; trough for corn-grinding stones at right. (From Wauchope, 1938, pl. 31,a.)

are outstanding, the first two particularly for the manufacture of toys. Ticul produces ornamental objects such as flowerpots, effigies, and large "Greek-style" vases of recent introduction. Also recent in Ticul is the technique of glass making. Quintana Roo and British Honduras have less specialization and less refinement in the ceramic industry. Basket making is general throughout the peninsula, in all sizes and shapes and for all purposes. Rattan, palm, and henequen are the fibers. Although the manufacture of palm-leaf hats is widespread, Tekax, Ticul, and Merida in Yucatan and Calkini in Campeche are noted for them. High-quality hats (jipi) are the exclusive specialty of Becal, Campeche. The fiber, originally imported 258

from Panama, is taken from the young leaves of the jipijapa plant before it opens. Because the plant requires irrigation and much humidity its cultivation is limited. Concerning henequen, Landa (1941, p. 195) said, "From it they get their kind of hemp of which they make an infinite number of things for their use." Today this fiber goes into bags (sabucanes), ropes, nets, hammocks, and other articles of daily use. Hammocks are the product notably of Chemax, Tekom, Chichimila, Tixcacalcupul, and Hocaba, Yucatan. These henequen hammocks are also made by the Indians of southern British Honduras, in somewhat smaller size (Thompson, 1930, p. 93). The fiber is scraped from the henequen leaf on a board by a sharp, triangular piece of wood (pakché or tonkos).

MAYA OF YUCATAN

An item of widespread use is the portajicara (chuyub). This is a ring or hoop made from the bark of the jabín tree; it is ornamented with geometric figures woven from strips of palm in different colors or from henequen fibers likewise colored (Thompson, 1930, pl. 11). The art of weaving linen has practically disappeared, although when we studied Chan Kom in 1930-31, there were a few weavers in the region. In Quintana Roo and British Honduras there are still a few old women who practice the art. The Indians of Campeche make beautiful tortoiseshell combs, brooches, and other ornamental objects. There and along the coast of Yucatan seashell serves as a material for ornaments. Wood is carved in Dzidya, Valladolid, Ticul, and elsewhere in Yucatan for articles of daily use, such as beaters for chocolate, mortars for pounding chile, furniture, and saddles. Leather goods are manufactured in Yucatan and Campeche. Tanneries usually consist of large concrete anvils on which hides are beaten and scraped, and concrete tanks for tanning them (see Wauchope, 1938, fig. 50). The chicle industry is important in the economy of Quintana Roo and Campeche. In the rainy months (June-October) when the latex flows freely, deep cuts are made along the entire trunk of the chico zapote tree with a machete, the resin caught in canvas bags at the base. The latex thus obtained is boiled in great copper boilers until thick enough to empty into special molds that form 9-kg. blocks (marquetas). Furniture The kitchen has the most furniture since it is the scene of the most active part of domestic life. The hearth, three stones laid on the floor (fig. 10), is the center of activity; next it is a small round table about 40 cm. in diameter and 40 cm. high (banqueta), on which the masa is pounded with the

hands over a piece of banana leaf. This method of making tortillas (which is peculiar to the peninsula) is followed by the Maya of British Honduras (Thompson, 1930, p. 99). The comal (shamach) on which they are cooked is a flat clay disk laid over the hearth; recently, this utensil is being replaced by a metal one. The metate (ká) and the 'hand of the metate" (u-cab'ká) rest on a special solid table, elongated and slightly raised on the rim, called mayac-huch which means "grinding table" (figs. 10, 11). The Maya woman here does not grind the nixtamal kneeling on the floor as in other Indian groups, but standing next the table (fig. 11). Kitchen utensils (figs. 8, 9) also include metallic grinders for the nixtamal which little by little are displacing the old metate, as well as jicaras, gourds, large pitchers, pots and large clay jars, baskets, bags, small benches of hollowed trunks (kanché), small wooden seats (cizibché), and butaques (hecebché) whose seat and back are a single piece of leather. With these little stools and seats, low small tables are used, but the sizes and shapes popular in the city are being introduced. An indispensable item in all homes of the peninsula is the hammock, always offered to the visitor as a gesture of hospitality. Also in the house are rustic objects for seats improvised from tree trunks, branches, and canes; hooks to hang things; crossbeams used as cupboards; and a sort of tray (peten) made from cane. The interior of the hut looks quite disorderly, with clothes, axes, ropes, bags, and articles of daily use jumbled together. Some places are approaching city ways and trying to augment their furniture with better pieces—trunks with keys, closets, and even radios. Dress and Ornament The dress of the Maya shows marked similarity throughout the peninsula. In the more conservative places, the men's short 259

FIG. 1 1 — Y U C A T E C WOMAN AT GRINDING TABLE. (Courtesy, Peabody Museum, Harvard University.)

underdrawers (cul-ex) are still worn; they are made of coarse cotton, with no opening in the front and with two cotton strings tied around the waist. The old breechcloth of pre-Hispanic days, called mastil (maxtli) and later on uith, was worn until a generation ago in some isolated places in eastern Yucatan (Redfield and Villa Rojas, 1962, p. 41). According to the Relación de Valladolid (p. 231) this garment consisted of "a large strip of woven coarse cotton cloth, which by fastening it to the abdomen and crossing it under, covered their shame; two long tips would hang down front and back." Today, the most usual thing is long underdrawers in place of the cul-ex. The apron (baktan-nok) earlier worn over these un260

derdrawers has almost completely disappeared. The masculine outfit (fig. 11) is completed by a short-sleeved undershirt, which lacks a Maya name. The sandal (alpargata) is flat, heelless, and fastens to the foot by a string; this type of alpargata is called tabil-xanab. On festive occasions the outfit consists of an undershirt, a shirt worn loose (guayabera), a red kerchief around the neck, long pants, and alpargatas with heels. The hat is made of palm. In Quintana Roo the outfit is similar but has local variations peculiar to the central region. The cul-ex is still in use. Farther south, in British Honduras, men's apparel has become similar to that of the city—trousers, shirt, and shoes. According to

MAYA OF YUCATAN

Thompson (1930, p. 98), Indians often go barefoot on the roads but put on their shoes when they reach the town. The women's outfit (figs. 11, 13) consists of underskirt (pic), huípil, rebozo, and pantuflas (flat shoes without heels). On festive occasions the quality of these garments is superior; instead of ornaments of commercial origin, the huipil is decorated on the borders with a style of embroidery called xocbil-chuy. The so-called terno or traje de mestiza, the woman's festival dress, commands high prices because of the silk and embroidery in it. Ordinarily, cheap necklaces and earrings are the ornament, but with festival dress the jewelry is of gold and quite costly. Women are addicted to scents, making them from flowers and wild plants such as the zac-cuyzil-ché and zizbic (vanilla). Women of better economic position use commercial perfume. In Quintana Roo garments are very similar, although of inferior quality. A woman often wears only a skirt when she is at home. In British Honduras there are few places where traditional clothing is still worn, having given way to the European standard of long skirts and short skirts or blouses. In San Antonio and in nearby places inhabited by Kekchi Indians, the woman wears a blouse that is elaborately embroidered, peculiar to the Kekchi zone of Guatemala, especially Coban, where the merchants who sell them come from. In Socotz the traje de mestiza described for Yucatan is still in use (Thompson, 1930, pl. 23). Transportation In spite of beasts of burden and, recently, motorized transportation, Landa's reference (1941, p. 96) still holds true: "Their mules and oxen are the people themselves." A day's journey for the Maya is 50 km. when on foot and unburdened, 40 km. when carrying a load. A carga of maize (42 kg.) is carried without difliculty at the rate of 4 miles an hour. Gann's report (1918, p. 16)

FIG. 12—INDIAN MAN, SAYIL, YUCATAN. (Courtesy, Middle American Research Institute, Tulane University.)

that the Maya would rather carry a weight of stones than go without any load is entirely erroneous. Increased construction of roads and use of motorized vehicles have greatly facilitated transportation of maize and other products throughout eastern Yucatan. Even the isolated Maya of Quintana Roo are beginning to use trucks on the excellent road from Merida to Chetumal, touching Peto, Chan Santa Cruz, and Bacalar. In British Honduras, where most villages are on the riverbanks, transportation is via canoe with oars. These canoes are made of 261

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hollowed logs (cedar, mahogany, and ceiba), 6-20 feet long; the oars are cedar and have long arms (Thompson, 1930, p. 97). Units of Measure The most common units of measure are those related to the milpa and to the volume of the crop. Thus, the unit of area is the mecate (kaan), 20 m. on each side. The payab, which consisted of 5 mecates, has fallen into disuse (Roys, 1939, p. 55). Linear measures are: the brace (sap), the distance between the arms extended; the league (lub), the distance covered by walking one hour; the auat (grito), equivalent to a quarter-league, because of the supposition that it is the distance reached by a man's shout. Minor units include the jeme (chinaab), the distance between the thumb and the index finger extended, the cuarta (naab), the length between the thumb and little finger, with the hand extended; the coto (kok), the measure covered by the four fingers of the closed fist, not counting the thumb; the codo (cuc), from elbow to the end of the extended hand, equivalent to half a vara. The vara is reckoned from the middle of the chest to the end of the arm, with the hand opened. The units measuring the crop are the carga, equivalent, approximately, to 42 kg., the almud, 3.5 kg., and the cuartillo, onefourth an almud. In the less isolated towns the scale and the meter are already commonly used. ECONOMY

Division of Labor and Specialization In general, work requiring greatest effort and agility is done by men, the rest is done by women. As Thompson has noted (1930, pp. 92-93), everything connected with the milpa is the duty of the man, with the kitchen, the woman. Although the woman often helps with the simpler chores of the milpa, she seldom handles an axe or machete; if 262

she goes into the bush for wood, she cuts dry twigs not demanding great effort. It is the woman's responsibility to fetch water at the well or cenote, to wash, sew, embroider, tend the small family vegetable patch, and care for the pigs and chickens. Besides tending the milpa, men build houses, barns, chicken coops, fences, and everything connected with construction. Although a simple chore, cutting honeycombs from the beehives is a man's job. This may result from the fact that all dealings with pagan gods (on which the bees depend) are banned to women. The men's province covers everything that requires agility, such as hunting and fishing. In industries such as ceramics, basket weaving, hammock weaving, and hat making both sexes participate, the man being responsible for whatever requires greatest effort. In British Honduras, however, ceramics are reserved to the woman (Thompson, 1930, p. 95). Affairs of government belong, without exception, to the man, but in religious matters the woman assumes certain roles. The old Maya tradition reserves ritual associated with the pagan gods to men; women are permitted an active part in novenas, rosaries, and other ceremonies of the Catholic ritual. Specialization is of a magic-religious nature. The h-men or shaman is the most distinguished among the specialists, followed by the maestro cantor who directs Catholic ritual. Other specialists are the kax-bak, in charge of fixing bones; the midwife (x-ilahkohan), a profession reserved exclusively to women; and the marriage maker, reserved exclusively to men. In Quintana Roo, where the Maya have a theocratic-religious organization, other specialists are the nohoch-tata or high priest of the tribe; the scribe or secretary who possesses the almost esoteric knowledge of reading and writing; and the high military chiefs, who share with the nohoch-tata the government of the tribe.

MAYA OF YUCATAN

Property Rights Throughout the peninsula property rights govern all things obtained through individual effort, inheritance, or marriage. Thus the woman may dispose of the money she has obtained from making porta-jicaras (chuyub), baskets, or other articles or from selling the eggs of chickens she has taken care of. Her personal wardrobe and jewelry which she received on marriage are her property and belong to her even in the event of separation for which the husband has justification. If this were not so, the husband could claim the jewelry. The man owns the milpa, pigs, horses, and cattle which have been acquired through his labor or money. The same thing applies to the beehives and to his hunting and fishing equipment. The plot of land may belong to the man or to the woman, according to which one inherited or bought it. In the more conservative towns, and especially in Quintana Roo, the family plot belongs to those who live on it, but may return to the community if it is abandoned. Besides, in Quintana Roo no private lands whatsoever exist, since the buying or selling thereof is not permitted; all fields are communal (Villa Rojas, 1945, p. 67). Although rights of property are acknowledged between husband and wife, a mutual understanding is striven for, with consultations regarding the best way of disposing of money or goods. The woman, although knowing that the money received from the sale of eggs or other items already mentioned is hers, thus prefers to have her husband's advice before she spends it. The same is true with the husband in an important purchase, such as a cow or a horse (see Villa Rojas, 1945). Production and Consumption Communal cooperation in milpa work has almost disappeared among the Maya of the peninsula today; each individual engages in such work with the help of only

his wife and children. The only exceptions are extended families, who still help each other in preparing the milpa, although each marks off their plot and later segregates their share of the crop (Redfield and Villa Rojas, 1962, p. 56). In Quintana Roo each parental family takes care of their own milpa (Villa Rojas, 1945, p. 75), a custom seen among the Maya of northern Honduras (Socotz and other places). In southern Honduras, especially in San Antonio, the Maya make milpas in groups of 15 to 25, helping each other to cut and plant. Beyond this, however, each head of family takes care of his other chores in the milpa that belongs to him (Thompson, 1930, p. 43). This mode of working resembles the one described by Landa (1941, p. 96): "The Indians have the good habit of helping each other in all their labors. At the time of sowing those who do not have their own people to do the work, join together in groups of twenty, or more or less, and all together they do the work of all of them (each doing) his assigned share, and they do not leave it until everyone's is done." It should be remembered that, according to Thompson, these Maya of San Antonio originated in San Luis, El Peten, Guatemala. Commerce and Markets In contrast with Μayance groups of the highlands of Chiapas and Guatemala, the Maya of the peninsula now have no marketplaces or market days. Nevertheless, it was not always this way since, according to Oviedo (cited by Tozzer, 1941, p. 96), "They had very large markets or plazas, with many merchants and goods; both provisions and food, as well as of all the other things which are bought, sold and exchanged among the natives." Today commerce is transacted by traveling merchants and by local shops and commercial centers established in the capitals and large towns. The traveling merchants with established routes through a zone tend 263

ETHNOLOGY

to vanish in the face of roads and the advances of modern life; in Quintana Roo they are still a necessity because the Indian region remains quite isolated. In British Honduras itinerant merchants used to visit the towns in the south; they came from Coban, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, in journeys which took up to a month for the round trip (Thompson, 1930, p. 96). Beyond this resource, the Indians of the colony obtained what they needed by occasional trips to Punta Gorda, Stann Creek, Corozal, and even to Chetumal, Quintana Roo. Barter is not very frequent today and is seldom practiced except among the Maya of Quintana Roo (Villa Rojas, 1945, p. 68). Money is the usual medium of exchange. Hired Labor and Work

Opportunities

Wage laborers at the milpa are common in many places of the peninsula. When the owner has no children to help him or has ambitions above those of the common people, he turns to them. In general, payment for this kind of work is made in currency. In Quintana Roo payment is made with products from the milpa itself, quantities being established according to the work performed. When I studied the region in 1935, payment for a mecate of cutting was 2 almudes of maize; for planting, 1 almud was paid for every 4 mecates. In times of scarcity, maize is preferred to money in any part of the peninsula. Next to the milpa, work in the extraction of chicle, in the forests of Quintana Roo as well as in Campeche, occupies an important place in Indian economy. Each year several thousand Indians from Yucatan and other places go to those forests and procure cash which supplements their subsistence from the milpa and livestock raising. In British Honduras the Indians find work on the small sugar plantations in the northwest as well as in cutting of lumber (especially mahogany) in the west. The Maya of the northern part of the peninsula spend most of their time working on 264

the henequen farms. At the present around 43,000 Indians who have received farms as ejidos engage in such work. Wealth and Its Uses In the less acculturated communities, such as those of Quintana Roo, opportunities to acquire wealth are quite limited. The few individuals who, through effort and perseverance, succeed in accumulating some money, make it into gold chains for their wives to display, or they bury it in some corner of the house or milpa. It does not occur to them to improve their house, increase their furniture, or better their way of life. They all follow the same standard of living, and differences in prestige come from their positions as chiefs or from their religious devotion. The Maya of Yucatan, however, who succeed in accumulating wealth, do try to improve their standard of living, building a better house, buying cattle or horses, setting up a shop, and even changing residence to gain greater opportunities. They show a personal ambition not commonly found in more conservative areas. The Maya of British Honduras are described by Thompson (1930, p. 86) in his record of San Antonio: The Mayas display a curious lack for wealth, or even prestige. Almost all are equally poor, and seem to have no desire to be wealthier than the other members of the community. The one or two who have a very few dollars stored away, are not envied, nor do they receive any more respect. Respect seems to be entirely reserved for those of considerable age. I failed to see any ambition among the Mayas, save to have a good milpa, and consequently sufficient food to live comfortably, and raise a few hogs to sell for clothes and rum. The exception is supplied by the desire to shine as a Nohoch Priosti.

The idea that the Maya are "conservative and unprogressive" has also been mentioned by other authors (Steggerda, 1941, p. 37), but the current transformation brought

MAYA OF YUCATAN

FIG. 13—MAYA FAMILY NEAR C H I C K E N ITZA, YUCATAN. (Courtesy, Peabody Museum, Harvard University.)

about by new roads, schools, clinics, and other institutions of modern life show that what was needed by these groups were stimuli and opportunities. It is possible that when the Maya of Quintana Roo have better communications and more contacts and experiences, their process of acculturation will follow the same pace now observed in communities that have roads through Yucatan and Campeche. SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

Family and Kinship System The old Maya kinship system based on exogamous patrilineal clans, some examples of which remain in Mayance communities of Chiapas and Guatemala (Villa Rojas, 1947; Wagley, 1949, p. 14), has disappeared from the peninsula and British Honduras. Currently, the kinship system is bilateral, with corresponding terminology. There are variations, however, in remote and conservative

areas. In Quintana Roo there still persist terms of a classificatory nature and of reciprocity. Among them are tata (father), extended to the husband of the sister of the mother and, until one generation ago, to the brothers of the father; mama (mother), applied also to the sisters of the mother and, until some years ago, to the wife of the brother of the father; pal (son), extended to the sister's sons, and occasionally to the sons of the sister of a woman; zucuun (older brother), extended to the cousins of either line and even to the sons of the baptism or marriage godparents if they are older than the person speaking, and also used to designate the husband of an older sister (see Villa Rojas, 1945, pp. 84-85). In Yucatan only the terms zucuun, itzin, and cic (older and younger brother and older sister) retain a classificatory meaning; they are extended to first-degree cousins. The term for father is also used as a term of 265

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respect to older persons. Outside of these terms, all others show European influence. Age differentiation between brothers or cousins is a general characteristic, even when Spanish is spoken, for hermano is used if the speaker is younger, hermanita if he is older. In British Honduras the situation resembles that in Quintana Roo. In addition the term mam designates grandfather as well as grandson, and the term chich refers to grandmother and granddaughter (Thompson, 1930, pp. 80-81). The bilateral nature of the family throughout the region manifests itself in the participation of both lines in family affairs as well as in the marriage restrictions upon relatives on both sides. However, there is a tendency to stress the patrilineal side, especially in communities of Quintana Roo and more conservative places. The family name, for example, is transmitted only through the patrilineal line. In Quintana Roo private family chapels give a feeling of cohesion to members of the same lineage, for in these chapels are kept the protective crosses of the homes of brothers, as well as a special cross called milagrosa which is inherited in the male line. In Tusik five private chapels held their respective cruces milagrosas belonging to the same number of patrilineages (Villa Rojas, 1945, p. 98). In the most traditional towns of the peninsula, the newly married men try to make their homes next to their parents. The father's brother as well as his sons are granted a little more importance than those on the maternal side. The nuclear family predominates. The mother of either husband or wife may be added if she is a widow, as well as younger brothers who still need support. Marriage arrangements are initiated by the parents of the boy, after he agrees to the girl selected. Visits to the girl's parents may be made by the boy's parents by themselves or accompanied by a matchmaker or some other knowledgeable person. It is not cus266

tomary for either boy or girl to be present, since the contract is between two families, not two individuals. During the three or four visits both sides talk at length, smoke, drink aguardiente, and in the last visit partake of bread and a cup of chocolate. The purpose of these visits is not only to obtain a bride but also for the two families to understand each other and to strengthen their friendship, trying to put the whole transaction in a context of harmony. Among the topics discussed is the "period of service" (hancab), the time the boy is to remain at the in-laws' home to serve them as a younger son immediately after marriage. This period varies between six months and one year, especially in Quintana Roo; in the other places of the peninsula it is already falling into disuse. Another issue defined during the last visit is the dowry (muhul) which the boy's family is to deliver to the girl. This wedding gift consists of garments and jewelry which are to be the property of the woman; usually it includes a gold chain of two strands, one or two pairs of earrings, two bands to ornament the hair, a silk handkerchief, several meters of coarse cotton cloth and decorations for the huipil, some silver pesos, aguardiente, bread, chocolate, and cigarettes. All this is to be delivered at the fourth visit, creating a formal reunion in which the boy's parents and the immediate family of the girl participate. The trousseau will be delivered later on, once the contract has been formalized by the delivery of the dowry. The trousseau is selected by the girl and her family, who travel to the city or nearest center accompanied by the boy and his parents. Until then only casual words are spoken between the future husband and wife. Once all the steps marked by tradition have been taken, the date for the wedding is set. Another trip is made to the capital or town where the civil registry and church are. There is a banquet at the house of the boy's parents; to this festivity are invited not only the closest relatives on both sides but

MAYA OF YUCATAN

also some neighbors. The first day of marriage is usually spent at the boy's parents' house, then on to her parents' house, where the young husband is to fulfill his period of service. Later on the couple sets up their own home, preferring a spot near the boy's parents. Marriage between first-degree cousins is avoided. In Quintana Roo this restriction extends to those of the second degree. It is also considered improper to marry a daughter of compadres of one's father, or relatives of a deceased wife. In Yucatan and Quintana Roo premarital sexual relationships on the part of the woman are extremely rare. But among the Maya of British Honduras, according to Thompson (1930, p. 79): "Sexual intercourse between the young men and the unmarried girls is common, but there is no organized prostitution. Often an illicit affair between an unmarried couple is followed by marriage, especially if a child is born or expected. A young man who intends to marry a girl who is no longer immaculate is usually warned of her condition by the man responsible for her moral downfall." Once the new home is formed, the couple leads quite an independent life, although the woman continues to have at all times the support of her relatives should any difficulty arise. Although the man exercises authority and represents the home, the woman enjoys consideration by being asked her opinion or by having her intervention accepted in problems concerning the welfare of the home. The situation of the woman seems less favorable in British Honduras where, according to Thompson (1930, p. 81), "cruelty is not uncommonly shown towards women, but never to children." Polygyny is not practiced, although a few men take the wife and mistress under the same roof, situations which, after a time, come to be accepted by the community. In general marriages are quite stable, especially in Quintana Roo, where Catholic influ-

ence is still profound. In British Honduras a man can easily abandon his wife to follow another woman who may have been left widowed or without support. In ritual kinship there are two ceremonies of paramount importance, through which intimate bonds of friendship are established between two couples of similar age. These are ceremonies of baptism and hetzmek, a kind of pagan baptism. In the former, the parents of the child to be baptized request from another couple, whom they consider of high moral quality, the special favor of being godparents. The petition is made according to traditional formulae which express respect, using ritual forms of language called chuhuc than ('to talk sweetly'). The ceremony is performed according to Catholic ritual, and the bonds established are lasting and sacred; the two couples show each other respect and mutual affection. One of the most serious sins that may be committed is that of having sexual relations with one's comadre; it is one of the few sins bringing certainty of hellfire. The obligations of godparents to godchildren are taken very seriously; when the children are in difficulty, the godparents are ready to come to their aid. The godchild has for his godparents a respect similar to that which he shows to his own parents and he addresses them with humility and reverence. In the most acculturated towns of Yucatan and Campeche, not only the moral qualities are taken into consideration in the selection of compadres but, more importantly, their political and economic position, in the expectation that having compadres of high standard is of itself a good investment. The ceremony called hetzmek also gives an opportunity to establish compadre relationships with another couple, although they are not as important as in baptism. The ceremony is designed to point out, symbolically, the virtues and abilities that should characterize an adult. For a boy the ceremony is performed when he is four months old be267

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cause the milpa has four corners; for a girl it is performed when she is three months old because the hearth has three stones near which she will spend the greatest part of her life. It is on this occasion that, for the first time, the legs of the child are "opened," placing it in a straddling position over the hips of the godfather or the godmother who is in charge of the act; until that time, the boy has been carried in arms and not in hetzmek, or astraddle, which is what the word means. Beside this, the working tools which he will need in the future are placed on his hands—a machete, hatchet, coa, or rifle for a boy; needle, thread, scissors for a girl. He is also given various foods so that he may learn to eat everything, the good as well as the bad. The godparents of the hetzmek feel less responsibility than do those of the baptism. In British Honduras, in Socotz and San Antonio, this ceremony is performed in the same way. Political and Religious Organization The only place in the peninsula where tribal government still exists is in the central part of Quintana Roo. The rest is incorporated into the system of municipalities current throughout the Mexican Republic. These municipalities are territorial units (municipios) that have their own authorities elected by popular vote and later confirmed by the state congress. The municipio has a principal town which serves as the capital, where representatives of the state and federal governments have their offices; the rest of the population is dispersed in smaller towns with their respective parajes and rancherías. Each of these smaller towns is under the government of a municipal commissary who is appointed yearly by the authorities of the capital. In some of these towns that have little contact with the outside world, the effectiveness of the commissary's authority varies with his personality and with the social cohesion in the community; some are conservative, others are paternalistic, and a few are true leaders who 268

know how to mobilize the enthusiasm and energy of their group. Most of these municipios have already received their ejido lands, and they have schools and social welfare established by state or federal government. In this way the inhabitants feel tied to the general organization of the state, and even to the republic. In British Honduras the situation is similar. The six territorial units (distritos) each have a principal town (the capital) and lesser towns scattered in the interior. Each minor town has a mayor, elected yearly by popular vote. His duty is to maintain order and to promote cooperation in matters of public benefit. He acts as a judge in minor conflicts and crimes, but serious altercation requires the authority of the capital. In religious organization pre-Hispanic practices and beliefs persist despite the fusion of pagan and Catholic ritual. Two types of specialists take care of sacred matters: one for those pertaining to things of the church, the other for those relating to ritual for the pagan gods. In the Catholic rites those who direct the minor ceremonies in the church, such as novenas, rosaries, and various prayers, are called maestros cantores. Masses, baptisms, and other sacraments are conducted by the priest, who usually comes to the settlement. In towns closer to the cities, the maestros cantores are giving place to women called rezadoras. Well-built Catholic churches exist in almost all towns. The priest usually resides in the most important town or in the capital, and makes periodic visits to other places under his jurisdiction. The most important occasion for a visit is the feast of the patron saint. Then Masses, rosaries, and other religious functions are multiplied, and families take advantage of the priest's presence to perform baptisms, marriages, and other church offices. The cult relating to the gods of the milpa, the wind and the rain, is left to the care of native specialists called h-men ('the one

MAYA OF YUCATAN

who knows') or ah-kin ('the one of the sun'). They officiate in front of rustic altars made of tree trunks erected in the forest, using prayers in the Mayan language and exorcistic practices far removed from the Catholic religion. However, the cilich cruz (holy cross) and mention of the hahal dios (true god) of the Christian cults are always present. The most frequent pagan ceremonies are cha-chac (to invocate the rain), u-hanli-col (dinner of the milpa), u-hanlicab (dinner of the bees), and loh-cah (purification of the town). The Maya of British Honduras follow a similar organization. Each town has a Catholic church visited once in a while by a priest from Punta Gorda or some other district capital. The feast on the day of the patron saint resembles the Yucatecan jaranas (dances) and other forms of amusement. The pagan rites to the gods of rain, here called mam rather than chac, still retain a salient place in their practices and ideas. The tribal organization of the Maya of Quintana Roo presents a very different picture. Of the three groups in that region we knew best the one which has a sacred capital, the sanctuary of X-Cacal. We studied the ethnography of this group during 193536. These Indians of X-Cacal are noted for their desire for isolation and for their rudeness to everyone from the outside. They call. themselves "the segregated ones" and consider as traitors all Maya who have accepted the authority of the Mexican Government. This arrogance and rebelliousness is beginning to lessen with the coming of nearby roads and the establishment of schools. The group now comprises about 1000 individuals distributed among eight small towns plus the capital, which the natives call Santo Cah or Pueblo Santo. The people are ruled by a military theocracy, the high priest being called nohoch tata ('great father'). His principal role is to maintain the ceremonies of the Catholic cult which are practiced daily at the Templo Mayor of the capital, and to supervise the conduct and

discipline of the lesser priests and even of the military chiefs. Political and military control is in the hands of a supreme chief who holds the highest military rank and several subalterns who hold military ranks such as corporal, sergeant, lieutenant, and captain. All married men must belong to one of the five "companies" or military corps into which the group is divided. Each company is under the command of three military chiefs, who dispense justice within their own company and maintain respect for old traditions. In times past, the main function of these companies was to cope with any attack from the federal troops; they were trained for war and ready to wage it at any time. Today when manpower has been reduced to insignificant figures, the role of these companies is limited to serving as a garrison in the Pueblo Santo, for which they take weekly turns. During this period of duty, the soldiers are armed with rifles, cartridge belts, and cartridge boxes, giving the place the appearance of a military camp in a state of alert. The paramount duty of each soldier is to guard the entrance to the small place at the back of the Templo Mayor, wherein is kept, on top of an altar, the cross called "La Santísima," to which the power of speech is attributed. Every two or three hours the soldier on guard is changed— done with the same formalities as if it were a military service. The sanctuary of X-Cacal is a highly sacred place. Until recently there were only the buildings made of palm leaves and bajareque connected with religious and government services—the Templo Mayor, the house of nohoch tata, the corredor or communal house, and the five large huts which served as barracks for the companies, each company using its own hut. Unexpected events, however, forced the hurried building of numerous huts to lodge the Indians of the town of Dzula who were being persecuted by federal troops after several assassinations for which they were being held 269

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responsible. Since then some of those Indians have stayed there permanently. As assistants to the priests and military chiefs are two religious officials called secretaries or scribes (yum x-crib). They are the only ones who can read or write in their own language and, therefore, handle official correspondence. In addition they are responsible for custody of the "sacred books," in which are catechisms, old almanacs, bibles, and folkloric accounts written at various periods by the Indians themselves. It was in the possession of one of these scribes that I discovered, in 1935, the manuscript of an old book of Chilam Balam, known today as "Chilam Balam de Tusik," which is translated into Spanish in El libro de los libros de Chilam Balam (Barrera Vásquez and Rendón, 1948, pp. 204-19). Religious ceremonies performed daily at the Templo Mayor consist in Masses, novenas, rosaries, baptisms, marriages, and other rites of the Catholic Church, according to what was learned by the Indian sacristans during the 18th and 19th centuries. The Templo Mayor is the best construction of the tribe. It has a thatched palm roof, wattle-and-daub partitions, and a cement floor. Of oval shape, it is 12-15 m. long by 6 m. wide. Of its two rooms, the one at the rear, where "the cross that speaks" is located, is called "La Gloria" and is reserved for Catholic services; the other room, which does not have a special name, is assigned to the public and to the performance of pagan agricultural ceremonies such as the tup-kak and the cha-chac. During my stay among the tribe, the cross restricted its speaking to dialogues and messages given in private to its immediate interpreters: the scribes. This contrasts with its habit of three or four decades ago when it used to deliver sermons of great transcendence during special sessions which took place in the middle of the night and in which, among other things, it announced forthcoming calamities. In this sense, its function was somewhat similar to that of 270

the idol Ix Chel, whose temple was on the Island of Cozumel and who served as oracle to those who came to consult it in the preHispanic era (see Villa Rojas, 1945, pp. 22-25). As in Yucatan, the agricultural deities such as the chacob, the kuil-kaxob, and the balamob are still important, although the homage rendered them is invested with less importance than that rendered the Christian saints. Their main ceremonies are not performed in the woods, in an environment of paganism, but in the church, although in the less sacred room allotted to the public. The natives of this region continue to make pilgrimages to the temples of the ancient city of Tulum (about 80 km. away) to light candles and burn copal before some of the stone figures kept there. Besides the religious observances performed at the sanctuary, each town has its church, where the maestro cantor (who acts as priest) occasionally says Masses and rosaries. There are also some private family chapels where are kept the crosses which protect particular lineages, as discussed under Social Organization. RELIGION AND WORLD VIEW

Man and the Supernatural World Besides the real world of people, plants, and familiar things in the rural environment, the Indians feel around them a whole legion of gods, spirits, and supernatural beings who exert great influence over their destiny. To stay in good terms with them and to earn their goodwill is the purpose of native ceremonies and rites. There is no aspect of existence which does not lie within the supervision and control of these beings and forces of the invisible world. Because everything in nature belongs to these beings it is necessary to obtain their consent to make use of forests, fruits, and lands. The cross, the hahal dios, and the Catholic saints, although important and powerful, are more remote and less understood

FIG. 1 4 — C A T H O L I C CHURCH ON OLD HACIENDA NEAR CHICHEN ITZA, YUCATAN. (Courtesy, Peabody Museum, Harvard University.)

than the gods of nature, who are more accessible, walking through the forests or resting in caves or cenotes. Sometimes they are met by men in casual encounters, wearing the same apparel and observing similar customs, such as being accompanied by their dogs. The greatest attention is paid to the gods in whose care are all concerns of forest and milpa. These are the yumtzilob ('owners,' 'sirs,' or 'masters'). Some guard the forests and form the group kuil-kaxob (deities of the forest); others spill the rain and are called chacob; the balamob have the milpas and the towns under their care. The chacs, gods of the rain, are held in highest esteem and are therefore given the best offerings and the most outstanding devotions. Supposedly there are five: four distributed in the four corners of the sky and

one, who rules over all of them, located in the chun-caan or 'trunk of the sky.' These five chacs receive the special name of nucuch-chacob ('powerful chacs'); during the ceremony of the cha-chac, they are represented by men carrying a pumpkin shell full of rain-water and a wooden machete with which to produce thunder and lightning. They are also called ah-hoyaob ('the sprinklers') in reference to their function of irrigating the fields with rain. In the prayers dedicated to them by the shaman, mention is made of the colors white, red, black, and yellow to indicate to the chacs that they are at the east, north, west, and south, respectively. Aside from these "powerful chacs" there are numerous lesser chacs, each in charge of a specific function connected with rain, thunder, and lightning. One is the ah-toxon271

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caan-chac ('the chac who distributes the sky'), whose job is to produce fine and persistent rain. The ah-bolom-caan-chac ('the ninth celestial chac'), also called bohol-caan-chac ('chac of the celestial maracas'), makes much thunder noise and little rain; the ah-hadzen-caan-chac ('chac of the whips') produces thunder that sounds like a whiplash. The ah-lelem-caan-chac ('lightning chac') produces obfuscation. Another chac of special significance is x-thup-chac ('the smallest of the chacs') who, because he produces torrential rains, is also called ah-bulen-caan-chac or ah-chaalen-caanchac, both names meaning 'the chac who floods the sky.' According to Gann (1918, p. 47), the Maya of Quintana Roo include the name of the ancient goddess of maize Ix Kanleox in their prayers related to agriculture, as well as the father sun "who is seated in the east," and the Chan-Thup-Chac, "who is seated in the middle of the heavens, on the east side." Although Ix Kanleox is no longer remembered and the adoration of the sun has fallen in disuse throughout the peninsula, in 1871 Brasseur de Bourbourg had the opportunity when among the Indians of Yucatan to record a pagan prayer which said: "To the sun who rises, master of the east, my word goes to the four extremes of the sky, to the four extremes of the earth" (Brinton, 1937, p. 12). Among the Mayance groups of highland Chiapas and Guatemala the cult of the sun remains in full force. Some balams guard the milpa (balamcol), others the towns (balam-cahob); they are the ones who prevent thieves from entering the milpa, or dangerous animals from entering the towns. With similar functions are certain spirits known as ah-canulob (the guardians), who are in charge of protecting persons who go through forests at night. It is thought that men are protected by two of these guardians, children and women by three. The Maya of British Honduras believe that it is the Christian god who occupies 272

the highest place, although not the most intimate one in the daily life of the community. Subordinated to that god are the Estrella Matutina (morning star) and Huitz-Hok (god of the valley and of the mountain). The latter is also called Mam and, among the Kekchi, Tzultacaj. In this region the mams are equivalent to the chacs of Yucatan; four main ones, as well as many lesser, are known. The main ones are distributed to the four directions of the world and are associated with various colors. In British Honduras these deities may be male or female; if male, they are called mam (grandfather); if female, chich (grandmother). The morning star, also called Santo Xulab, has everything connected with hunting and fishing under its care; it is described as having human form, a beard, and great ugliness. Among other deities known in the region are Cuch-Caan ('lifters of the sky'), who are distributed among the four corners of the sky and who, according to Thompson, correspond to the bacabs of the ancient Maya. The deities and spirits in charge of wild animals are somewhat confused; Christian saints such as St. Gabriel, St. Cecilio, St. George, and St. Marcelino are identified with spirits of animal appearance and purely Indian characteristics. Nevertheless, they talk and understand each other well enough to carry out their mission. Each variety of animal has its own guardian spirit. The wild geese have the sojol-cojolito, the deer have the zip, the bees have the balam-cab or nohyum-cab ('great father bee'), all requiring propitiatory offers in order to have luck in hunting and honey on the honeycombs. The supernatural world also contains beings who are like little fairies and whom it is wise not to bother; it is sometimes a good idea to make them an offering so as not to be harmed by them. The following are common throughout the peninsula: The alux is like a mischievous child who goes through the forests satisfying his whims. It

MAYA OF YUCATAN

is said that they are the same small clay idols often found in archaeological mounds, who by magic turn into little fairies. The bokol-otoch ('disturber of houses'), according to Brinton (1937, p. 25), "crawls under the floor and makes the noise of the beater to scare the dwellers of the house." The xbolom-thoroch, the "noisy one" because of the noises he makes during the night, imitates those made in the daytime when grinding or making tortillas, etc. The tatac-mo ('meddlesome bird') is considered bad luck and produces diseases in children which are difficult to cure. The so-called x-tahai is well-known throughout the Maya area, including British Honduras. It is a supernatural being who has as its preferred abode the trunks of old ceiba trees; here it usually appears to young men in the form of a beautiful woman, to seduce them and steal their soul. Those who have known her become somewhat abnormal, if they survive at all. All these gods, spirits, and mischievous beings who populate the supernatural world form the occasion for rites and ceremonies that enable men to make the proper adjustment to their daily problems and unrest. They also give rise to numerous stories that not only entertain but, more important, provide proper orientation for conduct congenial to the ethics of the group. Diseases and the Ways of Curing

Them

The most frequent causes of diseases are supernatural. Conspicuous among them are the ones connected with evil winds or airs, punishments of gods or spirits, "cold" or "hot" foods, evil influence produced by the gaze of people or animals, mysterious substances left behind by certain nocturnal birds, and witchcraft. The evil winds are something like microbes to the Indians, as the first thought on falling ill is the kind of "wind" contracted. The most common version says that "winds" are fragments of air of human appearance and defective shape. Such "winds"

are believed to act under their own volition, others are considered as air which has been contaminated by the passage of supernatural beings or as sent by witches or sorcerers called ah-pul-yah ('caster of diseases'). They all have specific names according to the kind of disease they produce: the ueneltancaaz-ik produces sleepiness and lack of appetite, the ol-xe-ik produces nausea, the kakaz-ik causes swelling of the body. To extract them from the body and thus cure the sick person, it is necessary to perform exorcistic or propitiatory ceremonies, offering them food and drink through special prayers recited by the h-men or shaman. A person also falls ill as a punishment by the gods and spirits for not having fulfilled the sacred obligations due them, offering them their share of the crop, or showing them devotion through ceremonies and prayers. The concept of "cold" and "hot" which characterizes all foods is taken into consideration in making a diagnosis of any disease, since, for the individual to remain in good health, it is necessary that his food be well balanced between the "cold" and the "hot." These qualities have no connection with the real temperature of things. Among the "hot" items are bull meat and chicken, eggs cooked in the ashes of the hearth, potatoes, pumpkins, plantains, coffee, pinole, chocolate, atole, salt, and honey. The "cold" foods include pork, wild boar, chachalaca (Ortalis vetula) and wild goose; lard, chile, beans, warm eggs, pozole, zaca, a certain kind of honey called chol-cab and sour fruits such as limes, oranges, and pineapples. The cure is based on the use of herbs and foods of opposite characteristics to the nature of the malady; for example, in cases of "chills," baths, potions, and applications of "hot" herbs and foods are prescribed. It is possible that these ideas originated in the ancient Indian tradition, for in the Relación of Martin de Palomar and Caspar Antonio Xiu written in 1579, it is explained when dealing with the properties 273

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of the medicinal plants that, "Upon asking them the reason of their nature, they are unable to give any other than cold or hot" (Relaciones de Yucatan, 1:62). Another cause of disease is the op-mac or mal de ojo, which results from the persistent gaze of certain persons which have that force, or from the stare of tired people who come from the bush. The effect of the latter is attributed to the fact that such a person has acquired "bad winds" when crossing through the jungle. Diseases of this class are more frequent in children, who do not yet have sufficient resistance. The most common remedy prescribes that the person suspected of having caused the harm take the child in his arms and blow on the palms of its hands, the soles of its feet, the crown of the head, and the eyelids; to complete the treatment, the same person should take off its shirt, turn it inside out and lightly strike the head of the sick child with it. This type of malady is also attributed to the gaze of certain animals such as dog, rooster, and parrot. To cure such disease it is recommended that an infusion of powder scraped from a small amulet of the plant camalonga be prepared and placed on the chest. Among nocturnal birds that cause disease are two, possibly mythical, called mootancaz and tzitz-moo-tancaz, who shout "as children" when passing over the huts, letting a feather drop or a mysterious substance which penetrates children who sleep on their backs and with their mouths open. To avoid this danger, certain amulets are placed around the neck of the children and, in addition, blue crosses are painted on the chest and on the wrists. Still other diseases are caused by sorcerers (ah-pul-yah) making use of their evil arts. They can control the action of the "evil winds" or send certain animals as agents, or stick thorns into wax figures or break them into pieces and bury them. Curing maladies of this sort requires the presence of the h-men, who, by looking into his crys274

tal ball or sastun, can divine the method of the sorcerer and the cause of trouble. In giving treatment, he usually employs herbs or bleedings in various parts of the body through cuts made with snake fangs or flint fragments. These curing methods are augmented by magic resources, among which Steggerda (1941, p. 64) mentions the following: The use of the number nine is common in the cure of diseases. Whooping cough may be prevented by hanging in the doorway on nine successive days as many gourds of pozole as there are members in the household. On the morning of the ninth day the pozole must be shared by various friends. Another remedy for whooping cough is to crush nine ant lions (Myrmeleon) and drink them in water. Nine kernels of corn are ground and applied to granulated eyelids, and skin troubles may be cured with a concoction made by boiling together nine pieces of fish skin, nine pieces of corncob, and nine small pebbles. Nine sour orange leaves and hot water are used as an appetizer for an upset stomach. Practices and ideas in British Honduras are practically the same, except that witchcraft seems to be much more widespread than in the rest of the peninsula. A method of diagnosis not practiced in Yucatan consists in taking the pulse of the patient to discover the sorcerer causing the harm. This method is universal among the Mayance groups of the Chiapas highlands (see Thompson, 1930, p. 75). Cosmology Although most people do not have precise ideas regarding the shape or structure of the universe, merely saying that the earth is flat and has four corners and that the sky covers it like an inverted chocolate-cup, old people, shamans, and curers remember old Maya traditions interwoven with ideas inculcated by friars and missionaries of the colonial period. The ancient Maya believed the universe was composed of 13 celestial planes and 9

MAYA OF YUCATAN

underground ones, each plane being the domain of a given deity. The earth constituted the first of the 13 inhabited by the good gods (oxlahuntikú), while the group of bad gods (bolontikú) was distributed among the other nine. In the last of these underground planes was Hell (Metnal), under the rule of Ah Puch or "Lord of Death" (Morley, 1947, p. 216). Vestiges of these ideas still remain among the Maya of Yucatan and Quintana Roo. Tozzer (1907, p. 154), in speaking of the Maya of the area of Valladolid (the same area where we obtained our information), states: According to the natives of Yucatan, there are seven heavens above the earth, each of which has a hole in the center, one directly above the other. According to one idea, a giant ceiba (yaxché), growing in the exact center of the earth, rears its branches through successive holes in the heavens until it reaches the seventh, where "El Gran Dios" of the Spaniards lives. It is by means of this tree that the dead spirits ascend from one world to the other until they reach the topmost one, where they finally remain. Another explanation is that there is a ladder made of vines running from the earth up through the holes in the heavens to the seventh, and it is by this vine that the souls ascend.

Tozzer explains that in the planes immediately below the one occupied by "The Great God" are distributed according to their category the good gods that constitute the yumtzilob, as well as the "guardians" of the wild animals and the ah-kakazbaloh, who are spirits of evil. Farther below the terrestrial plane is the Metnal or Hell, where the Kisin or Devil has his seat. Beyond these very general ideas forming part of the esoteric knowledge of old men and shamans the only other notion regarding the structure of the universe is the one taught by the first friars. These Christian teachings penetrated so deeply into the conscience of the natives that even the Popol Vuh, sacred book of the Quiches, presents its cosmogenic version according to the concepts of the Old Testament (see Recinos, 1947, p. 92). No special devotion is any longer given to celestial bodies, although, in formal speech, the expressions "Lord Sun" (Yumkin) and "Mistress Moon" (Colel-luna) are used. The latter, especially, is taken into consideration on planting fruit trees, as well as in the condition of certain patients who may relapse when the moon is waning and improve when it is waxing.

REFERENCES Ancona, 1889 Barrera Vásquez and Rendón, 1948 Brinton, 1937 Charnay, 1887a, 1887b Códice Pérez, 1949 Contreras Arias, 1959 Durán Ochoa, 1961 Gallenkamp, 1959 Gann, 1918 Landa, 1941 León-Portilla, 1959 Le Plongeon, 1886 López de Cogolludo, 1955 Mexico, 1953, 1963 Miranda, F., 1959 Morley, 1947 Oviedo y Valdés, 1851-55 Palacios, 1940

Recinos, 1947 Redfield, 1941 and Villa Rojas, 1962 Reed, 1964 Relaciones de Yucatan, 1898-1900 Rosenzweig, 1959 Roys, 1939 Sapper, Κ., 1897b, 1904 Scholes and others, 1936-38 Shattuck, 1933 Steggerda, 1941 Stephens, 1841, 1843 Thompson, J. E. S., 1930, 1954 Tozzer, 1907, 1941 Villa Rojas, 1945, 1947 Wagley, 1949 Waldeck, 1838 Wauchope, 1938 Zimmerman, 1961

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13. The Lacandon

GERTRUDE DUBY and FRANSBLOM

L

ACANDON INDIANS live in three groups, scattered over a territory of about 10,000 square miles. The northern group forms a cultural and linguistic unit, but is spread over the territory enclosed by the Rio Santa Cruz and the Rio Santo Domingo mainly north of the Arroyo Jetha. The Cedro-Lacanha group lives along the Cedro and Lacanha rivers and diflFers slightly from the northern group. The Jatate group lives along the Jatate and lower Azul rivers. Culturally and linguistically they belong to the same stock as the preceding group but have been separated from them for about 50 years. The habitat of the Lacandon is the tropical rain forest on the Mexican side of the border between Mexico and Guatemala, in the Usumacinta River drainage. It is rich and fertile, for, unlike El Petere in Guatemala, the Chiapas forest has many rivers and lakes. The terrain is divided by parallel escarpments of tertiary limestone lying northwest-southeast. Between each escarpment are valleys dominated by a major river. The rivers run from northwest to southeast until 276

they join the Lacantun River, which flows at right angles to the main geological structure. This river feeds into the great Usumacinta River, which follows the main geological fault line, its waters heading for the Gulf of Mexico. It is one of the most powerful rivers in all Central America. A great supply of water, rivers teeming with fish, forests full of game, soil producing abundant crops—this is the country of the vanishing Lacandon Indians. 1

1 We express gratitude to Mimi Laughlin and Anita Safran for helpful comments on the original draft of this article. Since its preparation in 1962, many changes have occurred among the Lacandon. The Jatate group no longer exists, having moved in a body to the Lacanha. Two couples have since returned but they are completely evangelized and ladinizado. Of the northern group, some have remained; others have moved from Puna Monte Libano to Perlas or to Metzabok Lake. Most of these Indians are now trying to get permanent land from the government. Most of them sleep on tapescos (beds of wooden poles). All now have closed houses, the walls constructed from poles. Many of the people have radios, cigarette lighters, and flashlights. Several have learned to give injections. All know how to handle money.

FIG. 1 — L A C A N D O N SETTLEMENTS IN EASTERN CHIAPAS

POPULATION

MAJOR POSTCONTACT EVENTS

Explorers traveling at the end of the last century and the beginning of this one found many more Lacandon than are living today, although no one has at any time taken a census. The Indians remember a time, long past, when many died and monkeys fell dead out of the trees, probably of yellow fever. They claim that there were many Lacandon in the past and that soon none will be left. Our several counts in recent years indicate that some 200 remain and are steadily decreasing.

The last of a series of attempts to Christianize the Lacandon was made in 1790. When it failed, they were left alone until the second half of the 19th century, when the first lumber companies entered the Lacandon forest, found mahogany and cedar, and set up camps. The lumbermen, who made initial contact with the Lacandon living along the larger rivers, became a major factor of change in the material culture of the Indians, who exchanged their knowledge of rivers and forests for axes and ma277

FIG. 2 — L A C A N D O N TRAVELING IN DUGOUT CANOES. (Copyright, Gertrude Duby.)

FIG. 3—MAN FROM NORTHERN GROUP OF LACANDON. (Copyright, Gertrude Duby.) 278

chetes. The stone axe was then abandoned, but the bow and arrow continued in use. The Lacandon resisted for many years all attempts to influence their world view and religion. Here, disease was the agent of change, for contact with civilization brought malaria, colds and flu with grave respiratory complications, measles, and smallpox. A group living along the Zendales River, where a large lumber company was operating, renounced its religion when a visiting Catholic priest told them that their gods were responsible for the dying of the people. This visit coincided with the death of an important Lacandon priest who took

LACANDON

a great deal of tradition to his grave, and so religion was partly abandoned, partly forgotten, and no new creed took its place. In very recent years a few Lacandon in the Cedro-Lacanha group have been converted to Protestantism and call themselves "Evangelistas." Explorers also came at the turn of the century: Maudslay and Charnay in 1882, Sapper in 1891, Maler in 1895. All made contact with the Lacandon and indicate in their reports that there were many more at that time. They found Lacandon on the Usumacinta and Lacantun rivers and in many other places which have long been deserted. More intensive penetration of the Lacandon forest began during the second world war, bringing more disease and further change in material culture. The new invaders came in search of chicle. The lumber companies had to stay near the large rivers to transport their logs, but the chicleros roamed the whole jungle in search of the chicozapote tree, which bears the gum. They met the Lacandon from the interior, traded material goods for corn and fruits, and used the Indians as guides in their search for the chicozapote trees. The formerly self-sufficient Lacandon discovered greater need for knives, ammunition, shotguns, flashlights, and even some of our foods, such as breads, rice, sugar, and fats. Bone needles were replaced by steel needles, combs made of wood by plastic ones, handwoven cloth by cotton cloth, the grinding stone by the corn mill. Cheap liquor began to replace the mild fermented drink balché, and we have seen several cases of alcoholism. The bow and arrow, although still made, is produced more to interest traders than to use. New plants—mango and coffee trees—were also introduced. The chicleros brought with them new diseases, setting off a new wave of sickness and death following their contact with the Lacandon world. The Lacandon began to accept modern medicines and lost the last

FIG. 4 — M O T H E R AND CHILD FROM CEDROLACANHA GROUP. (Copyright, Gertrude Duby.)

279

ETHNOLOGY

Cedro-Lacanha and the northern groups. His is the most extensive study of the Lacandon and, although many elements of the material culture have changed, it has fundamental value. Lacandon religion of the northern group still corresponds to Tozzer's description. His collection of chants is worthwhile. Tozzer's report, the Soustelles' work, and our own differ in certain details, owing most often to the lapse of time between our respective visits to the Lacandon. We are in basic agreement with these reports, however, as well as with the field notes of the Baers, which give complete information on the material culture and religious life of the Lacandon today (this material may be found in the Microfilm Collection of Manuscripts on Middle American Cultural Anthropology, University of Chicago). SUBSISTENCE SYSTEMS AND FOOD PATTERNS

Annual Cycle

FIG. 5 — M O T H E R AND CHILDREN FROM CE-

DRO-LACANHA Duby.)

GROUP.

(Copyright,

Gertrude

of their knowledge of curing with local herbs. HISTORY OF ETHNOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION

In recent years the Lacandon have attracted journalistic interest from which several superficial newspaper accounts have resulted. Besides the careful reports of Alfred P. Maudslay, Désiré Charnay, and Karl Sapper, the reports of the Soustelles and the field notes of Philip and Mary Baer are useful. Howard F. Cline, who stayed with family units of the northern group, published a comparison of the gods found by Tozzer, Soustelle, and David Amram. Alfred M. Tozzer lived with the Lacandon in 1901 and 1903, investigating the 280

The Lacandon have lost all knowledge of the calendar and follow only the seasons, for which they have names. By watching the stars and observing changes in plants and animals, they determine the time to prepare for planting the corn. Before planting, new houses are built in the center of the cornfield. In January, or somewhat earlier, they look for a suitable place in the forest to clear. As soon as the rain is over, they start cutting down the large trees and let them dry, burning them just before the rain comes again in May. Soon after, they plant the corn between half-burned logs. The field is weeded twice. The corn is harvested between August and October. Farming and Other Subsistence

Resources

The Lacandon are excellent farmers and have large cornfields, where they also grow beans, squash, and small tomatoes. In additional fields, mostly near the house or in abandoned cornfields, are raised sweetpotatoes, macal, chile, chayotes, onions, garlic,

LACANDON

FIG. 6 — H O U S E TYPE, JATATE GROUP. (Copyright, Gertrude Duby.)

sugarcane, pineapples, watermelons, and some cotton. There are many varieties of fruit trees: papaya, lemon, bananas, and occasionally mango and aguacate; the achiote tree is never missing. Wild fruits are gathered in the forest. Abundant game and fish contribute to their food resources. They are good hunters and fishermen. They use the meat of currasow, wild turkey, partridge, monkeys, wild pigs, armadillos, and many other animals. Fish are caught with spears or fishhooks. Diet Corn is eaten fresh on the cob when in season; dried corn is made into tortillas, tamales, and posol. The tamales are filled with meat or beans; the posol is drunk with salt, chile, or cacao and sugar or honey. Sugarcane is fermented, to which is added the bark of the balché tree to make the balché drink.

There are no regular eating hours except for an evening meal sometime after the work is done. A meal may be eaten when there is a special occasion, such as freshly killed game or fish, even if it is late in the evening. Narcotics and Stimulants Many Lacandon of the northern group plant large tobacco fields, both for trade and for their own use, as men, women, and children smoke large cigars. Formerly the Lacandon drank only balché—and that during religious ceremonies—but with the advent of cheap liquor from outside the consumption of alcohol has increased and is no longer limited to ritual occasions. SETTLEMENT

PATTERNS

Local and Territorial Units The Lacandon household occupies a oneroom house and usually consists of a man, 281

FIG. 7 — H O U S E TYPE, CEDRO-LACANHA GROUP. (Copyright, Gertrude Duby.)

his wives, and their unmarried children. It may sometimes include a married daughter and her husband or a widowed parent. Some households are isolated in a private clearing (caríbal); others cluster together in one clearing. Neighbors and the Lacandon call themselves "caribes," and hence settlements are "caribales." The households which share a caribal tend to be closely related, but there is one caribal with five households comprising members of two clans. The clearings themselves may be more than a day's walk from one another, but the inhabitants visit each other and share the catch when they hunt and fish. The men from a caribal sometimes join in religious ceremonies. There is also contact between households or settlements during trade. Formerly groups would gather to 282

make pilgrimages to Yaxchilan, where the most important gods live. The northern group forms a territorial unit in the sense that they visit each other, intermarry, trade and barter. Members of the Cedro-Lacanha group live close together. Even though there are only eight people left in the Jatate group, they live quite widely separated, because this group has lacked women for many years and each man fears losing his wife to another man. Houses and Other Structures The Jatate and Cedro-Lacanha groups live in thatched houses without walls. The roof reaches almost to the ground on three sides and leaves the front open. The inhabitants sleep in hammocks, and also sit in

FIG. 8 — B E A T I N G BARK TO MAKE BARK CLOTH. (Copyright, Gertrude Duby.)

FIG. 9 — F A T H E R (HOLDING BARK CLOTH) AND SON, NORTHERN GROUP. (Copyright, Gertrude Duby.)

FIG. 10—MAKING A DUGOUT CANOE, NORTHERN GROUP. (Copyright, Gertrude Duby.)

LACANDON

them during the day. A small pot of embers is often placed under the hammock as a heating device. Members of the northern group build palm-thatched houses with walls made of sticks bound together with vines or wound with large bark sheets. They sleep on platform beds and have hammocks for day use. Except for small low stools and a few cupboards there is no furniture. Most Lacandon have acquired old boxes for storing their most precious possessions. Food is hung from the roof in baskets or large squash bowls. Cloth, thread, and similar things are wrapped in leaves and tied to the roof. The floors, rarely swept, are usually littered with rubbish. Near the house there is a small shack for preparing food, with a table for grinding corn. There the Lacandon keep a grinding stone, and very often a small corn mill. They eat their food sitting on the floor. Some clearings have tiny thatched huts for dogs. In most places there are chicken coops made of sticks laid together to form a pyramid. The shack for storing corn is either near the living quarters or in the cornfield. The northern group has large huts for tobacco curing in the tobacco fields. The ceremonial hut is the finest building in the compound. It never has walls, and several stools are its only furniture. Incense burners are kept on a board under the roof; the bowls for the offerings of posol and balche hang from the roof in nets. Bundles of bark also hang from the roof. Copal, pine resin, and rubber are kept in gourds. Painted rattles, the board for incense pellets, and balché bark hang from one of the house poles. Hollow logs containing the fermenting balché are kept outside. TECHNOLOGY

Tools and Techniques Since the late 19th century the Lacandon have been using modern steel axes, ma-

chetes, and knives: the axe and machete for clearing the forest and cutting firewood, the machete also for weeding. Planting is done with a sharp wooden stick. The Lacandon make their dugouts from cedar or mahogany with an adze, machete, and axe. With a wooden bark beater they prepare the ceremonial bark used sometimes for shirts and for decorating incense burners. The tree is cut, the bark cut loose and then beaten with the wooden beater until it stretches wide and looks almost like leather. A piece of gourd with teeth cut in it shapes kitchen pots and incense burners, which the men fashion without the help of the wheel and fire in an open fire. They tan deer, alligator, and other skins with the bark of the mahogany tree and make bags out of them. The men carve wooden spoons for offering food to their gods, stools on which to sit and to prepare tortillas, and boards for preparing incense pellets. They decorate the gourds from the jicara with carving. The women have needles of bone and steel; some have pocket or kitchen knives. Few now own a belt loom, but all use a spindle. They spin thread by twirling the spindle in a squash bowl. A coarse garment (cotón) is made from two strips woven on the belt loom, then sewn together with a space left open for the head. Men make tortoiseshell cards with which the women extract the fibers of the ixtle plant for making string, rolling them with one hand on the knee and using the big toe to keep the string an even length. They make nets from bark which has been soaked for a month in water and then worked into strings. The same material is knotted for hammocks on a special wooden frame, which can be used either horizontally or vertically. Corn for making tortillas is ground on a metate or often now in a modern corn mill. Clay pots are supplemented by enamel pots or cups; gourds serve for drinking. The women make baskets from vines for storing food and 285

ETHNOLOGY

for catching small birds and fish. Fires are started by rubbing two hardwood sticks together.

described by Tozzer: a wood-pointed arrow for fish and small game, a stone-pointed backed arrow, a stone-pointed arrow, and a "bird bolt" for capturing birds alive as it stuns rather than kills them. A set of arrows is usually composed of 12. All the arrows except the bird bolt are made with a shaft and foreshaft, the shaft being a hollow reed and the foreshaft of a very hard wood. Arrows are longer in the northern group than among the Lacanha and Jatate groups. The arrows are carried in a strip of bark from a young pliable tree. The Lacandon make decorative, clay incense burners which have faces on them. After the censers have been dried and fired, they are painted with soot, plant dyes, lime, and the achiote berry. Differences in painted design signify whether the censer is male or female according to the god which the censer is to serve. A ceremonial drum is made of clay and adorned with the head of the singing god Kayum. The jicaras for the serving of balché and posol for religious purposes are decorated; those for balché have quite intricate figures. Rattles are decorated in a similar manner; they are mounted on sticks and have bark streamers dyed with soot at the tips. The Lacandon also make flutes from hollow reeds with a feather quill at the tip fastened with beeswax. For the children they make dolls of clay or soft wood, and wooden airplanes.

Crafts

Dress and Ornaments

The Lacandon exercise all their skill and patience in making the bow and arrow. The bow for personal use is made of guayacán {Guaicum sanctum L.), a resinous wood which is very strong and flexible. The wood is heated in the fire to help shape the bow, which is almost straight and not much shorter than the person who is to use it. The bowstring is made of agave or ixtle fibers. The men shape arrowpoints on a flat stone (sometimes archaeological) with a deer horn. They still use the four types of arrows

Both men and women of the Jatate and Cedro-Lacanha groups wear long white tunics reaching almost to the feet. Although in the last few years men have begun wearing ordinary pants and shirts, they have kept a good handwoven tunic for special occasions. Men and women alike wear their hair long and loose. In the northern group the men wear white tunics reaching just below the knees. The women wear skirts of bright-colored material under their tunics. The women braid

FIG. 1 1 — W E A V I N G A HAMMOCK, NORTHERN GROUP. (Copyright, Gertrude Duby.)

286

LACANDON

their hair and adorn it with feathers when they are married. Women of all groups like to wear many strings of colored beads. Formerly these were made of berries, jaguar teeth, and vanilla beans for scent, but now they are colored glass beads traded in from the outside world. Some women have begun wearing earrings and combs. All go barefoot. Transportation, Weights and Measures The Lacandon use dugouts to reach their fields when it is easier to travel by water. Most journeys are made on foot, however, and loads are carried in large nets with tumplines. A few tobacco-trading Lacandon from the northern group use a balance made of gourds and a stone said to be a kilo as a measure of weight. Corn is counted by the ear. The northern group acquired some knowledge of the value of Mexican money in recent decades. ECONOMY

Property and Production There are no significant differences in class or wealth among the Lacandon, but private property is strictly respected. Once a man has selected a patch of land to cultivate, it is his; no other Lacandon will claim it or its produce, even if the forest has already invaded the land. Even after many years people can identify the owner of an overgrown and abandoned clearing. The Lacandon man owns his implements and religious objects, which he usually leaves to his oldest son. The woman owns her personal clothing, ornaments, and tools. She disposes of the chickens and eggs. The household, usually a nuclear family, is the unit of production and consumption. The preparation of the soil and the raising and harvesting of the crop is mainly the man's job, although the women may gather a few ears of corn or some sweetpotatoes. The men hunt and fish, but sometimes this

FIG. 1 2 — G R I N D I N G CORN WITH A MODERN GRINDER. (Copyright, Gertrude Duby.)

becomes a family outing, especially if they intend to gather wild fruit or collect honey at the same time. The men make bows and arrows and clay pots, build houses, make dugouts, and sometimes gather firewood. For larger tasks they may call on other Lacandon for help, but more often the individual will work with the help of some member of his family. The women prepare corn, cook, fetch water, and often skin the animals brought home from the hunt. They spin and weave, mend cloth, tend the children, and take care of chickens and pets. Both men and women prepare the bark cloth, but the women usually make the string from ixtle. A man's older wife traditionally makes the posol and the tamales for the offerings to the gods. 287

ETHNOLOGY

Trade Only the northern Lacandon trade with the outside world. Buyers come for their tobacco and bows and arrows. They also sell fruit, eggs, and corn to travelers and nearby ranchers. The same people sell them cloth, sugar, salt, ammunition, and large quantities of white sugarcane liquor. The Lacandon never leaves his caribal to go to work for an outsider. During the lumber and chicle exploitation, one or another agreed to work as guide occasionally, either because he liked the man who hired him or because he needed a shotgun or ammunition. The Lacandon rarely go to the nearest village, which is Ocosingo. The little money the northern group may earn is used to buy a radio or hunting gear. SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

Family and Kinship The Lacandon clans, exogamous in Tozzer's time, still regulate marriage to some extent in the northern group. Marriage outside the clan is much preferred. The marriage of brother and sister is strongly tabooed and severely punished by the gods. Membership in a clan is inherited from the father. Lacandon remember when the members of a clan lived relatively close to each other, but this is no longer so. In one five-household settlement there are two clans, each with its own ceremonial hut. Calixta Guiteras Holmes compared our notes on kinship with those of Philip Baer and concluded: The Lacandon kinship system is of a unilateral type with separate terms for mother's brother that distinguish him from father's brother. Sex and relative age are stressed in ego's generation. Parallel-cousins are grouped with siblings, while cross-cousins are grouped under one term which is applied also to mother's father and to daughter's children. Parents-in-law are referred to as mother's brother and father's sister, indicating marriage between crosscousins. 288

The Lacandon are patrilineal and patrilocal. The father transmits the name of the phratry 2 and clan to his sons. He also transmits the totemic name, the only vestige of a totemic system which survives. Today even this is not used by all Lacandon. The oldest son of the first principal wife is the main heir. The youngest sons receive part of the inheritance, which consists mainly of idols and gods. If there are no sons, the brothers of the deceased inherit his possessions. Women occupy an inferior position in the household and inherit nothing from the father. A widow lives with her oldest sons. The largest social unit is the clan, consisting of a group of related families with the father as head of each family, the oldest being the head of the clan. The Lacandon are polygynous, with a tendency to exogamy. Each man usually has no more than three wives, ordinarily of different age groups. The women live together and share household duties. Crosscousin marriages are permitted, but parallel-cousin marriages are forbidden. Marriage with outsiders is not permitted. It is considered highly immoral to have premarital sex relations. Daughters are under the strict control of their fathers until they marry. Wife exchange takes place occasionally, and sometimes a wife is offered to a single man. Both men and women are allowed to divorce their spouses. A man wishing to divorce his wife must find another husband for her. If the arrangement is agreeable to her, she will go to the new husband, taking her children and possessions with her. If a wife leaves her husband of her own accord, she must relinquish the children and the possessions he has given to her. Separation often occurs if the husband beats his wife or does not give her food and clothing. If a man has multiple wives, each has her own fire and eats with her children. If a 2 Only Soustelle speaks of phratries.

FIG. 1 3 — W O M A N SPINNING, NORTHERN GROUP. (Copyright, Gertrude Duby.)

ETHNOLOGY

FIG.

14—WEIGHING

TOBACCO

(Copyright, Gertrude Duby.)

ON

SCALE.

candon seem to be extremely carefree, always laughing, joking, playing tricks on one another. Although life is organized around the individual and his family, their diversions include visiting each other, hunting, fishing, and gossiping. Religious ceremonies occupy much of their time. They enjoy listening to records, and a few have bought radios. Most of their songs are mythical in theme, but they often sing about the things around them: the loom, the birds, the trees, the animals. All the groups have a jaguar song. Dancing is usually limited to a monotonous ceremonial dance performed only by men, using the rattle for rhythm. There is also an amusing "drunken man" dance in honor of Bor, god of balché. Their need for drama seems to be satisfied in the religious ceremonies. The only evidence of art appears in the making of bows and arrows and ceremonial equipment. The adults do not play games, but the children often play with dolls, wooden airplanes, and tops made of large acorns. POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS

girl is promised to a man, she will eat with him alone when he comes visiting. Lacandon never enter a house without asking permission and receiving an invitation, after ceremonious greetings, to enter and sit down. Until recently they would not enter even a caribal before announcing themselves with a shout or a whistle, or beating on trees with a machete, then waiting until the man of the place came to talk with them at the edge of the clearing. On being invited to enter, they would then leave their machete, shotgun, or bow and arrows leaning against a tree to indicate their friendliness. Nobody goes visiting with a bad cold, and they close the trail to a house where there is sickness. Recreation In character and temperament the La290

ORGANIZATION

The northern group, scattered over a large territory, lost all political or religious organization and system of leadership so long ago that they cannot remember ever having had it. The Jatate and Cedro-Lacanha groups used to have leaders and priests, but their number is now so reduced that the system has collapsed. To this day the Lacandon are not incorporated into the political system of Mexico. The state of Chiapas made one attempt to contact the Lacandon in 1943. Help was then administered and some houses were built, but no continuing relationship resulted. There have been a few isolated cases of a Lacandon seeking aid from the state Indian Department in San Cristobal de las Casas if an especially serious case of outside interference occurred. Infrequently a Lacandon Indian is brought to the city for medical attention.

FIG. 15—ITEMS OF MATERIAL CULTURE, a. Spindles, b, Flutes, c. Ladles, d, Bark beaters. e. Net bag. f, Net for hanging up food. g. Guitars. (Copyright, Gertrude Duby.)

FIG. 16—VIEW INSIDE GOD SHELTER, NORTHERN GROUP. (Copyright, Gertrude Duby.) RELIGION AND W O R L D VIEW^

The material life of the Lacandon is much the same throughout the vast region they occupy, but religious beliefs differ, making it difficult to generalize about them. The three groups have no contact with each other; population is shrinking rapidly and a great deal of tradition has been lost. For that reason reports of various ethnologists differ greatly even though each is correct for the time and place of their investigation. The Jatate group is an extreme example of disintegration. Numbering 34 in 1946, the group had a priest, ceremonial huts, and censers, and, in spite of poor soil for farming, lived at Sokrum (white earth) for reli292

gious reasons—to be near the cave where K'in (the Sun), their main god, disappears at night to make the trip under the world. They used to have elaborate ceremonies with offerings of posol and balché to the gods. There are seven of this group left at present. The old priest, jealous of his power, waited too long to impart his knowledge and died before fully instructing his son; the main body of tradition went with him. The people abandoned Sökrum and now have only small god shelters with a broken censer; their main offering to the gods is posol as they brought no balché plant with them from Sokrum. As the Lacandon do not have a commu-

LACANDON

nity, traditions are kept alive through instructions from father to son. Some individuals possess more religious fervor and philosophical inclination than others, and will try to influence their sons. A man with imagination contributes his own ideas to the world view. Some gods are known to all the Lacandon, but not all have the same importance to each group or even to each family unit. There are gods with only local importance. Although the Lacandon have forgotten much of their religious practice and tradition, they seem to have much religious feeling and connection with the supernatural world. They pray often and for many occasions, either alone or with other men in the compound; they pray for good weather, for fertility, in times of sickness, when going on a trip, or for the success of other enterprises. They will not eat the produce of a new field before it has been offered to the gods. There are two souls. One dwells in the heart and is immortal; the other lives in the foot and frightens people on the trails. After dark this latter soul may take the form of a living man and cause the death of the person it meets. Stones, too, have spirits, the Xtabai, which are neither feared nor worshipped but simply exist. The Lacandon have a concept of heaven and hell. The coming of the end of the world is present in the thoughts of all the Lacandon groups. They believe that some day they will all be gone and the world is then doomed, as only they know how to pray to avoid this disaster, with the help of a sacred stone from the ruins of Yaxchilan. Ritual Formerly, one of the main events for the Lacandon was a group pilgrimage to the ruins of Yaxchilan, where the most important gods live and where the sacred stone is located. In recent years they have given up the pilgrimage, but they still venerate the site.

FIG. 17—POTTERY DRUM AND CENSERS. (Copyright, Gertrude Duby.)

There are frequent ceremonies for many occasions. For urgent matters, such as praying during grave sickness or praying for good weather, all the men of the compound get together. If there are two ceremonial huts, the owners mutually invite each other, the owner always officiating at the ceremony. The older men start the rite and invite the younger ones to join later. No other type of fiesta exists outside the religious ceremonies. One of the important ceremonies is the offering of balché and painted bark to the censers. The day before the ceremony, one of the men puts sugarcane in a log outside the ceremonial hut, mixes balché bark with it, and pours water on it to prepare the drink. The bark for the headbands is cut and beaten and then put to boil with another bark (chart kash), which gives the headbands a bright red color. The achiote for painting clothes and people is ready in 293

FIG. 18—MAN PRAYING TO GODS, NORTHERN GROUP. (Copyright, Gertrude Duby.)

another pot. Tamales with frijoles are laid out on leaves to be offered to the gods. On the day of the ceremony, the leader lights the fire by rubbing two sticks together. He puts copal incense in the censers and lights it with a stick from the fire, chanting the while. Then he takes the headbands out of the dye and hangs them up; later he winds them around the censers and the balché pot, bearing the head of Bor, the god of balché, which another man has filled from the log. From that pot the leader fills the jicara bowls and places them in 294

front of the many censers now blazing with incense. When the gods have received their offerings, the men sitting in the ceremonial hut are offered balché. Drinking goes on for a long time, and eventually balché is given to the women outside the hut. Later the leader and a helper take the bands off the censers and wind them around the heads of the men and women. Then everybody is painted on the forehead, cheeks, chin, wrists, and ankles. The tunics are also spotted with red, and the balché log and house poles are painted with big red circles. The

LACANDON

whole ceremony is very cheerful, the men joking and laughing while they drink. Neither Tozzer, Soustelle, nor we have observed a ceremony creating a ritual kinship. Philip Baer was present at the complicated ceremony of Mekik u'tiar or placing a baby astride the hip of the mother. The ceremony in the hut, with offerings of balché, tamales, and red-dyed bark, is the only one women are allowed to attend in the ceremonial hut. The person who is assisting the father will be called in the future mek'ur (compadre). The baby is shown symbolically the work she or he will have to perform in life, and is then put astride the mother's hip and returned to the house. Cosmology The Lacandon believe that there are three heavens. The uppermost one is Chembeku; it is very high and very good, but it is said that Chembeku has no censer and no one ever prays to him. The middle one is Kakoch, who made Hachakyum, the most important Lacandon god, from a seed he put in the ground. In spite of this, only one Lacandon has a Kakoch censer today, and it is said that nobody prays to him. The heaven of Hachakyum is the lowest; that is where dead Lacandon go and live happily, having all they wish for. Hachakyum, also called Yumbrikan (known as Nohotsakyum to Tozzer, Ackyum to Soustelle), is allpowerful and lives in many places at the same time. The incense burner is named after him, and he is thought to be embodied in it as well. He has a wife, Nai Hachakyum, and an older brother, Sukukyum (Usukum in Tozzer). There is also an underworld (Yaralum), whose lord is Kisin. He is evil and always angry, and his fits of temper are expressed in earthquakes, when he shakes the poles of his house. He tries to destroy the world at night, but Sukukyum helps the sun to fight him. In the underworld sinners burn forever or, in another version, are transformed into animals bound to eternal labor.

There are several versions of the creation myth. All agree that Kakoch made Hachakyum, who then made the world. The first people were of clay with teeth of corn; they all died. The next people descended from the Yaxte (ceiba, silk-cotton tree) and also died. The existing people were the fruit of the union between Yaxte and men of clay. In one version Hachakyum made the Lacandon and all the plants existing before the Spaniards came, while Yantho (a peculiar god believed to be white and who may be a corruption of the Spanish word santo) made the white men, mules, cows, sugar, wheat, etc. In another version Metzabok (the rain and thunder god who lives in a lake named after him) made the white people and the things belonging to them. Yet another variation mentioned by Cline states that Kisin also made people, but Hachakyum was angry at that and transformed them into animals. Kisin in revenge painted Hachakyum's people black and made their curly hair straight, and that is why today the Lacandon are dark skinned. The Lacandon often think and speak of the end of the world, but it is not clear how this will come about. Kisin seems to want to destroy the world. It is also said that the world will come to an end when Hachakyum, who lives at Yaxchilan in the form of a headless god, puts his head back on. Then the jaguars will come out and destroy everything. Hachakyum walks at night over the Milky Way, and the stars in the sky are seeds of plants belonging to him. Metzabok (Mansabak in Tozzer), the god of lightning, thunder, and rain, is unknown at the Jatate River but important to the northern group. He is not an entirely benevolent god and is often accused of casting sickness. He must then be appeased, either by burning copal or by making a pilgrimage to the lake where he lives. In the same region, on a lake connected with a canal, lives K'ak, the fire god, who is also a god of fever and for that reason is often prayed to in times 295

ETHNOLOGY

of sickness. On a third lake lives Tzibana. Some other gods (mentioned before) are Kayum, the god of singing and dancing, and Bor, the god of balche. There is Okna, the moon, who is also the goddess of fertility. There are many other gods of local or minor importance, and all have wives. All belong to clans and phratries as do the Lacandon themselves. Lacandon tell stories about animals, in which the jaguar plays an important role, and stories about the past and the deeds of their ancestors, who were supposed to have known the gods. One of the ancestors is said to have gone to heaven and returned. He was old when he went and young when he came back, and remained young forever. They tell of the cruel invasion of the Spaniards, mixed with mythical beliefs. The great and last battle on Lake Lacandon is still remembered. The Spaniards have changed from real people to superhuman beasts who used thunder and fire against the ancestors. Even today the Indians in some groups call the whites rayos (lightning). Sickness and Curing All knowledge of herbs and curing is lost. The only thing that remains is praying to the gods. The heads of households tend to pray alone on behalf of a sick member of the family, but in a very grave case of sickness all the men of the compound pray together, chant, burn copal day and night until the danger is over. The Lacandon accept medicines readily and are not afraid of injections. Two Lacandon were recently brought, without apparent fear, in an airplane to be operated on in Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas. LIFE CYCLE

A woman is believed to have great healing powers during pregnancy. While she goes about her work as usual until the last minute, the men do a great deal of praying all 296

through the pregnancy, especially to Okna, the moon. In that period it is forbidden to make an arrow to kill a jaguar or to kill that animal. If the child is to be born at night, delivery takes place in the house. Otherwise the woman goes to the forest near the house. Another woman helps in the delivery, while the men pray continuously in the ceremonial hut. The husband comes to his wife to wave a palm leaf blackened by the incense of the censers over her. The woman kneels while the child is born. The umbilical cord is cut with a reed, as it is believed that a knife would hurt. After giving birth the mother rests for a few days in a hammock protected from the wind by a palmleaf wall, with a large fire near her. Children are breast fed until they are two years old, and one often sees an older child suckling at the same time as the infant. They are also expected to be toilettrained when weaned. There is little bad behavior, and scolding and corporal punishment are seldom seen. Small children play around the house, the girls with dolls and the boys with miniature bows and arrows, and both play with tops made from large acorns. Both sexes get their education in material culture and religious life by watching their parents, and help in the chores proper to each sex as they grow older. A puberty ceremony existed until lately in the Jatate group, in the course of which the nostrils of the boys were pierced so they could put a feather through them. Only three men remain with such perforations. The northern group does not remember this ceremony. It is customary for a Lacandon to have at least two wives, but seldom more than three, so a girl will often be promised at a very early age. As soon as the girl can make tortillas she moves to her husband's house. Often a very small girl will be given to a man if he already has an older wife, and conversely it is customary to give to a

LACANDON

young boy an old widow as a first wife; when he is older and stronger and able to make a large milpa, he will look for a younger wife. The girl-wife will be treated as a daughter until she grows up. To request a girl for a wife, the father of the boy goes to see the parents of the girl. Whereas in former times the bridegroom was not expected to give presents, it has now become very expensive to obtain a bride. Often the daughter will be refused at the first visit, and the visit must be repeated several times. Finally when the agreement is made, the boy goes at dusk to his bride's house, the father of the girl puts their hands together, and they are married. When a Lacandon dies, he is buried wearing his tunic and wrapped in his ham-

mock. His head faces the sun. The mourners put posol in a jicara for his voyage, ocote to light up the darkness, a little hair in his hand to give to the louse he meets, corn for a hen which will frighten him if he has nothing for her, a bone for the dog which has to carry him across the river of tears. After crossing the river he is at Yaralum, the underworld. Over the grave a little hut with a thatched roof is built. There are variations in beliefs about what happens after death. Some informants say the dead first have to pass time in the underworld suffering and then go up to the heaven of Hachakyum; others say that for certain sins like killing or stealing, the dead may be punished forever by working for Kisin at Yaralum, the underworld.

REFERENCES The most complete library collection on the ethnography of the Lacandon Indians, including microfilm copies of unpublished documents, is in the Biblioteca Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico. Amram, 1937, 1948 Baer and Baer, 1949 Bruce S., 1965 Charnay, 1887a

Cline, 1944 Duby, 1944, 1955, 1955-57 Maler, 1901 Maudslay and Maudslay, 1899 Robles Uribe, 1967 Sapper, Κ., 1891 Soustelle, G., 1959 Soustelle, J., 1933, 1935a, 1935b, 1936, 1937a Tozzer, 1907, 1913, 1921 Villa Rojas, 1967

297

14. The Huastec

ROBERT M.

S

HORTLY BEFORE the arrival of the Spaniards the Huastec were lords of a vast 'area that extended north to the Rio Soto la Marina, west into the Sierra Madre Oriental, south to the Rio Cazones, and east to the Gulf of Mexico. This region today embraces southern Tamaulipas, northeastern Queretaro, northern Veracruz and Hidalgo, nearly the entire state of San Luis Potosi, and the northeast corner of Puebla. As speakers of a Maya language, the Huastec extended Maya culture to its northernmost limit. So drastic has been their reduction that in 1950 only five towns in northern Veracruz and an equal number in Potosi could boast of a population of 18 per cent or more Huastec-speaking inhabitants, and no town registered over 72 per cent. In 1950 the Huastec population was estimated at 56,989, of which 31,752 were in Veracruz, 25,327 in Potosi (Williams Garcia, 1961, pp. 1-2). Only in Chinampa, Veracruz, and in San Antonio, San Luis Potosi, did monolinguals outnumber bilinguals. The rapid dissolution of Huastec culture can be measured by the decrease of monolingual Huastec in Veracruz during the decade 1940-50

298

LAUGHLIN

from 9,488 (Montemayor, 1950-56, p. 15) to 5,677 (Wilhams Garcia, 1961, p. 1). Clustered together with Otomi and Nahuat communities, the Huastec are divided by dialectical and ethnographic differences into three major groups: Potosi Huastec, Tantoyuca Huastec, and Sierra Otontepec Huastec. HISTORICAL SKETCH

The first western contact with the Huastec was made in 1518 by a ship under the command of Juan de Grijalva, but a fierce attack by the natives compelled Grijalva to put to sea. The following year an expedition led by Francisco de Garay was treacherously decimated. In 1522 Cortés himself penetrated Huastec territory and established the first Spanish community, Santiesteban del Puerto. Two years later, when a native rebellion destroyed the settlement, Cortés sent Gonzalo de Sandoval to restore order. Sandoval achieved his purpose by burning to death 400 Huastec caciques. From 1526 to 1533, under the governorship of Nuño de Guzmán, the native population was drastically reduced by a multitude of atrocities

HUASTEC

that included the sale of many Huastec into slavery and their deportation to the Antilles. Only with the arrival, in 1530, of Andres de Olmos, a Franciscan friar, did the reign of terror abate. But by this time recurrent plagues, the excesses of Spanish soldiers and encomenderos, and forays by the tribes of Tamaulipas had driven the Huastec out of the fertile plains and into the hills. The 17th century brought paternalistic protection which, with improved transportation in the 18th century, gave way to a new series of abuses. Independent Mexico abolished the Indian "communities." Land expropriation, forced labor, and sale of liquor characterized the next hundred years. A War of the Castes erupted in the Sierra Otontepec in 1847 and in Potosi in 1880. The gravity of the social problems gave expression to extraordinary violence during the revolution. Since that time, while adopting much of Mestizo culture, the Huastec have zealously guarded their ancestral land from Mestizo encroachments. SOURCES

In order to corroborate the Huastec material listed in the references, I briefly visited Tantoyuca, Veracruz, and Aquismon, San Luis Potosi, in January 1963. It was not possible to visit the Sierra Otontepec, a group utterly neglected in the literature. Not only do the data collected in Tantoyuca differ radically from those in Aquismon, but both sets of data diverge strikingly from the published sources. Because the majority of these sources fail to identify the provenience of their data, it is impossible to discover which material is false, which narrowly restricted, and which merely outdated. Though not free from the above defect, the finest description of the Potosi Huastec must be ascribed to a Mexican engineer, Antonio Cabrera, who traveled through the state nearly a hundred years ago. Two German ethnologists, Walter Staub and Rudolf Schuller, published brief general articles during the second and third decades of this

FIG. 1 — G E O G R A P H I C DISTRIBUTION OF THE HUASTEC. Stippled area: Approximate extent of the Huastec shortly prior to the Spanish conquest. Present (1950) Huastec municipalities, with percentage of Huastec-speakers, are: San Luis Potosi 1. Aquismon 2. Tancanhuitz 3. San Antonio 4. Tanlajas 5. Tancuayalab

40% 48 70 72 18

Veracruz 6. Tantoyuca 7. Chontla 8. Tancoco 9. Chinampa 10. Tantima

54% 31 51 30 18

7-10 are Sierra-Otontepec Huastec (adapted from Bernal, 1962).

century. Since then, apart from StresserPéan's revealing commentaries on the Huastec characters of dance and drama, and Guiteras Holmes' sophisticated analysis of Huastec kinship, the literature has been restricted to rapid cultural syntheses, often repetitive inter se, often conflicting, too generalized to be of value. The most reliable of these is Williams García's Los Huaxtecos. Rather than repeat questionable statements in the literature this report will rely largely on personally verified material with the hope that Stresser-Péan, who has devoted over a quarter of a century to the Huastec, will soon provide the precise coverage now so sadly lacking. (See References at the end of this article.) 299

ETHNOLOGY

SUBSISTENCE SYSTEM AND FOOD PATTERNS

The Huastec are primarily swidden corn farmers. In Aquismon coffee is of great importance, as is henequen in Tanlajas and Tantoyuca. The entire Huastec region is blessed with an abundance of tropical fruits, which, however, bring no market. In Tantoyuca corn is planted from May 3 (Santa Cruz) to June 12 (San Antonio) or to June 29 (San Pedro). It is harvested in October and November. A second crop is planted from Christmas to Epiphany and harvested in April and May. Beans are planted from September 15 to October 19 (San Lucas). In Aquismon there is but one corn crop, planted from March to May and harvested from September to November. Beans are planted in August and September. In both Aquismon and Tantoyuca neighbors cooperate in clearing, planting, and harvesting. In Tantoyuca the owner of the field provides his neighbors with two meals. In Aquismon one meal is offered at clearing time, two for the harvest, and a special banquet of turkey tamale, fermented atole, and cane liquor at the planting. Laborers may also be paid 5 pesos a day, but this involves no reciprocal activity. The field is planted for two or three years in Tantoyuca, then allowed to rest for an equal period. In Aquismon the field is cultivated for one year and lies fallow the next. In both communities planting is done with a digging stick. Four to five kernels are tossed in each hole. Cultivated crops in Aquismon and Tantoyuca include sugarcane, chayote, squash, jicama, yuca, sweetpotato. In the former community are also raised rice, sesame, and tomatoes; in the latter, melons, chile, and garlic. Palms, zapote (chico and negro), mamey, tamarind, avocado, orange, lemon, mango, and banana are grown in both towns. Tantoyuca also grows pomegranates and guava; Aquismon, custard apple. Domestic animals include the dog, cat, duck, turkey, chicken, pig, a few donkeys, horses, and cattle. In Tantoyuca bees are 300

raised in wooden frames, in Aquismon in tree trunks. Hunting, once important, is now a minor occupation. The chief game in Tantoyuca consists of squirrels, rabbits, and armadillos. In Aquismon, in addition are hunted coatimundi, wild boar, and jaguar. Antique rifles and modern shotguns have replaced the bow and arrow. Shrimp fishing, reported in 1610 to be the principal source of income (Mota y Escobar, 1939-40, p. 237), lost its significance as the Huastec were driven into the hills. Fishing on a minor scale continues with the use of traps, harpoon, barbasco, and modern fishhook. Gathering, except during famine years, is not important. Palm heart, wild honey and larvae, flowers and amaranth give variety to the diet. In Aquismon and Tantoyuca an early morning cup of coffee is followed by a midmorning meal of coffee, beans, and tortillas, and a similar meal in the late afternoon. The tortillas are unusually heavy. The major condiments are salt, dried red chile, and coriander. Despite the report that the Huastec seldom eat eggs and never lard (Schuller, 1924-27b, p. 143), both in Aquismon and Tantoyuca, meat, lard, and eggs are eaten when available. In Aquismon a famous festive dish is the bolim, a tamale containing meat or an entire chicken or turkey. In Tantoyuca the preferred dish is páskal, a mole of sesame oil and red pepper. SETTLEMENT PATTERNS

The Huastec dwell in one-room huts. Despite the report that the settlement pattern is neolocal (Williams Garcia, 1961, p. 14), in Aquismon a recently married couple lives with the bridegroom's parents for a brief period if he has not yet constructed his own house. In Tantoyuca a married couple resides a full year in the groom's parental home. In both communities the sons then establish themselves within 50 m. of their parents' house, though in Tantoyuca, if the

HUASTEC

bride's father is of superior economic standing, the groom may settle close to his fatherin-law. A bride is usually chosen from the same hamlet, though it is far from rare that she come from a neighboring hamlet. In Aquismon and Tantoyuca the settlements are strung along the ridgetops. Although not formally marked in any way, the patrilocal clusters are often clearly visible. The residential area is surrounded by fruit trees. At some distance lie the cornfields. Throughout the entire Huastec area the Indians are restricted to the hamlets which surround the Mestizo-controlled municipal centers. Many of these settlements are populated only by Huastec; others include large numbers of Nahuats and Mestizos. Except for market day the municipal center is largely deserted by the Indians. Contact with other towns is minimal. TECHNOLOGY

Tools The tool inventory of the Huastec includes such native-made articles as wooden sugar mill, digging stick, harpoon, wooden mortar and pestle, backstrap loom, and clay sugar mold. Manufactured goods include iron sugar mill (rare), copper cauldron, tin bucket, machete, sickle, crowbar, meat grinder (adapted for corn). Crafts Huastec crafts, never a full-time occupation, are represented by the manufacture of unrefined sugar, the weaving of henequen bags, tumplines, ropes, wallets, hats, sleeping mats, and baskets of palm and liana. Carpentry skills are combined with palmcaning to create attractive chairs. Crude undecorated pottery and decorated water jugs and censers (around Valles) are produced. In Aquismon beeswax candles are manufactured. Needlepoint embroidery has replaced woven articles. There is considerable variation from one municipality to the next; in Aquismon every woman knows how to make her own pottery, in Tantoyuca this

knowledge is restricted to several hamlets. Henequen work is largely restricted to Veracruz, palm mats to Tancanhuitz. Techniques of Processing and Manufacturing In Tantoyuca and Aquismon a woman grinds corn while standing, with the metate placed on a table. Tortillas are made by patting the hands together. Unrefined sugar is produced by grinding the cane with animal traction, usually in a wooden mill. The liquid pours into wooden containers and is drained off into copper cauldrons, where it is boiled from four to five hours, then poured into clay molds to harden. Beeswax candles are made by repeated dippings of the wick until the proper thickness has been achieved. For the preparation of henequen fiberwork the spikes are slivered halfway down the stem. Two sticks are fastened tightly together on the end of an upright stake and the prepared half of the henequen spike pulled rapidly through the fork, sliver by sliver, so as to strip the pulp from the fiber. The fiber is then given a twist around a small stick which serves as handle, then the remaining half of the spike is similarly stripped. The fibers are dried and fastened to the frame of the loom formerly used to weave cloth. The finest bags are woven with fiber that has been previously dyed; cheaper bags are stamped with a simple flower design. In Aquismon pottery is made without a wheel. The potter starts at the bottom, then builds the clay up and pushes it outwards, tying the top to keep it constricted. The pot is covered with leaves and stored indoors for three days. Then the bottom is closed and the outer surface rubbed smooth with a stone. Several pots are placed together on a stone platform, the fire is built up around and over them, and the firing done in the open air. This method, probably the one described by Stresser-Péan (1953, p. 226), does not accord with Huerta's re301

FIG. 2—HUASTEC GIRLS O F TANCANHUITZ, SAN LUIS POTOSI. (Photographed by Donald Cordry, 1964.)

HUASTEC

port of a stone-and-mud kiln (Mendieta Huerta, 1939, p. 66). Houses and Furnishings The traditional Huastec house is round with a conical roof, sometimes peaked by an overturned earthenware pot to keep out the rain. The walls are of vertical poles or bamboo, sometimes covered with mud. The single door is of vertical poles or planks, the roof of palm or grass thatch. Apsidal or square houses of the same construction, often with several doors, now predominate. (My informant in Tantoyuca denied even the former existence of round houses there.) The dwelling serves as dormitory, kitchen, and storeroom, though the kitchen may be apart. Granaries raised on stakes are occasional. Steam baths are unknown in Potosi and Tantoyuca, but are reported from the Sierra Otontepec (Stresser-Péan, 1953, p. 224). The traditional community houses have long since disappeared. House furnishings consist of a simple household altar holding religious pictures and adorned with an arch (Tantoyuca), an occasional pole bed or burlap cot, rustic tables, chairs, stools, wooden block seats (traditionally used also as pillows), wooden trunks for clothes, a cradle suspended from the rafters, footed or footless metates, and the usual peasant Mexican cooking utensils. Dress and Adornment The Huastec keep their bodies scrupulously clean. Head deformation, once prevalent, no longer exists. Huastec men often go barefoot, but may wear sandals or even shoes. White muslin shirt and pants (calzón) are now scorned by the younger generation, which buys factory-made clothes. In Tantoyuca older women may wear a simple embroidered blouse and full skirt, but most in evidence are drab, shapeless, homemade dresses of factory material. The women of more conservative Aquismon wear a blouse, also of factory material but gathered in the back, with pleated cuffs and

a pleated flounce extending across the shoulders. The everyday outfit of blouse, black muslin skirt, and sash may be complemented by an embroidered white muslin headcloth, a quechquemitl, and a handbag. In Tantoyuca the hair is adorned with ribbons, in Aquismon with a few strands of yarn, or on festive days a skein of several bright hues, forming a corona. The women everywhere wear costume jewelry. Recently married women in Aquismon sport long ribbons attached to their necklace and hanging down the back. Transportation In steep terrain such as that of Aquismon all goods must be carried on human back. Donkeys and mules are used where possible. Where oil company roads have been put through (Tantoyuca), trucks carry much of the merchandise. Weights and Measures In Tantoyuca corn is measured by cuartillo (¼ liter), litro, and hectolitro (100 liters). In Aquismon the measurement is by dohle (1.400 kilos) and carga (60 dobles). ECONOMY

Division of Labor Both men and women draw water and cut firewood in Aquismon and Tantoyuca, but men use a yoke for carrying water, whereas women carry it on their heads. In Tantoyuca only men engage in work in the fields; in Aquismon a few women help with the harvest. In the former community both men and women prepare and weave henequen. In both communities men make the furniture, baskets, and gourds. In Aquismon men also make hats. Pottery is made by women in Aquismon, by both sexes in Tantoyuca. Specialization Although particular families have developed a reputation for being skilled craftsmen, the only truly specialized jobs are 303

ETHNOLOGY

those of midwives and curers. In Aquismon and Tantoyuca these careers are open to either sex, but a male midwife is always a curer besides. In the former community a curer (thitom) may be of any age, in Tantoyuca a curer (al¢iš) is generally an older man, but in both towns the gift of curing is said to be transmitted within a small number of families. Stresser-Pean's report (1953, p. 229) of an initiation ceremony could not be verified here. In both communities literate men may serve as prayermen at funerals, or whenever Catholic prayers are recited. Property Land tenure in the Huasteca is a complicated mixture of communal property (ejido), co-ownership, and private property. Those in Aquismon and Tantoyuca who have large acreage lend parcels to relatives and neighbors without charge or for a nominal sum. Private property at death is divided in equal shares and distributed to the wife and children. The parental home is willed to the favorite son in Aquismon, to the youngest son in Tantoyuca. Trade and Markets Each municipal center has a market day once a week. Both men and women sell craft and agricultural products, though women generally occupy themselves with the sale of fruit and tamales. Trade is not well developed. Labor Export Wage labor is not significant among the Huastec though a few work in the oilfields or as domestics. Wealth Long ago Cabrera (1876, p. 105) reported that the Huastec concealed their wealth, burying it in their houses. This custom exists in Aquismon to this day. Money is not lent in Aquismon; only small sums are loaned in Tantoyuca, where 5 per cent interest is charged. In both communities, money is 304

now being invested in better-quality fruit trees. POLITICAL ORGANIZATION

Local and Territorial Units In Potosi several house clusters form a barrio or fracción. In Veracruz the corresponding unit is the ranchería. Several barrios, fracciones, or rancherías constitute a congregación, and several congregaciones a municipio. Government The combined religio-political government described by Cabrera (1876, pp. 88100) no longer exists in Aquismon or Tantoyuca. Nor does the system reported by Rojas Gonzalez (1957, p. 588) apply. In Tantoyuca the Mestizo presidente is aided by four regidores selected from the congregaciones. Each congregación is represented by an agente municipal elected for three years. The most populous rancherías elect an auxiliar to represent them for a similar term. In addition each congregación elects a juez auxiliar and his substitute for a similar term. Each ranchería likewise elects a cabo auxiliar. The political representatives are termed to?hoth or kwaybil, the judicial representatives, mayul. In Aquismon each congregación is headed by a juez auxiliar and two substitutes (éyal or kwaybil), aided by policemen (mayul), and "little policemen" (¢akam mayul), their number determined by the size of the community. Each ranchería is represented by a juez encargado (éyal or cuaybil) and his policemen and "little policemen." All posts are elective for one-year terms. In addition the ejido is governed for three-year terms by a presidente, tesorero, and secretario, each with his substitute. The consejo de vigilancia which polices the ejido is represented by similar positions. In both Tantoyuca and Aquismon in time of crisis recourse may be had to an advisory board of ex-authorities formerly, but no longer, of great influence.

FIG. 3 — A Q U I S M O N WOMAN IN FESTIVE DRESS. Left, old style. Right, modern style.

Relationship of Village to Nation In 1876 each village considered itself a "republic" (Cabrera, 1876, p. 88). Today the tének, as the Huastec call themselves (Aquismon, Tantoyuca), are rapidly being integrated into the national scene. The widespread attendance of Huastec children in rural schools has for the past 20 years diminished their isolation. A few Huastec students even reach the National University in Mexico City. In the Tantoyuca ranchería of Siloxuchil two individuals subscribe to the Spanish edition of the Readers Digestí SOCIAL PATTERNS

Family and Kinship The Huastec kinship system (Tantoyuca) as described by Guiteras Holmes (1948, p.

160) is "bifurcate collateral" in the first ascending generation, "generational" in ego's generation, and "bifurcate fused" in the first descending generation. The presence of a single term for MoBrWi and FaSi is believed by Guiteras Holmes to indicate former brother-sister exchange. In postconquest times the eldest son inherited the land. FaBrCh were called by the same term, which meant lineage. The presence of animal names as patronymics, the number of dances with animal names, the paternal preference in residence and burial, combined with endogamy, suggest the former presence of totemic localized patricians. The Spanish system of names is now used, but the second name is not that of the mother's father but the maiden name of the mother's mother {ibid., p. 167). In Aquis305

ETHNOLOGY

mon the surname was formerly added to the name of the locale of residence. Consanguineal relatives are recognized to the fourth degree on both sides, but with the bishop's permission second cousins may marry. Brother-sister incest, reported as frequent (SchuUer, 1924-27b, p. 142), could not be verified in either Aquismon or Tantoyuca. Though the Huastec are described as monogamous (Schuller, 1924-27b, p. 141; Meade, 1942, p. 136), many cases of polygamy in Aquismon and Tanlajas were reported to me. Marriage with Mestizos is held in repugnance. Free unions, extramarital relations, and prostitution are rare. Remarriage in Tantoyuca, conditions permitting, is delayed for a year, in Aquismon from one to three years. An average Huastec family has from two to four living children. Ritual kinsmen in Tantoyuca consist of compadres of baptism, confirmation and marriage (often the baptismal godparent of the groom serves as godparent of the wedding ). In Aquismon the baptismal and wedding godparents are separate. Here also are godparents of the household saint. In Aquismon the children of godparents are addressed as siblings; marriage with them is forbidden. Mestizos are frequently chosen as compadres. Etiquette In Aquismon and Tantoyuca a man walks ahead of his wife, though in Tantoyuca a recently married wife may precede her husband. In Aquismon a girl will stand aside on the path to let a boy pass. This form of respect is offered by a man to elders of either sex. In both communities men greet each other by lightly touching right hands. Special respect is shown in Tantoyuca by enclosing alters hand in both hands. Narcotics and Stimulants In Tantoyuca and Aquismon cigarettes are smoked sparingly. Homemade cigars are 306

also smoked. Chewing tobacco is rarely used. The chief alcoholic beverage is cane liquor. AESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL PATTERNS

Arts The only Huastec craft that exhibits artistic merit is embroidery: colorful and graceful floral or avian designs. Music, Dance, and Drama The musical instruments of the Tantoyuca Huastec are violin, guitar, and flute. Aquismon dwellers have harp and teponaxtli in addition. The Huastec have earned a special name for their great variety of dance forms. Thirteen dances are cited in the literature. The most spectacular is undoubtedly the bisom tiu, Hawk Dance or Eagle Dance, now performed only in Tancanhuitz and only in honor of a gubernatorial or presidential visit. The dancers are required to observe preliminary fasting and continence, provide nightly dances and communal banquets. Offerings are made to the gods and to the dead. With great ceremony a tree is selected and cut for the flying-pole, dragged to the town, and erected in front of the church. In the post hole is placed beforehand a live chick. Five ropes and a revolving platform are attached. The dancers, wearing red feather headdresses and "eagle wings," and the dance chief (k'ohal) in red and blue tunic, ascend the pole. The dance chief imitates the eagle's whistle, turns to the east to pray to the beneficent gods, turns to the cardinal points and offers a bottle of cane liquor and a cup to each, then blows cane liquor in each direction. He dons his headdress, dances toward each of the cardinal points, beating his wings as the other dancers descend in flight at the ends of their ropes (Stresser-Péan, 1948, p. 328). Later the dance chief descends and reascends with a live turkey. When he reaches the platform he dances with the turkey, pluck-

HUASTEC

ing off its feathers one by one! The dance begins at noon, is repeated several times in the afternoon, and is performed again at noon on the following day. RELIGION AND WORLD VIEW

The religious organization of Tantoyuca and Aquismon seems to wield little authority. In Tantoyuca each ranchería that boasts a chapel has a group of voluntary assistants, socios honorarios. In addition each saint has a celador (okuš mayul) who celebrates the saint's day once a month in the main church in Tantoyuca. This post is elective for an unlimited term. A catechist gives instruction every Sunday in the chapel. In Aquismon also there exists a group of voluntary assistants (atiklav), who contribute five cents a month. Three sacristans (piscai) aided by three substitutes (atiklav) keep the church in order. Their posts are elective and annual. Each saint is cared for by a mayordomo (okus mayul), whose major duty is to celebrate the saint's day once a month and to deliver the contributions to the church. These officials finance a private banquet on the saint's day and on the same date in January. Their celebrations appear to conform closely to orthodox Catholic canon in matters such as rosaries and hymns of praise. Each chapel has a staff of five or six catechists, men and women; the former instruct the boys, the latter the girls, every Sunday. Ritual Agricultural rites seem to exist no longer in Tantoyuca. In Aquismon, however, at the time the field is cleared, a bolim banquet is held in the field, where a chicken heart is buried and cane liquor poured on the ground. At planting time a ceremony takes place very similar to that described by Cabrera (1876, p. 111); 12 ears of corn are placed on the household altar, "dressed" in marigolds, censed, offered a bolim, mole, and cane liquor. Hunting rites are no longer practiced in Aquismon or Tantoyuca.

When the principal tree for a sugar mill is cut in Tantoyuca, it is offered cane liquor. In Aquismon the tree is offered cane liquor and a bolim when the mill is inaugurated. Cane liquor is also poured at the four corners of the structure and around the machinery. A chicken heart is buried in the floor. The same rite is observed at a house inauguration. In Tantoyuca a palm cross is placed at each corner of a new house and a special banquet held. Myth Only two myths are recorded in the literature. The origin of corn is explained in this fable: Formerly the people ate only bananas. An old woman was grinding bananas when a handsome nude boy with wings and bow and arrow appeared, then flew into the sky, shooting his arrows. He returned to earth with an ear of corn which he gave to the old woman with instructions to remove the kernels. He pulled the arrows out of the sky, planted the corn in the holes, and since then the people have eaten corn (Cabrera, 1876, pp. 111-12). A second tale reports that once the participants in the Hawk Dance flew away, abandoning their flyingpole for nine days. When they returned the pole had disappeared. That is why the pole is never taken down until nine days after the dance (Stresser-Péan, 1948, p. 329). The widespread tale of the pursued Christ multiplying the respectful farmer's crop and transforming the arrogant farmer's crop into stone was told to me in Tantoyuca. Sickness and Curing The major illnesses of the Huastec are malaria, dysentary, tuberculosis, rheumatism, pneumonia, and tapeworm (Williams Garcia, 1961, p. 37). The extraordinarily high incidence of suicide by hanging (ibid.) was confirmed for Aquismon but not Tantoyuca. Sickness in Tantoyuca is ascribed primarily to soul-loss, though the sucking out of 307

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foreign objects also occurs. Diagnosis is made by pulsing and by counting the number of kernels that stand up (as opposed to those that lie on their side) when seven or 14 kernels of red corn are tossed into a gourd of water. If fright has caused the loss of soul, the curer rubs the patient's temples upwards and rubs his body with an egg or a chicken. Three visits are made by the curer to the supposed place of soul-loss to recall the soul. A chicken is killed and eaten by the participants, and its bones and the remains of any medicine that has been used are left at the foot of a tree in the woods. The curer receives a nominal fee and a liter of cane liquor. In Aquismon diagnosis is by pulsing and by "reading" the flame of a pine torch or candle. The patient's body may be cleansed with an egg, a chicken, or philodendron leaves. Sucking is also employed. If soulloss has occurred, the patient is cleansed, three visits are made to the place of loss, the herbs used in cleaning are deposited at the foot of a tree and an arch is erected over them. Returning to the patient's home, the curer and the patient dance around the table, the curer with bolim in hand. At each corner of the table is piled an equal portion of the curer's fee, with a liter of cane liquor in the center. If the sickness is caused by the evil eye, the patient is rubbed with an egg and the egg is either burned or mixed with chile to return the pain to the malefactor's eyes. Curers are also reported to address prayers and offer marigolds, food, and drink to "idols" in mountain caves. If no image is present, they may fashion one in clay. Cosmogony and Cosmology Today, at least in Aquismon and Tantoyuca, the common man's vision of the world corresponds very closely to the biblical representation. Only the curers, whose knowledge is surrounded by secrecy, seem to have more than a vague awareness of the pagan deities. The sun (Tantoyuca, tata K'i¢áΙ; 308

Aquismon, k'ièa) is considered a male deity. The earth (Tantoyuca, n na cabal-, Aquismon, mim ¢abál) is a goddess. Lightning (Tantoyuca, kunkilab; Aquismon, pulik mamlav) is a masculine deity. In Aquismon the lightning flash is attributed to the angry god's swishing of his machete. In Tantoyuca lightning assumes a priest's form. In both communities the moon is female, but in Aquismon the face of the moon represents a rabbit that escaped to the moon in the time of the primordial deluge. In Aquismon the corn deity (thipak) is conceived as a youth. Annual

Cycle

Information on the fiesta cycle is fragmentary. Cabrera (1876, p. 116) reports that before and during Carnaval a large group of mecos, dressed only in loincloths and covered with soot, carrying lances and blowing cow horns, would go from house to house asking for money. This very custom was recently forbidden in Siloxuchil, a congregación of Tantoyuca. The day before All Souls' Day (kwimat) is celebrated in Aquismon by the erection of an arch at the west end of the cemetery and by offering of food to those who have died violent death. On All Souls' Day an arch is erected at the east end of the cemetery and offerings of flowers and food made at the graveside. In Tantoyuca food is no longer taken to the cemetery, but simply placed on the household altar. Palm "crowns" and marigolds decorate the graves. LIFE CYCLE

When a woman in Tantoyuca is four or five months pregnant, her husband notifies her father and at the same time seeks a midwife. The midwife pays two or three visits before the birth. The pregnant woman must be given whatever food she desires and should remain seated whenever possible. When his wife is six months pregnant the husband seeks godparents, taking a gift of bread, brown sugar, tamales, coffee, and

HUASTEC

two or three liters of cane liquor. After the birth similar visits are made on All Souls' Day and Carnaval, the godparents reciprocating each time with a suit of clothes for the child. At birth the woman sits on a bench, gripping a rope dropped from the rafters. Less frequently she lies on a bed. Immediately after the child is born the mother is given a brew of cumin, coriander seed, and tikiliè. A hot rock wrapped in a leaf is placed on her belly. The newborn infant is given a warm water bath or rubbed with a dry cloth. It is given garlic to smell and chile is rubbed on its lips. If it is born unconscious the metate is beaten with a mortar to "awaken" it. The cord is cut with a reed and flame is applied. The placenta may be buried inside or outside the house. When the cord falls off, it is buried and a banana or henequen planted over it. On the third day after giving birth the woman may leave the house to answer her needs. On the eighth day the midwife returns, and a candle is lit on the altar. She receives a gift of soap, two baskets of bread, and 5-20 pesos. She gives praise to the Virgin Mary and washes the mother's hands in front of the altar. Frequently the midwife presents the baby with a suit of clothes. Baptism is celebrated 22 days after birth. In Aquismon a woman always gives birth kneeling, sustained by a rope, her husband holding her shoulders from behind while the midwife tightens her sash. The infant is cleaned with a dry rag. The cord is cut with a reed, but no fire applied. The censer is beaten with a metal tool so that the child will not be a deaf-mute. Umbilical cord and placenta are buried together near the house and a banana tree planted over them. If a tall tree is planted, the child will be mischievous. On the eighth day water is brought from the well before sunrise and the infant bathed. A candle is lit on the altar. All present at the birth are cleansed with philodendron by the midwife. She puts an agricultural tool in the infant's hand

if the baby is a boy, a domestic implement for a girl, and makes one trip around the house, carrying the infant. She sometimes presents the child with a suit of clothes. After the birth godparents are sought. When the infant is 15 days old baptism is celebrated. The godparents give a suit of clothes. The parents may present their compadres with a bolim, reciprocated by a meal; but usually this does not occur until 15 days after the baptism, when the parents take a bolim, atole, and coffee to their compadres. The two couples wash each other's hands. In Tantoyuca an infant is weaned at two years, the mother's milk gradually replaced by atole. Since in Aquismon weaning may not occur for four years, a mother may suckle two infants simultaneously. In both communities the child is carried in a shawl next to its mother's breasts. In Aquismon after a year the child is shifted to its mother's hip, but this never is done in Tantoyuca. In both towns preschool-age boys, clad only in a shirt, carry their younger siblings slung in front. Children attend school from the ages of 6 to 14. They help their parents in the home industries during these years also. Marriage in Tantoyuca formerly was contracted at the age of 18 for girls, 20-22 for boys; now girls may marry as young as 15, boys at 16. When a boy has made his choice, he advises his father, who calls upon the girl's parents with a minor gift of cigarettes, 2 pesos of bread, and a half-liter of cane liquor. Two such visits are made a week or two weeks apart. After a similar interval the "first visit" is made. The girl's godparents are invited and 20 pesos of bread, coffee, brown sugar, and 2 liters of cane liquor are presented. A month later a similar visit is made. The third and final visit is made the next month. A bolim is presented by the boy's family, and the date of the presentation in the church is set (usually in a month's time). The wedding is held 22 days later. The bride and groom 309

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present each other with a set of clothes. They are dressed by their godparents. After the church ceremony the wedding party passes by the bride's house to say farewell. The bride's family offers a meal. Then the party continues to the groom's house, their approach signaled by the shooting of rockets, answered by a volley from the groom's house. A banquet and music are provided by the groom's family. In Aquismon girls marry at 18-20 years of age, boys at 20-25. Formerly the parents selected the bride, but now, when the boy advises his parents, they choose the godparents of the wedding. The godfather accompanies the boy's parents when they visit the family of the girl. Bread, coffee, and a liter of cane liquor are presented while the godfather speaks on behalf of his godson. Every two days for two weeks similar visits are made, during which the boy accompanies his parents and his godfather. The groom's party then invites the bride's baptismal godparents to a banquet at the bride's house. The groom's party presents the bride's family with two or three bolims and the agreement is definitely reached. The groom presents the bride with two or three sets of clothing. Next day the civil ceremony and the church presentation are held; 22 days later the wedding is celebrated. A banquet, usually consisting of turkeys, is provided at the groom's house. Bride and groom eat together from the same plate and drink from the same cup. The wedding godparents place the first bite in their mouths. A dance is also held. Afterwards the groom must lead his wedding godparents home, then the bride's family, and finally the bride's baptismal godparents; if the last could not attend, they must be presented with wedding food at their home. The following day the groom returns the bride's wedding dress to her godmother. Schuller (1924-27b, p. 142) reports that the bride is returned to her family for a period lasting up to a month, and that the marriage consummation is followed by a ritual bath. He 310

further states that the groom avoids his father-in-law for several months after the wedding. None of these customs could be confirmed in either Aquismon or Tantoyuca. Formerly in Tantoyuca when a person died his body was dressed in his wedding clothes. Now new clothes are provided; the body is washed, wrapped in a sheet, and placed on a table. A prayerman chants the orthodox Catholic prayers. Those who attend the wake bring token gifts. The family of the bereaved offers a meal of beans and palm heart, or beef and palm heart. On the ninth day after the burial a second meal is offered, and the cross taken to the cemetery. The dead are not buried in family plots but simply in rows. A rosary is said every month on the day of the death; a Mass is said on the first anniversary. In Aquismon the body is washed, dressed in white, and placed in a coffin on the table. Gifts brought by visitors are set next to the head of the coffin. In the coffin are placed a gourd (representing the boat needed to cross the river of the dead), a tablecloth, a blessed candle, a rosary (representing the ladder to heaven), 6 cents (for the voyage), corn (for the turkeys on the way), and tortillas (to sustain the deceased on his journey). When the coffin is carried out of the house, corn is sprinkled around the house and all the deceased's bowls and plates are placed at the entrance and smashed underfoot. (This style of funeral is still remembered in Tantoyuca.) Before the trip to the cemetery a meal is served. A man is buried in his family plot, a woman in her husband's plot. When the coffin is lowered into the grave, everyone censes the coffin. An ash cross is laid out on the floor of the deceased's house. Meals are provided for the visitors for nine days following the burial; seven weeks after the death a final banquet is held, and three rosaries are chanted. The cross is then erected in the cemetery. Food is offered to the deceased and then eaten at the graveside. A rosary is said on the first anniversary.

HUASTEC

REFERENCES Alexandre, 1890 Bernal, 1962 Cabrera, 1876 Cerda Silva, 1957a González Bonilla, 1939 Guiteras Holmes, 1948b Meade, 1942 Mendieta Huerta, 1939 Montemayor, 1950-56

Mota y Escobar, 1939-40 Piña Chan, 1959 Rojas Gonzalez, 1957 Sanders, 1953 Schuller, 1923-24, 1924-27a, 1924-27b Staub, 1919, 1926, 1933, 1939 Stresser-Péan, 1944-46, 1948, 1953, 1955, 1959 Tapia Zenteno, 1767 Williams Garcia, 1961

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15. Southern Mexican Highlands and Adjacent Coastal Regions

RALPH L. BEALS

R

OUGHLY BOUNDING the southern Mexican highlands and associated lowlands on the north are the southern slopes of the volcanic axis of Mexico. This axis trends approximately east-west and is marked on the east by the peak of Orizaba and on the west by the twin peaks of Colima. The eastern boundary of the area under discussion is the Gulf of Mexico and the depression of Tehuantepec; the southern and western boundaries are formed by the Pacific Ocean. In terms of modern political units the area includes most of the present Mexican states of Guerrero and Oaxaca and the southern and southeastern portion of Veracruz. Part of southern Puebla and Morelos may be included.1 Unlike the central and northern highlands of Mexico, the southern highlands lack any extensive plateau or meseta. Instead the 1 I am indebted to several graduate students at the University of California at Los Angeles for bibliographic work on this area. I make special acknowledgment to my assistant, Ronald G. Waterbury, for the development of the maps and the analysis of Proto-Macro-Mixtecan, and to Darlis Ann Miller for assembling data on the Maya.

region is one of relatively rugged mountains and depressions or small mesetas, of which the Balsas Basin is by far the largest. Others of importance include the valleys of Oaxaca and Nochistlan and the meseta of Tehuantepec. The Gulf Coast presents an alluvial coastal plain similar to that bordering the central highlands. Much of the Pacific coast, on the other hand, shows only narrow and discontinuous areas of coastal plain; in many places mountains descend rather abruptly to the sea. Two major mountain systems come within the area. The Sierra Madre del Sur parallels the Pacific coast and forms a marked barrier between the Balsas depression and the ocean in Guerrero and northwest Oaxaca. It is usually regarded as a re-emergence of the same system found in Baja California. Farther inland a mountain system, sometimes identified as an extension of the Sierra Madre Oriental, forms the main watershed. These two systems virtually merge in most of Oaxaca, creating an extremely rugged and highly dissected surface for much of the state. The highest point is Zempoalte315

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petl, perhaps 3000 m. or more in elevation. The term is applied not only to the highest point but to a complex of mountains within which rise important tributaries of the Atoyac and Tehuantepec rivers flowing to the Pacific and the Papaloapan and Coatzacoalco rivers flowing into the Gulf of Mexico. The geological picture of the southern Mexican highlands is exceedingly complex, and some regions are unstudied. Igneous materials are relatively rare in contrast to the regions to the north. They are mainly of Archaic age and are found primarily in the Sierra Madre del Sur. An important exception is the extrusive rocks in southeast Veracruz, forming the isolated Tuxtla mountains close to the Gulf. Small areas of vulcanism are also scattered elsewhere through the region. Most of the identified sedimentary formations are either Archaic or Mesozoic in age with Paleozoic and Tertiary deposits apparently lacking. The only extensive Quaternary formations are on the plain along the Gulf of Mexico and in a few of the depressions. Extensive elevated limestone deposits occur. In keeping with the complex geological picture, the region is one of intense seismic activity. Temperatures in this region vary primarily with altitude, secondarily with the amount of cloudiness and precipitation. Snows are known to fall sometimes as low as 2100 m. They are of short duration, and nowhere does snow remain for more than a few hours. Frosts likewise are infrequent and of short duration even in higher areas, but where rainfall is high and cloudiness common, cool temperatures may prevail much of the year. Rainfall in most of the area is moderate to extremely heavy except for the meseta of Tehuacan and the drainage of the Tomellin and Tehuacan rivers, the Valley of Oaxaca, and parts of the Balsas depression which are dry steppe or desert (Bs and Bw climates in the Koppen classification). Most 316

of the higher regions have a temperate rainy climate with rain the year round (Cx), but much of the area is tropical with rains predominantly in summer (Aw). The slopes facing the Gulf of Mexico, however, receive intense monsoon rains in summer (Am), wide areas receiving a mean annual rainfall of over 2000 mm. In a few locations rainfall of 4000 mm. a year is reported. Except for the regions around Tehuacan and Tomellin, slopes draining into the Pacific receive significantly less rainfall than those draining into the Gulf of Mexico. Seasonal variations are often more important to agricultural activities than total rainfall. The Valley of Oaxaca receives most of its relatively low rainfall during the main agricultural season. The coastal plain facing the Gulf of Mexico, although with a much higher rainfall than the Valley of Oaxaca, experiences in summer a dry period which often causes severe crop damage (Vivó, 1958; Papaloapan, 1949). Soils reflect the climatic regimes and the underlying rock formations. Much of the highland areas have limey soils, mostly chernozoms, although there are some desert types around Tehuacan. On the Pacific drainages at lower elevations chernozoms are replaced by podsols. The Gulf Coast lowlands and adjoining slopes exhibit yellow laterite soils. Vegetation on Gulf drainages is primarily tropical forests of various types with some savanna on the Veracruz coastal plain. In places cloud-forest assemblages occur at surprisingly high elevations. Desert assemblages are found mostly near Tehuacan, Oaxaca, and in the lower Balsas Basin. A substantial area of the Pacific drainages at lower elevations shows a steppe type of vegetation. Mixed forests are found in extensive areas of western Oaxaca at moderate elevations; pine forests occur in the higher mountains. There is ample reason to believe that almost everywhere the vegetation has undergone extensive modification through human agencies.

SOUTHERN MEXICAN HIGHLANDS: INTRODUCTION

The fauna of the area is transitional between Neoarctic and Neotropical. The Neoarctic types are found only in higher elevations. At lower elevations some Neotropical mammals such as the monkeys and tapir, and reptiles such as Bothrops and fer-delance, reach their northern limits. In few areas is the indigenous fauna abundant enough to be a significant food source. The principal drainage basins are the Papaloapan (including the Tehuacan and Tomellin) and the Coatzacoalcos on the Gulf slope, the Balsas, Verde, and Tehuantepec on the Pacific slope. None are navigable except for small craft and then, except for parts of the Balsas, only on the lower reaches. Stream flows are highly variable during the year and on the Gulf Coast extensive flooding is frequent. Farther inland, stream courses often are deeply entrenched and constitute barriers rather than ways of communication. Extended areas have suffered severe erosion, especially in the Mixteca Alta. This is usually attributed to the introduction of sheep and goats. S. Cook and W. Borah, in an unpublished manuscript, suggest that important erosion occurred in preconquest times. (Most of the geographic information is summarized from Vivó, 1958.) Although Oaxaca is mountainous and rugged, it supports a moderately dense population of 15 inhabitants per square kilometer. Puebla and Veracruz support 28 and 48 inhabitants per square kilometer respectively, but the densest population zones in these states fall outside the area. The surviving Indian population, however, as measured by retention of native language, is much higher in Oaxaca than in most parts of Mexico, in 1960 numbering 683,818 out of a total population of 1,727266. In Guerrero the number of Indianspeakers was 200,377 out of 1,166,716. In general the coastal regions show much lower densities for Indian-speakers; in extensive areas they have disappeared. In most of the area, however, the percentage

of persons living in what Whetten (1948) has called Indian-Colonial style is more than 75 per cent of the total (Vivó, 1958, pp. 128, 152-54). Although speakers of native languages have disappeared from many areas, a few speakers of most of the aboriginal languages are still to be found, and several groups are quite numerous. All the Indian groups of the southern Mexican highlands participated originally in the basic Middle American culture but varied widely in the degree of elaboration. Differences in the modern cultures appear to be related in part to preconquest variations, although situational and historical factors also played a part in maintaining the distinctiveness of the various contemporary groups. The largest modern group, the Zapotec, number 250,000 (figures for native language speakers based on the 1950 census; most groups will show a substantial increase when 1960 census tabulations are available). They are found throughout the eastern and southern half of Oaxaca, surrounding the western Mixe. Small enclaves along the coast were occupied by peoples of Chontal, Nahuat, and Huave speech. The Nahuat enclave apparently has disappeared, but the other two survive (see below). In modern times peoples of Spanish speech and Mestizo culture are similarly found primarily as enclaves such as the city of Oaxaca and its environs, isolated towns such as San Ildefonso de Villa Alta, or as minorities in essentially Zapotec communities. The Chatino, numbering 15,000, occupy territory adjoining the Zapotec on the southwest. Chatino is classed as a separate language related to Zapotec with a time separation of about 2000 years. Zapotec itself, however, is subdivided into a number of dialects, often mutually unintelligible, of which the most important are Sierra de Villa Alta, Sierra de Juarez, Valley-Isthmus, and Miahuatlan (Swadesh, 1947). They probably should be classed as separate languages, each with subdialects. 317

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FIG. 1 — L I N G U I S T I C MAP O F SOUTHERN MEXICAN HIGHLANDS AND ADJACENT REGIONS AT CONTACT PERIOD. (Distribution modified from Mendizábal, Jiménez Moreno, and Arana Osnaya, 1959; classification from Swadesh, 1959c.) Key to languages appearing on the map: Macro-Mixtecan

Macro-Mayance

Unclassified

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

13. 14. 15. 16.

20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26.

Zapotec Chatino Mixtec Trique Amuzgo Cuicatec Mazatec Popoloco Izcatec Chocho Chinantec Huave

Zoque Mixe Popoluca Chontal

Macro-Nahuan 17. Nahua Macro-Yuman 18. Chontal de Oaxaca 19. Tlapanec

The second largest existing group consists of the Mixtec (200,000 speakers). Closely associated linguistically are the Trique (3000 speakers), Amuzgo (8000 speakers), and Cuicatec (10,000 speakers). The modern Mixtec are mainly found in the Mixteca Alta of western Oaxaca and in adjoining parts of Guerrero. The adjoining lowland region or Mixteca Baja also contains some Mixtec-speakers and in precolonial times probably supported a much larger population than the present primarily Spanishspeaking population. A small enclave of Mixtec-speakers in San Lorenzo east of 318

Cuyumatec Tezcatec Tlatzihuiztec Mancheño Tuxtec Tepuztec Cuitlatec

Mitla in the Valley of Oaxaca is a village relocated by Dominican missionaries. The Cuicatec inhabit an area in the Sierra at the eastern edge of Mixtec distribution. The Amuzgo and Trique occupy enclaves in the heart of Mixtec territory, the first reaching the Pacific coast, the second occurring solely in the mountains. According to Swadesh (1960), the time of separation of these three languages from Mixtecan is of the order of 2500, 3000, and 3500 years respectively. Both Zapotec and Mixtec undoubtedly played an important part in the preconquest

SOUTHERN MEXICANHlGHLANDS:INTRODUCTION

development of Middle American culture. Today both are characteristically villagedwelling peasant farmers forming numerous relatively closed corporate groups. Although in broad terms there is much similarity between them, they also are characterized by individuality expressed in endless variation in ritual, belief, organizational detail, and to some degree in personality structures. In general, the Mixtec are usually reported to be difficult to work with in contrast to the Zapotec. The Zapotee themselves differ widely, however. Zaachila in the Valley of Oaxaca is reported by several workers to be quite hostile to outsiders, in marked contrast to many other Valley communities. Differences between Valley, Sierra, and Tehuantepec Zapotec are readily apparent even if they share more friendly attitudes toward visitors. Characteristic of both Mixtec and Zapotec is a high degree of handicraft specialization by villages and participation in an extensive market and trading network extending beyond the borders of the speech areas. Although relatively little study has been given the smaller linguistic groups, they probably are similar in general characteristics to their linguistic neighbors. The market at Oaxaca in some measure integrates a fairly wide area economically and socially, including towns with lesser markets (Malinowski and De la Fuente, 1957). Tlacolula, also in the Valley, however, is possibly a more important center for the Sierra Zapotec and Mixe, Nochistlan for the Mixteca Alta, and Huautla de Jimenez for the Mazatec and their neighbors. Men of other towns, such as Mitla and Yalalag (Valley and Sierra Zapotec respectively), with unimportant markets, engage in extensive trading expeditions (Parsons, 1936; De la Fuente, 1949b). A third family of some importance is Popolocan, comprising the Popoloco of Puebla, the Izcatec, Chocho, and Mazatec. The Mazatec, numbering 45,000, are located in a section of the Papaloapan drain-

age in northern Oaxaca, extending from the higher mountains down to but not occupying the coastal plain of Veracruz. In very general terms the Mazatec are similar to the Zapotec and Mixtee in being peasant village farmers with local specialization and emphasis on extensive trading. Although the Mazatec are usually listed as having the lowest percentage of Spanish-speakers of any Indian group in Mexico, a great many Mazatec men speak one to as many as three of the neighboring Indian languages. Although only superficial studies of the Mazatec have been published, they show that there was considerable initiative in developing coffee cultivation and later dry rice cultivation as cash crops, whereas the principal center in the higher Sierra, Huautla de Jimenez, exhibited many urban characteristics even before the road construction attendant upon the Papaloapan project. Many Mazatec were forced to resettle in connection with the construction of the Aleman dam. Plans called for relocation on the coastal plain, but there is little information about their present condition. The second largest group is the Popoloco proper with 17,000 speakers. They are north of the Mazatec in the southern part of the state of Puebla. The Izcatec, numbering 700, and the Chocho, numbering 3000, are in small enclaves in Mixtec-speaking territory but close to the western boundary of Mazatec speech. None of these groups has been intensively studied but they are principally village-dwelling farmers in a mountainous environment. The time of separation of the last three languages is about 1500 years according to Swadesh (1960); the Mazatec separation is about 2500 years. The three preceding families—Mixtee, Zapotee, and Popolocan—have been grouped by Swadesh (1960) into a larger stock, Popoloca-Zapotecan. These in turn he affiliates with Huavean and, at a slightly more distant level of relationship, with OtoPamean, to form the phylum or superstock, Macro-Mixtecan. To this earlier writers 319

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FIG. 2 — M O D E R N LINGUISTIC DISTRIBUTION IN SOUTHERN MEXICAN HIGHLANDS AND ADJACENT REGIONS. (Distribution modified from Mendizábal and Jiménez Moreno, 1936, and Instituto Nacional Indigenista, 1950; population figures according to 1950 census from Vivó, 1958.) Key to languages appearing on the map: 0. Spanish (less than 1 per cent of the population speaking an Indian language) Macro-Mvxiecan 1. Zapotec 2. Chatino 3. Mixtec 4. Trique 5. Amuzgo 6. Cuicatec 7. Mazatec 8. Popoloco 9. Izcatec 10. Chocho 11. Chinantec 12. Huave

250,000 15,000 200,000 3,000 8,000 10,000 45,000 17,000 700 3,000 2,500 4,000

Macro-Maijance 13. Zoque 14. Mixe 15. Popoluca 16. Chontal Macro-Nahuan 17. Nahua Macro-Yuman 18. Chontal de Oaxaca 19. Tlapanec Unclassified 20. Cuitlatec

added Manguean and used a variety of terms such as Oto-Manguean (Mendizábal and Jiménez Moreno, 1936); Olmec-Otomangue (Mendizabal and Jiménez Moreno in Vivó, 1941); Macro-Otomangue (J. A. Mason, at 1939 International Congress of Americanists). Subsequently the term OtoMangue returned to favor. Comparative studies were done on several branches but in 1959 Fernández de Miranda, Swadesh, and Weitlaner on the basis of lexicostatistics suggested the term Oto-Zapoteca or Oto320

20,000 32,000 25,000 16,000

9,000 16,000 200

Hauve on the grounds that the Mangue and Chiapaneco of the Manguean branch were too remotely related to be included in the same phylum. Dissatisfied, Fernández de Miranda and Weitlaner (1961) undertook a comparative study which they feel re-establishes Manguean as a full member of the phylum and justifies a return to the name Oto-Manguean. Swadesh's (1959a, 1959b, 1960) term Macro-Mixtecan is here retained on the grounds that the Manguean branch both lies outside the south Mexican

SOUTHERN M E X I C A N HIGHLANDS: INTRODUCTION

highland area and probably separated from other members of Oto-Manguean at too remote a time to permit meaningful historical speculation. (A useful bibliography of various analytical and comparative studies of various languages of the Oto-Manguean phylum is given in Fernández de Miranda and Weitlaner, 1961, and Swadesh, 1960.) Huavean is spoken by some 4000 persons occupying an enclave in Zapotec territory on the coast of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The Huave are village-dwelling fishermen. It should be noted that some classifications have placed the Huave within a MacroMayance phylum but this view now seems less tenable than inclusion in MacroMixtecan, although the separation from other members of the group is a minimum of 41 centuries according to Swadesh (1960). Chinantec, spoken by 25,000 persons, may be associated with Macro-Mixtecan but with a minimum separation date of 60 centuries from Popolocan and 50 from Zapotecan (Swadesh, 1960). The Chinantec are located on the north-facing slopes of the Oaxaca mountains, east and southeast of the Mazatec and north of the Zapotec. Like their neighbors, they are village-dwelling farmers but seem not to share their penchant for trade and markets. A second linguistic grouping represented in the area consists of several members of the Zoquean family, today usually considered to be a member of the MacroMayance phylum. The Zoque proper are east of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec and hence outside our area. The largest group, 32,000, is the Mixe who are located along the continental divide and its Gulf-facing slopes from central Oaxaca to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Although they are villagedwelling farmers, their culture in general is extremely simple compared to that of their Zapotec neighbors. The Popoluca of southern Veracruz, numbering 25,000, are located mainly in or near the isolated Sierra de Tuxtla and are surrounded by and in-

terspersed with Spanish- and Nahua-speakers. Although almost always considered a single group, linguistically they consist of four mutually unintelligible languages. In vocabulary Texistepec and Sierra Popoluca seem closest to Mixe, whereas Oluta and Sayula are closer to Zoque. Phonemic and morphological relations are more complex. This variety is remarkable in that three languages are spoken within a 5-mile radius, and the fourth is only an hour's journey away. Foster (1943) includes Huave in the Zoquean group and postulates an original solid block of Zoquean languages crossing the Isthmus. Although the three smaller groups of Popoluca are considerably acculturated today, all four are basically simple village farmers and their present territory shows little evidence of complex archaeological remains, although they are close to Tres Zapotes, La Venta, and San Andres Tuxtla, all showing some of the earliest evidence of an advanced Middle American culture far more complex than historic Popoluca culture. The Macro-Yuman family is represented in the area by the Chontal (Tequistlatec in the McQuown, 1955, classification) of Oaxaca and, according to some, the Tlapanec of Guerrero. Swadesh (1959b,) however, gives Tlapanec the status of a separate and distant branch of Macro-Mayan; later (1960) he lists it as part of Macro-Manguean. The Chontal, numbering only 9000, occupy an enclave in Zapotec territory facing the Pacific Ocean in southern Oaxaca. The Tlapanec, numbering 16,000, adjoin the Mixtec on the west in the state of Guerrero. Both are village-dwelling farmers. The Cuitlatec, of whom only 200 speakers remain, are found in northern Guerrero east of the Balsas River. They apparently once occupied a much larger area. Today they appear to be very close to complete assimilation into the Mestizo population. Various affiliations have been suggested for Cuitlatec; Swadesh (1959b) assigns them status as the sole representative of a separate 321

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branch of Macro-Nahua equivalent to UtoAztecan, a suggestion that, pending more thorough study, must be regarded with reserve. Peoples of Nahua speech occupy substantial areas of central and eastern Guerrero, Morelos, Puebla, and Veracruz. Because the political divisions mentioned extend beyond the south Mexican highland region, it is impossible to estimate numbers for this area from the usual census reports without a municipio-by-municipio count. No significant research has been published on the Nahua-speakers of the south Mexican highlands, but culturally they probably are closely affiliated with the surviving Nahua peoples to the north. It should be remembered that many of the more remote linguistic affiliations given in this article are based on lexicostatistics rather than on intensive comparative studies, a point which clouds the following attempt at reconstructing genetic relationships. A considerable number of now extinct languages also reported for the Guerrero region so far have proved impossible to classify. Some may have been OtoPamean, others Nahuan. The key to the culture history of the south Mexican highlands lies in the understanding of Macro-Mixtecan. There seems no doubt that the Nahua-speakers in the area are the latest arrivals; if they are subtracted from the map, a relatively simple picture appears from what at first seems a very complicated situation. On the assumption that the displaced peoples through the highland area were of Macro-Mixtecan speech, in the pre-Nahua period a solid block of languages may be postulated extending from some point in the central highlands to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Longacre and Millon (1961), in connection with a reconstruction of proto-Mixtec, have attempted to define the original habitat. Their findings suggest that at about 1500-2000 B.C., the proto-Mixtec already were agricultural village dwellers possess322

ing a number of the more generalized Middle American culture elements. The most probable homeland appears to be the higher valleys of the Balsas Basin, more specifically the Mixteco River in northwestern Oaxaca and the Atoyac and Nexapa valleys in southwestern Puebla. The related Proto-Otomian-speakers were probably close by or even adjoining to the north, centering perhaps in the Valley of Toluca (Carrasco Pizana, 1950; Wolf, 1959). Everyone seems agreed that the Zapotec were not the original inhabitants of the Valley of Oaxaca and suggest a homeland farther to the north and east (Caso, 1941; Swadesh, 1947; Wolf, 1959). Swadesh would place the homeland north of the Sierra de Villa Alta and northeast of the Sierra de Juarez; Wolf places the homeland farther northwest. In any case a homeland similar in character to Proto-Mixtecan seems indicated and some northerly portion of the drainage basin of the Papaloapan River would seem likely. Less attention has been given to reconstructing a Proto-Popolocan homeland. However, a location adjacent to that of the Mixtec and Zapotec but closest to OtoPamean seems probable in view of present distributions and linguistic relationships. The Proto-Chinantecans may have moved somewhat southward to their present location at an earlier date than the dispersal of other members of Proto-Mixtecan. Without consideration of possibly more remote affiliations of Macro-Mixtecan, it would appear that at about the time an agriculturally based, village-dwelling type of culture had become well established in Middle America the predecessors of the present Macro-Mixtecan languages formed a relatively compact group in an upland area from the Valley of Toluca and parts of the drainages of the Balsas and Papaloapan, or, in modern political divisions, southern parts of the states of Mexico, Puebla, and Morelos, eastern Guerrero, and northern Oaxaca.

SOUTHERN M E X I C A N HIGHLANDS: INTRODUCTION

To place events in a time sequence utilizing cultural rather than linguistic phenomena, we turn to the work of the Tehuacan Archaeological-Botanical Project under the direction of Richard S. MacNeish (1961, 1962). Although at this writing excavations are still in progress at Tehuacan, MacNeish (1962, p. 6) estimates that his cultural reconstructions are 90 per cent accurate. Tehuacan is located in southeastern Puebla in a highland valley which drains into the Papaloapan River system. It is nearly in the heart of the Proto-Mixtec homeland projected from linguistic data. MacNeish has uncovered a cultural sequence from hunting and gathering "microbands" dated before 7000 B.C. (Ajuereado complex) through subsequent phases culminating in urban centers (Venta Salada complex dated A.D. 700-1500). The reconstructed cultural sequence is divided into seven hypothetical stages. Agricultural villages appear during Stage IV, which MacNeish dates between 3000 and 1500 B.C. (1962, pp. 35-38). Without reviewing all the inferences in detail, on archaeological and linguistic evidence we may postulate that the ProtoMacro-Mixtecans were well-developed village farmers by 1500 B.C. and occupied an area from the state of Mexico to northern Oaxaca. At this date Proto-Zapotecan and Proto-Mixtecan differentiation had begun, whereas Proto-Popolocan, Proto-Huavean, and Proto-Oto-Pamean were already separate. Between 7000 B.C, the earliest date at Tehuacan, and the time of the Proto-Mixtecan village farmers of 1500 B.C, the Tehuacan sequence passes through phases involving hunting and gathering bands, the development of agriculture, the introduction of ceramics, and the formation of sedentary communities. At an intermediate date of say 4000 B.C we may postulate that the Proto-Macro-Mixtecans were probably inhabiting a somewhat more contracted area than that postulated for 1500 B.C—an area most likely centered in the highland

valleys of the tributaries of the Balsas and Papaloapan Rivers in the state of Puebla and neighboring regions. In the interval between 4000 and 1500 B.C glottochronology (Swadesh, 1960) suggests that the differentiation of Proto-Oto-Pamean, ProtoHuavean, and Proto-Popoloca-Zapotecan occurred in approximately the order given. Proto-Chinantecan presumably separated even earlier. The spread and differentiation of the Proto-Oto-Pamean-speakers need not concern us here. It seems to have been mainly outside the south Mexican highlands although there is a possibility that some of the extinct and unknown languages of Guerrero may have been offshoots of this family. The dating of the spread of other branches into their present locations still is difficult. Nor have we more than a few speculative clues as to the people they displaced. The Zapotec cannot clearly be placed in the Valley of Oaxaca before Monte Alban II times, estimated to be between 300 B.C and A.D. 300. No antecedent developments are known for Monte Alban I, but it shows relationships with Montenegro in the Mixteca (C14 date of 648 B.C, Dahlgren, 1954), Zacatenco and Tlatilco in the Valley of Mexico, and La Venta and Tres Zapotes on the Gulf Coast. The possibility of Zoquean or Huavean occupation of Monte Alban I has been suggested but is difficult to accept in view of the fact that Monte Alban I was a more sophisticated culture than that possessed by historic Zoquean or Huavean peoples. The best that can be done with some certainty, then, is to postulate a radiation of the various branches of Popoloca-Zapotecan toward the west, south, and east, placing the Zapotec in the Valley of Oaxaca sometime before the beginning of the Christian Era. Both the Zapotec and Mixtec were active participants in the development of later phases of the highland version of Middle American culture. Any active contribu323

ETHNOLOGY

tion by the other branches is questionable. Particularly is this true of Huavean, for whom a passive and marginal position seems indicated. Continuance of southerly and easterly trends is suggested by the late Mixtec occupation of Monte Alban V (A.D. 1300-1522) and the continuation of hostility between Mixtec and Zapotec down to modern times. What peoples were displaced by MacroMixtecans along the Pacific slope seems at present highly conjectural. In view of the much longer time separation of Manguean from the other Proto-Mixtecan languages, a physical separation substantially earlier than the movements here considered seems very likely. Chontal of Oaxaca and Tlapanec may represent remnants of an old MacroYuman stratum in Mexico. On the other hand, they may represent remnants of an unsuccessful invasion from the north. The present evidence offers little choice between the two possibilities. Cuitlatec, if its postulated remote Uto-Azetecan relationship stands up, must represent a very early intrusion from the northwest (unless, of course, Wolfs [1959, p. 37] suggested Mexican hearthland for Proto-Uto-Aztecan be accepted, an hypothesis that offers enormous difficulties, requiring Shoshonean and Kiowa-Tanoan to be late intrusions from the south). The Huave may represent the impoverished remnants of earlier occupants of parts of eastern Oaxaca although nothing in their present culture supports the view of cultural decline. The now vanished Nahuat enclave on the south Oaxaca coast presumably dates from a pre-Nahua intrusion which extended into Central America. The pre-Nahua picture on the Gulf slope of the area is less clear, requiring as it does an explanation for the Zoquean and Mayan peoples. It is tempting to postulate, as some have done (Foster, 1943), an early Zoquean occupation of the Gulf slopes of Veracruz and eastern Oaxaca, displaced into mountain habitats by the expansion of Mayan 324

peoples to the north. The Maya distribution then may have been broken by a general expansion of Popolocan and Zapotecan peoples toward the lower elevations and into the coastal plain. Reports of the occurrence of cruciform subterranean tombs, apparently a Zapotec trademark, on the Gulf coastal plain, if substantiated, would lend support to this thesis. A number of difficulties preclude this hypothesis in our present state of knowledge. The relatively late date of separation of Huastecan from Chicomulceltec (10 minimum centuries according to Swadesh, 1961) is one. Another is the low cultural level of the Popoluca of Veracruz and the Mixe. There seems nothing to suggest that any Zoquean group ever participated fully in many of the more advanced aspects of Middle American culture such as substantial architecture or the large ceremonial center complex. They appear not to be impoverished former participants of the more advanced cultures but rather to be backward marginal peoples in environments which could not support the more elaborate aspects of Middle American culture. On the other hand, the lowland homeland which would seem reasonable on the basis of contemporary distributions was clearly one of the early developmental hearths of Middle American culture. Unless we accept the postulate that La Venta was the product of now vanished "rich relations," an eastern Veracruz homeland for the Zoqueans seems improbable. A more plausible explanation of the Zoqueans is that their ancestors early separated from the Proto-Macro-Mayance group, possibly to the south, where they adapted slash-and-burn agricultural techniques to a heavy rain-forest environment. They then migrated northward into relatively unoccupied areas offering the same environment. Certainly the Popoluca of Veracruz and the Mixe in their present distribution seem closely tied to the rain forests in contrast

SOUTHERN M E X I C A N HIGHLANDS: INTRODUCTION

to the modern Zapotec distribution associated with pine, dry oak, and tropical thorn-forest areas. This leaves the lowland Gulf plains to members of the Maya family. It is possible that early Mayan-speakers then were responsible for La Venta-Tres Zapotes. There may have been some intrusion of highland Macro-Mixtecans at various times. Huastecan at the north was not necessarily separated at this time, but was too distant to be influenced by the cultural developments of southern Maya in Classic and later times. The break between the northern and southern branches of Maya, according to this hypothesis, occurred with the southern and eastward push of the Nahua peoples. At this time, Huastec proper may have been pushed in a northerly direction and some of the intervening peoples absorbed, but one fraction, Chicomulceltec, was pushed southward into their present position as part of the general readjustments of the Maya in connection with the various Nahua intrusions to the south. We may now reinsert the Nahua-speaking peoples into the area. There seems little doubt that they were relatively late intruders, first appearing little earlier than the beginning of the Christian Era and possibly somewhat later. The Nahua split Oto-Pamean from their linguistic relatives to the south, occupying parts of Guerrero, Morelos, and Puebla and pushing southward along the Veracruz coastal plain, across the Isthmus to the Pacific coast and thence into Central America. It seems probable that this occurred in more than one wave, the first of Nahuat-speakers, the second, less extended, of Nahuatl-speakers. It is also likely that in many cases the Nahuaspeakers leapfrogged some of the local groups. Until we have more linguistic and ethnological analyses of these curiously neglected people, further speculation about them seems unprofitable. It seems highly likely, however, that Nahua pressures tend-

ed to drive groups on the Gulf drainage such as Mazatec and Popoloco de Puebla toward higher elevations, possibly contracting their territory. Pressures on the Mixtec were toward south and east, leading toward encroachments on Zapotec territory such as that evidenced at Monte Alban in the Valley of Oaxaca. It may be that the much greater political fragmentation and internal conflict among the Mixtee at the time of the conquest in comparison with the Zapotec also resulted from the pressures of Nahuaspeakers. In broad terms, then, the Popoloca-Zapotecan peoples and their descendants would appear to have been at or near their present locations since the early beginnings of agriculture and to have participated actively in the development of the highland version of Middle American native cultures. In general in the highest elevations, through time, the cultures were simpler than those of related peoples in more advantageous situations, much as mountain Zapotec culture is less rich than that of the Zapotec of the Valley of Oaxaca. There also probably existed throughout time a strong tradition of local variation, perhaps fostered by the development of village specialization, the diversity of agricultural production due to marked climatic differences within nearby areas, and the development of an extensive trading and marketing system. For the Gulf Coast there are still more enigmas than answers. Not only are the originators of the long and rich archaeological tradition of the lowlands uncertain, but the lack of study of the relatively late Nahua-speakers leaves uncertain the degree to which they transplanted highland traditions to the coast or the extent to which they adopted the lowland traditions of their predecessors. Finally, the Zoquean-speakers such as Mixe and Popoluca of Veracruz seem to show a simplified and possibly archaic version of the basic Middle American culture. 325

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In contrast to the majority of the various members of the Mixtecan group, they seem adapted to, and very largely confined to, mountainous areas of heavy rain or cloud forests. Finally, a few small groups of remote and in some cases uncertain linguistic affiliations on the Pacific slope such as Chontal, Tlapanec, and Cuitlatec cannot be placed culturally either at present or in the past because of lack of study. That they were also basically Middle American in culture type seems certain; the extent to which they shared in the more advanced cultures cannot be stated for lack of evidence. The Spanish conquest had little immediate impact on most cultures in the southern Mexican highlands. Most groups in the area remained neutral in the struggles in the Valley of Mexico. Curiously, the isolated Chinantec alone appear to have sought Spanish allegiance and sent several thousand spearmen to join the Spanish forces (Díaz, 1928). With the fall of Tenochtitlan, most of the groups continued to send traditional tributes. In consequence little Spanish military activity occurred in the area. The major exception was the visit of Alvarado into the Soconusco region to the east. Large areas of Oaxaca were included in the lands granted to form the Marquesado of Cortés. Principal early Spanish settlements in the highlands were about Cuernavaca in Morelos and in the Valley of Oaxaca. Many other highland regions were awarded as encomiendas but some of these must have been unproductive and quickly lapsed. Certainly, many were scarcely visited by their holders. The mountains of Oaxaca have few minerals, and mining became important only temporarily and in a few localities. On the coasts and in Guerrero the situation was quite different. Aguirre Beltrán (1958) has documented the situation in a placer-mining and later cattleraising area of the southern Guerrero coast. Cattle also became a scourge to native 326

farmers on the Gulf Coast. With one important exception, cattle-raising was early prohibited in most of the highlands. Sugar production in Morelos, parts of Guerrero, and the Gulf Coast likewise was damaging to native populations. The religious instruction of the Indians of the southern Mexican highlands was entrusted almost entirely to a single missionary order, the Dominicans. As the activities of this order were rather slow to get under way, establishment of convents in solely Indian regions did not really begin until about 1550. The Dominicans seemed concerned with formal orthodoxy in religious instruction and with administrative and economic reforms. Silk raising was encouraged, groups were relocated at times to take advantage of economic resources, Crown charters were obtained for many Indian communities, and community treasuries were developed, supported by communally farmed lands or communal herds. In the religious field, the emphasis on formal compliance was apparently accompanied by little supervision of household activities. As a result, in more isolated and mountainous areas there is a high retention of household and personal rituals of aboriginal character. In the economic field, the encouragement of extensive sheep and goat raising in the highland Mixtec area was disastrous in the long term. Spanish settlement in the southern Mexican highlands continued to be limited throughout much of the colonial period, especially in Oaxaca. Neither were there important military and administrative problems. The only difficult people apparently were the Mixe, whose territory the Spanish, like the Aztec before them, found too unrewarding to enter. The founding of San Ildefonso de Villa Alta in 1530 with a few Spanish families and a contingent of Tlaxcalans was mainly to confine the Mixe. In time, as confinement continued to be difficult, Dominican missionaries succeeded in

SOUTHERN MEXICAN HIGHLANDS: INTRODUCTION

a bloodless conquest. Although contacts began in 1550, it was not until around 1600 that the pacification was complete. Similar policies were followed elsewhere. When the Chontal were turbulent, a single missionary kept them in order for a long time. For a considerable period of time, one convent served the entire Mixteca Alta. Indirect rule through the continuation of native caciques in office apparently was both extensive and more enduring than in many other regions. The principal areas of continuing penetration of Spanish and Mestizo elements during colonial times were in parts of the coast and in the parts of the Balsas Basin along the Mexico City-Acapulco road. Here not only sugar and other profitable export crops could be grown, but the effects of such continuing mining centers as Taxco were felt. In these areas both extensive Mestizoization occurred and large Negro populations developed; indeed the populations of many areas of Guerrero, especially toward the coast, appear more Negro than Indian in origin. Here hacienda systems developed extensively compared with the more southerly and easterly regions, although part of Oaxaca around Miahuatlan was the major center for the highly profitable cochineal industry. The events of the struggle for independence touched the southern highland region as a whole rather lightly. More far-reaching were the results of the Reform laws and the Maximilian Empire. In more desirable areas such as the upper Balsas Basin or the Valle Nacional, extensive loss of village lands occurred. The Mixe territory for the first time was traversed by a military expedition; some fighting occurred in the Isthmus and along the northern borders of the area. The subsequent 60 years, however, were among the most turbulent since the conquest. In the Balsas region the groundwork for the Zapatista movement developed. The

railroad reached Oaxaca and penetrated along the Gulf Coast to Tehuantepec. Coffee and tobacco growing on a large scale were introduced and sugar cultivation expanded, bringing with them an increasingly abusive hacienda system. Soon after the beginning of the present century John Kenneth Turner (1911) was to write his famous Barbarous Mexico about the Valle Nacional. Even where not directly affected, smallscale coffee growing as a cash crop spread widely into suitable regions among such groups as Mazatec, Chinantec (who suffered most through the Valle Nacional development) and Mixe. The areas of hacienda development were involved heavily in the explosive events of the Revolution in 1910-20. Again the Balsas Basin was the scene of the greatest activity, but the Gulf Coast regions suffered prolonged disorder. The Mixteca Alta region and the valley of Oaxaca also were involved. Yet many towns of the mountainous regions, where most of the surviving Indians are to be found, probably gained greater independence almost immediately, disturbed though they were by raiders from all sides who behaved essentially as bandits. The Mixe, for example, claim that only one town, Juquila Mixes, was sacked by "Carrancistas." They also claim that no survivors returned to the Valley of Oaxaca. Yet some Mixe were drawn into the outside world to bring back a ferment of new ideas. The modern period since 1920 has brought many new influences to bear. Initially, recovery of lands by many Indian communities provided greater economic stability, while the gradual expansion of Federal rural schools has brought about many changes. Nevertheless, the majority of Indian communities seem to have successfully retained their closed corporate status. Outside pressures to abolish communal labor and communal religious ritual systems such as the Mayordomía have been relatively unsuccessful. At the same time improving 327

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communications are breaking down isolation. Although crop surpluses can be marketed more advantageously, communities increasingly are being penetrated by Mestizo shopkeepers. The integrative market system still functions. But its heart at Oaxaca faces a Sears & Roebuck store, and trucks and buses increasingly travel its arteries. Although the rich diversity of surviving cultures of the southern Mexican highlands has yet to be thoroughly investigated, to some extent two major traditions still persist. On the one hand are the active participants in the development of the highland type of advanced Middle American culture, mainly members of the Mixtecan, Zapotecan, and, to a lesser degree, Popolocan branches. Associated with these probably are the later Nahua intruders in Guerrero, Morelos, Puebla, and Veracruz. In general these peoples have been eliminated or

greatly reduced in numbers along the coastal areas through early exploitation, disease, and the introduction of cattle. Representatives of these groups generally show a somewhat simpler culture in more disadvantageous areas such as the higher mountains. Such peoples also tend to show a somewhat higher retention of pre-Spanish characteristics. The second tradition is represented by peoples who, although they participate in certain basic generalized characteristics of Middle American culture, seem never to have acquired its more elaborate forms. In some cases this is owing to isolation or specialized adaptations to less favorable environments. These include the Zoqueanspeaking peoples, perhaps Chinantec and Huave, and possibly some others who are still less well known.

REFERENCES Aguirre Beltrán, 1958 Carrasco, 1950 Caso, 1941 Coe, Μ. D., 1961 Dahlgren de Jordan, 1954 De la Fuente, 1949b Díaz del Castillo, 1928 Diebold, 1960 Durán Ochoa, 1955 Dyen, 1956 Fernández de Miranda, Swadesh, and Weitlaner, 1959 and Weitlaner, 1961 Foster, 1943 Inst. Nacional Indigenista (Mexico), 1950

328

Longacre and Millon, 1961 MacNeish, 1961, 1962 McQuown, 1955 Malinowski and De la Fuente, 1957 Mendizábal and Jiménez Moreno, 1936 , , and Arana Osnaya, 1959 Noriega and Cook de Leonard, 1959 Papaloapan, El, 1949 Parsons, 1936 Swadesh, 1947, 1959a, 1959b, 1959c, 1960, 1961 Turner, 1911 Vivó, 1941, 1958 Whetten, 1948 Wolf, 1959

16. The Zapotec of Oaxaca

LAURA

F

REDERICK STARR (1901, p. 150), gives a favorable impression of the Zapotee.

The Zapotecs of today are really, like their ancestors of the past, among the most pleasing Indians of Mexico. They are intelligent, industrious, acquisitive, and progressive. In many of their towns the municipal building is creditable. The tribe has produced men eminent as political leaders, soldiers, and scholars. The great President, Juarez, was a full-blood Zapotec. The Indian Secretary of San Blas (district of Tehuantepec) has written and published a grammar of his native dialect . . . which is creditable. . . . In the light of this sketch a recent statement by Julio de la Fuente (1960, p. 233) seems particularly apt: "No obstante la insuficiencia de datos sobre el grupo zapoteco, lo que de su cultura se sabe permite proponer la hipótesies de que no estamos frente a una cultura sino ante varias." Early reports by Spanish friars describe the southern part of Mexico, now politically united as the state of Oaxaca, as a land of many different tribes, languages, and cultures. Maps made by these friars plot the

NADER

language distribution of at least 15 groups. The largest of these groups in areal extension and in number of speakers is the Zapotee. In Oaxaca, Zapotec is spoken principally in the districts of del Centro, Etla, Zimatlan, Ejutla, Tlacolula, Ixtlan, Villa Alta, Choapan, Ocotlan, Miahuatlan, Yautepec, Tehuantepec, Juchitan, Pochutla, and Juquila. A few settlements are found in Tlaxiaco, and one in Guerrero (Radin, 1925, pp. 28-29; Barlow, 1944, pp. 359-61); De la Fuente names Zapotec settlements extending into Veracruz (1947a, p. 149), and Isthmus Zapotec extend into Chiapas (fig. 1; F. Starr, 1904, p. 122). Zapotec, today numbering approximately 215,650 speakers, is listed in the 1960 census as a single language, rather than as a language family, and less is known about this family than the Nahua or Mayan language families (Swadesh, 1949, p. 418). In spite of similarities such as the use of tones (ibid., pp. 44748), regional variations in Zapotec speech, popularly referred to as dialects, are in fact distinct languages which vary as much as the Romance languages of Spanish, Italian, or French (ibid, p. 419), and Swadesh pos329

FIG. 1 — G E O G R A P H I C DISTRIBUTION OF THE ZAPOTEO, OAXACA. (Drawn by T. E. Kemnitzer.)

ZAPOTEO

tulates differentiation in about the same amount of time, 1500 years. With exceptions, language differences from pueblo to pueblo, and even within different barrios of the same town (De la Fuente, 1949b, p. 33) are markedly important. The fact that the Isthmus was colonized by the Zapotec only a short time prior to the conquest has been used to explain the lack of local linguistic diversity there. Linguistic variation may be gradual, as between the Rincón pueblos, or abrupt as between San Jose Lachiregi and San Francisco Yohueche of the southern Zapotec mountains. Until now the degree of regional variation has been greatly underestimated. In 1949 Swadesh (pp. 417-48) tentatively outlined the probable distribution of languages within the Zapotec family, making clear that a definite treatment of Zapotec can be undertaken only after careful studies have been made on a pueblo-to-pueblo basis. Swadesh summarizes earlier classifications (Radin, 1930; Angulo and Freeland, 1933) and synthesizes the data as of 1949. Accordingly, six Zapotec languages which show important phonetic, lexical, and structural differences are suggested: (1) Serrano, (2) Nexitzo, (3) Villalteco, (4) Valle, (5) Tehuano and (6) Miahuateco. This classification is practically identical with Radin (1930), based on linguistic considerations and on Belmar (1905a), which was probably based on geographical and historical considerations. Since 1949 no major attempt has been made to revise this classification although the researches of De la Fuente (1947a, pp. 144, 154-57), Weitlaner (personal communication) and Nader indicate that the number of Zapotec languages may number at least nine. Their geographic distribution would be: in the northern mountains (1) Sierra de Juarez (Serrano), (2) Rincón (Nexitzo), (3) Caxones, (4) Bixanas; in the Valley of Oaxaca (5) valley Zapotee; in the Isthmus (6) Isthmus Zapotec; and in the southern mountains three that we could tentatively call by the name

of towns which speak mutually unintelligible languages: (7) Lachiregi, (8) Yohueche, and (9) Loxicha. De la Fuente (1947a, p. 153) has noted that classificatory terms alluding to language differences are used to distinguish one region from another. This is not always the best way to formally define linguistic boundaries, but it does indicate the tentative nature of the boundaries that the Zapotec are willing to draw for themselves. A look into the surrounding area completes the setting. Mixteeos are in contact with Zapotee especially in the northern mountains, Chatinos in the southeast, and Chuchones, Chinantecos, Mexicanos, and Popolucas to the north. Further, in the midst of the Zapotecan area there are Mixe, Zoque, Huave, and Chontal groups. In addition, Spanish is everywhere, often serving as a lingua franca, a tool especially useful in trade between Zapotec and Mixe, Zapotec and Mixteco, Zapotec and Zapotee. An exception to this is the Isthmus where Tehuano has been used as a lingua franca among Europeans, Mexicans, and various indigenous groups alike. Linguistic areas do not necessarily coincide with cultural areas. A gross description of cultural areas could state that the people of the northern Sierra have more in common with each other than they do with the valley Zapotec, that the Choapan Zapotec may have more in common with the Chinantec than with the Sierra Zapotec, that the valley Zapotee may have more in common with valley Mestizo towns than either have with the Tehuantepec Zapotec, and so on. We can draw crude boundaries between mountain, valley, and isthmus peoples, on the basis of language, costume, and heritage, but it may be more enlightening to cut the pie another way and talk about a typology of Zapotec communities based on economic organization (see Carrasco, 1951a). Three types of communities could be distinguished: (1) units producing cash crops for national and international 331

FIG. 2 — T O P O G R A P H Y OF THE ZAPOTEO AND SURROUNDING AREAS. (Drawn by T. E. Kemnitzer.)

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markets; (2) villages and towns producing for their own consumption and that of small local markets using either slash-and-burn agriculture (in which case crafts are usually absent), or permanent fields with plow (in which case crafts are often present); and (3) the urban towns (Juchitan, Tehuantepec), where prime economic endeavors center in the market. Diversity is also represented in the Zapotecan habitat—a series of mountain chains, isolated peaks, deep canyons, and a few valleys sprinkled throughout the area. For summary purposes, four main geographic units (fig. 2) are delineated: (1) The great valley area lies in the center of the state, around the capital city of Oaxaca. There are three spacious valleys here that flow into one another: Etla, running northwest of the capital, Zaachila-Zimatlan south, and Oaxaca-Tlacolula southeast. This area is bounded on the north by the Sierra Madre Oriental, on the southeast by the mountains of Tlacolula, and on the south by the Sierra Madre del Sur. The altitude is approximately 1300 m. above sea level. (2) The Sierra or mountain region to the north, from around Ixtlan across to the Mixe country and the grandiose Zempoaltepec, is one of the most massive mountain regions in the state, and in parts said to be one of the most fertile regions, rich in wood and minerals. Until recently the geographic situation made contact with the valley prohibitive, and the inhabitants preferred to trade with the Bajos of Veracruz. (3) The Isthmus, on the other hand, reflects a grand system of communication. This flat, extensive region borders on the Pacific, primarily centering around the Tehuantepec and Juchitan districts, and the port of Salina Cruz. Isthmus terrain is a drastic change from the surrounding landscape: a low, rolling plain covered with nondescript brush of brown and gray. (4) Perhaps the least known of the Zapotec live in the southern Zapotec mountains, sometimes referred to as the Sierra de Miahuatlan. From Mia-

huatlan to the Pacific coast this mountain system rises to a high point at El Cerro de Pluma (2,120 m.). Then comes the great descent to the fertile coast of the Pacific. The Zapotec of the south occupy the highest parts of this Pacific cordillera, which runs almost parallel to the coast until it reaches the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. According to Weitlaner (1963), the area occupied by the Zapotee extends from Miahuatlan to the coastal area not far from Pochutla and Puerto Angel. The highway from Oaxaca to Pochutla cuts this region practically in half, reaching the height of almost 3000 m. before dropping down to the Pacific. Available information makes conspicuous what we do not know about the geography of the state of Oaxaca. As in the discussion of language families, there does not exist any clear separation between mountain systems. They blend into one another much as does the language and culture of the Zapotec which occupy the area. For a broad description of climate in these regions we might say that the coast is hot, the valley temperate, the adjacent mountains cool, and the Isthmus low and warm. Although these contrasts are striking, the climate shows certain uniform features. Throughout the area there are distinct seasonal variations in rainfall. Tehuantepec may receive more precipitation than the valley, but both have a rainy season. The important factor is that all sections experience the seasonal shift from dry to rainy. Similarly the range of temperature does not necessarily change radically with the seasonal wet-dry shift. For example, Oaxaca City has a daily average temperature of approximately 21°C. Such broad features, however, do not detract from the observation that local climate types are most certainly diversified. This diversity affects conditions for land cultivation and results in a variety of local products and an extensive trade network. The knowledge we have of postcontact history is general rather than specific. Major 333

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FIG. 3 — Z A P O T E C MAN, MITLA. (From F. Starr, 1899b.)

postcontact events show that two factors should be considered. First, contact between Spanish and Zapotec did not occur simultaneously in all parts of Oaxaca. The process which began in the 16th century is still going on. Second, those who wrote about this postcontact period represent such a variety of professional interests that the ethnologist has to rely on materials which are unevenly distributed. A profound history of this period may still be written if use is made of old administrative and local historical documents, such as has been done recently by Rosendo Pérez García (1956). Contact came early for the valley and isthmus Zapotec and also for the northern mountain regions (around the Villa Alta 334

district), later for other areas (Miahautlan to Pochutla). The valley and isthmus Zapotec have since the 16th century been the most intensively open to Spanish and, later, to Mexican contact. In spite of early contact in the northern mountain area, it is safe to say that probably the least acculturated and the greatest number of monolingual Zapotee are still to be found here and in the southern mountains. Early contact in the northern mountains was partly due to the natives of the region who sought contact with the Spanish in order to enhance their position in the war that the Villa Altecans were carrying on with the Mixes of Totontepec. Pérez García (1956, pp. 63-72) has published parts of an old document found in the archives of the Juzgado Mixto de Primera Instancia de Villa Alta (also to be found translated from the original Zapotee in the municipal archives of Talea, Juquila, and other Rincón towns) which describes a decision made by respected ancianos of the Rincón and Villa Alta region to send a commission of elder statesmen to Tenochtitlan with the express purpose of having an audience with Cortés. Armed with presents they informed "King" Cortés that they wished to become Christians and invited him to Christianize their mountain zone. These representatives returned baptized and accompanied by Fray Bartolomé de Olmedo (the first fraile conquistador to enter Oaxaca), and others chosen by Cortés to begin the Christianization and Hispanization of Zapotee Oaxaca. According to Gay (1881), the most active of the Spanish frailes during this period were the Dominicans. Burgoa (1934) gives a vivid account of one such Dominican, Fray Gonzálo Lucero, who walked through the northern mountains ragged and barefoot, converting the natives. The Franciscans, Augustinians, and Jesuits who arrived at the end of the 16th century continued this regional proselytizing. The southern Zapotee area was missionized by lay priests; its history is less well known. Spanish con-

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trol and domination extended to these southern mountains as a result of the power struggle between Cortés, as Marques del Valle, and the ayuntamiento of Oaxaca, then called Antequera. The argument ended with a depopulation of the city. Many Spaniards retired to the southern coasts and others to the northern mountains. Mining ventures increased. Meanwhile in the Valley of Oaxaca and surrounding country colonization had been accelerated: the encomienda system was under way; heavy taxes were introduced; slaves used in the mines and fields drastically changed the traditional division of labor between man and woman; the concentration of Indians in larger compact settlements affected the traditional economic system adversely. It was only decades later that the new crops brought from Europe (wheat, sugarcane, fruits of various kinds), and new tools (the wooden plow, the horizontal loom, and the long iron-pointed staff —garrocha) and arms (the steel machete, axes) were to be used in the economic favor of the Indian and the developing Mestizo and Creole class. Gay (1881, 1: 319-35) describes Oaxaca as a "teatro de . . . desordenes." The Spanish were determined to achieve economic riches at any cost; the Indians were constantly reverting to arms to protect themselves from extortion and violence. As early as 1531 there was insurrection in the Sierra. Around 1570 the Mixe sacked the Zapotec villages of Villa Alta. To counteract this attack the Zapotec received aid from some Spanish soldiers from Antequera, from the Mixtec of Cuilapa and the garrison of Tlaxcaltecas who were stationed at Analco, a brief fiveminute walk from Villa Alta. The Relación of Balsalobre (1892) describes the flavor of religious persecutions during the 17th century by presenting a substantial amount of information about native religious beliefs and how they were treated. The rebellion of the 1660's stretched from Tehuantepec to Calpulpan in the district of

Ixtlan. The revolt was primarily carried out by the Zapotec of Ixtepeji, Tehuantepec, and Nejapan who could no longer tolerate the oppressive assessments of the alcaldes mayores. Both men and women took part in this revolt (Pérez García, 1956, pp. 75-79; Rojas González, 1949b,c for a brief undocumented summary of major postcontact economic, social, and political events). In spite of the fact that such Zapotec leaders as Benito Juárez from Guelatao in the Sierra and Rosendo Pineda, Juchiteco from the Isthmus, were prominent in state and national politics of Mexico, for the most part the Zapotec did not play a leading role in the War of Independence. And later, during the revolution to overthrow Porfirio Díaz, the Oaxaca Mestizos and Creoles, famed for their part in the national politics of Oaxaca, played the more active part. A list of the distribution of major haciendas in Oaxaca at the beginning of the present century (Rojas González, 1949c, pp. 179-84) may indicate the areas where the greatest impact on Zapotec tradition existed. Within what may be called the Zapotee domain the most affected districts were: del Centro, Etla, Teotitlan, Ocotlan, Ejutla, Miahuatlan, Pochutla, Tlacolula, Tehuantepec, Juchitan and Choapan. Haciendas were conspicuously missing in the districts of Villa Alta and Ixtlan. The best published sources on Zapotec postcontact history are Gay (1881, especially 1: 8-9 [for a list of cities in Oaxaca speaking Zapotec], 230-54, 255-90, 32035; 2: 7-48); Martínez Gracida (1883a) for an etymological catalogue of Zapotec pueblo names; Belmar (1905a) for a discussion of Oaxacan languages and distributions; Balsalobre (1892) on early religious beliefs; Pérez García (1956) for historical information on the Sierra Juarez; Burgoa (1934); and Orozco y Berra (1864, especially pp. 87-118). Although no serious attempts have been made to reconstruct changes in the size of Zapotee populations since the conquest, 335

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FIG. 4 — Z A P O T E C WOMEN AND CHILDREN, TLACOLULA, OAXACA. (From F. Starr, 1899b.)

Borah's contribution (1960) to the reconstruction of demographic process of the Mixteca provides a constructive model for such work. Furthermore, some of Borah's findings also apply to Zapotec areas. There was a population decline owing to war, the introduction of Old World diseases, and the drastic reorganization of aboriginal life as a result of fusion of Indian and European civilization (1960, p. 159). From the 17th century to the year 1895, when the first government census was taken, we can only speculate as to population trends for the Zapotec. Materials so painstakingly utilized by Borah for the Mixteca Alta could also be investigated by ethnologists interested in the Zapotee: counts and estimates such as the report of the Bishop of Oaxaca of 1571 336

(ibid., pp. 161-63), local census reports, polltax lists; records of taxes and other levies which relate to population; records of births, marriages, and deaths kept by parish curates. Today population figures should be accepted as only the grossest of estimates. One Rincón village in which an ethnographic census of 1700 had been taken had a published figure of 300. Some villages interested in government aid and attention will swell the actual population figures in order to enhance their position. Others interested in avoiding government interference will report an absurdly low figure. Such errors for general population figures are multiplied tenfold when specific censuses are taken, such as those for language for example. The

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question, How many Zapotec speakers are there in "X" village? may be answered in many ways. The 1940 census cites the number of Zapotec-speakers as 93,898. The 1950 census numbers 215,651 speakers. My guess is that the number of Zapotec-speakers is greater than any of the censuses indicate. If we do not use language as the only criterion for being Zapotec, but include common cultural features and common genetic origin, the number of Zapotec in the state of Oaxaca could be well over 300,000. Ethnological investigation of Zapotec cultures has been irregular, both with regard to subject matter and region of investigation. Major contributions to Zapotec ethnology have been made by Mexicans and Americans, a handful of whom were trained anthropologists. There have been two periods of relatively greater interest in the Zapotec: 1931-40, and 1945-49. Both periods of activity were largely associated with special Zapotec projects. Neza, a magazine about Zapotec culture by Isthmus Zapotec, was published from 1935 to 1939. Los Zapotecos (Mendieta y Núñoz, 1949) was a collection of historical and ethnographic writings about the Zapotee, written (with one exception) by non-anthropological investigators of the Instituto de Investigaciones Sociales. The period 1950-63 reflects a drastic drop in number of publications on the Zapotec. Research among the Zapotee has been done in bits and spurts. There has been no planned regional research. A few ethnographers have spent a sustained period researching in specific communities: Parsons spent more than a year in Mitla, De la Fuente spent 11 months in Yalalag, Malinowski and De la Fuente more than eight months on the Oaxaca market system, Leslie more than 10 months in Mitla, Nader 11 months among the Rincón Zapotec. De la Fuente has done the greatest amount of productive fieldwork, having worked in a single community, surveyed broad regions, and studied the market system of Oaxaca.

F. Starr (1901, pp. 145-52; 1904, pp. 84123) was the earliest ethnographer to report on the Zapotec; Belmar (1890,1902a, 1905a) the earliest modern linguist to publish on language. Radin (1915-1947) worked on language and folklore, Schmieder (1930a,b) on cultural geography. Parsons (1936) made the first community study; De la Fuente (1949a,b), the second. Malinowski and De la Fuente (1957) have made the only intensive study of an urban market network in Mexico. Leslie (1960a) is the only ethnographer to define Zapotec world view and to "revisit" a Zapotec community. Nader (1964) makes a comparison of two Rincón Zapotec villages in different states of change. A report of the University of Wisconsin Social Use of Solar Energy Field Project in Teotitlan del Valle has not been published, although a film on this project (by James Silverburg and Hal Serrie) has been produced. Brief visits to the southern Zapotec by Carrasco (1951b), Weitlaner and De Cicco (1962), and Weitlaner (1958b, 1963) have resulted in important information on the Zapotee calendar and the hierarchy of gods. Covarrubias (1946), and Steininger and Van de Velde (1935) have both made valuable contributions, the first being a vivid sketch of a well-known area poorly reported in the literature, and the latter a solid popular account of a mountain village near the valley. The work of Gilberto Orozco (1946) is a useful account of customs and legends by a native isthmus citizen. At various times students have been interested in the Zapotec language. In 1687 Padre Pacheco translated the Spanish catechism into Rincón Zapotec. Translation for religious reasons continues today. Linguists of the Instituto de Verano are working on Bible translations in the following areas: Miahuatlan, Sierra Juarez, Yatzachi, the Isthmus and in the Rincón Zapotee region. Primarily, although not exclusively, their work has been directed toward problems in descriptive linguistics. Today we have two modern grammatical descriptions for Zapo337

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tec (Briggs, 1961; Pickett, 1960), several vocabulary listings (Radin, 1925; Swadesh, 1949; Pickett, 1959 and others), and a great deal of linguistic text material. Other linguists, interested in problems of historical reconstruction, have proposed schemes for relating the Zapotec language family to the broader Mexican linguistic picture. Some of these linguists have used the traditional techniques of comparative linguistics; others, using lexicostatistical techniques, have relied primarily on vocabulary listings. All these linguists have been interested in the common features of the Zapotec family as well as its relation to other groups. Belmar and Radin early noted a relation between Mixtec, Zapotec, and Otomi. These have been grouped together under the phyla Macro-Otomanguean, but the exact relation between these language families has yet to be documented. Angulo and Freeland (1933), Mendizabal and Jiménez Moreno (1937), Mason (1940), Swadesh (1949), Fernández de Miranda, Swadesh, and Weitlaner (1959), Fernández de Miranda and Weitlaner (1961), and Longacre and Millon (1961) have all contributed heavily in this field. In summary, although modern linguistic studies are being carried out in all regions, the ethnographic coverage is not so even. There are no community studies for Ixtlan or Choapan, or for the southern Zapotec; there has been no professional ethnographic work published on the famed Isthmus area. Modern ethnographic research for the most part has not been concerned with comparison within the Zapotec areas. SUBSISTENCE SYSTEMS AND FOOD PATTERNS

Although the Zapotec are frequently referred to as commercially minded folk interested in trade, the majority of them farm for subsistence, sell excess produce themselves, and supplement this agricultural base with small regional industries. Even in Zapotee urban areas such as San Jeroni338

mo Ixtepec, Juchitan de Zaragoza, and Tehuantepec, commerce and agriculture go hand in hand in the same family. In their review of Zapotee agricultural patterns Alba and Cristerna (1949, p. 452) say that agricultural practices of the valley Zapotec are the same as those used by the smallest and farthest villages: "Los cultivos son los mismos, el sistema es el mismo y los instrumentos de labranza son los mismos, y solo varían los precios de las semillas, los costos de la mano de obra y la clase y precios de tierra. . . ." De la Fuente (1960, p. 236), however, states the case more accurately: Junto a una posible universalidad del machete, hay bastante diversidad en los instrumentos y las tecnicas agrícolas; en Choapan, se usa la coa de mango recto y largo; en Caxonos, la de mango curvo y corto, el gancho, la estaca, el azadón, la barreta y en alguna medida, el arado; en el valle, la primera coa citada y el arado y en el Istmo, azuda, arado y aún tractor. En Choapan y Caxonos se emplea la roza y en el valle, el tapapie, la cazoleta y el riego de hortalizas con cántaro. La cría de aves de corral y en menor grado la de cerdos, están muy generalizados. La ganadería mayor se circumscribe más bien al valle y al istmo, regiones en las que, por la topografía, en gran medida, se usa la carreta, que está siendo desplazada por vehículos modernos. In the four geographical regions previously mentioned corn is grown; other seeds (beans and squash) may be planted with the corn, such practice eliminating the special preparation of land for such products. Both maiz tempranero and maiz temporal are usually grown but the time needed for harvest varies with the climatic and contrasting soil zones. The harvest of temporal may be anywhere from three to nine months for instance. Other products such as chile are not so widely grown owing to the special needs of this plant or of the people who would eat it. Peanuts are grown in abundance only in the valley, and coffee is the

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main export crop in the northern Sierra (around Talea de Castro, Villa Alta, and Choapan) and in the southern Sierra (around Pochutla). Wheat is grown primarily in the district of Ixtlan, sugarcane in the valley, the isthmus, and some parts of the humid mountains of the Rincón area. Irrigation is used in the valley and the isthmus. In the two sierras irrigation techniques are limited, and irrigation is only used when rivers are abundant and close by. The majority of farmers use an ox-dragged plow. Those who do not own a yoke of draft animals (yuntas) rent them. In the mountains the coa (the Mexican digging stick) is more useful when planting on steep inclines. Fertilizer, when used, is nearly always animal; human excrement is used whenever possible. De la Fuente (1949b, p. 85) reports the use of excrement of a specific ant (Hormiga arriera), and I noted coffeebean shells being used around Talea. Chemical fertilizers are for the most part unknown. Fields are cleared by slash-and-burn techniques. They usually alternate one year of bean planting, two years of milpa, and then rest one year (Yalalag); the pattern of rest, however, depends very much on the soil. Fishing is the important mode of subsistence for isthmus Zapotec coastal villages. In the Sierra and especially in the Rincón, fishing for bovos (freshwater trout?) or freshwater shrimp is an important activity during some seasons for villages located near large streams. In recent years dynamite has been used for catching bovos, although earlier intricate fishing traps were laid. Gathering is important in the mountain regions where quelites (vegetable greens) are abundant; insects such as grasshoppers are gathered and eaten as special delicacies. Hunting here also provides additions to the diet, especially in dispersed settlement areas. Jabali (wild pig), deer, pavo real (wild turkey) are the most important hunted animals. Bees are cultivated for honey occasionally. Food patterns vary around the common

denominators of maize (from which tortillas, atole, pozole, and tamales are made), beans, meat, and sea products, but variations in preparation and availability are considerable. De la Fuente (1960, p. 239) says: . . . en Choapan se hacen tortillas medianas, tamales pequeños y maiz diluída en agua [pozole]. En Caxonos, las tortillas son mas gruesa y grandes; los tamales tienen otras formas; el pozole sigue siendo maza de maíz, agria o endulzada y diluida en agua y se tiene como bebida ceremonial el 'pozontle' hecho con maiz cocido, martajaco, mezclado con cacao y ciertas yerbas, endulzado y diluido en agua. En el valle las tortillas tienden a ser pequeños o medianas; los tamales tienen gran elaboración; solo aqui parece hacerse el 'nicoatole' y el equivalente del pozontle es el 'tejate,' hecho con masa diluida en agua, polvo de pixtle tostada y alguna flor. En el Istmo se da, entre las variedades de tortillas, el totopo perforado hecho no en comal sino en horno; el pozole es maza de maiz, con panela y semilla de maiz tostado y el pozontle tiene su equivalente en la 'espuma' ceremonial [called posonke in the Rincón], que consiste en atole caliente, con cacao, azúcar y pétalos de súchil y jazmín de Arabia. . . . El Istmo es distintivo entre las regiones por el énfasis en el consumo de productos de mar, queso, iguana, carne de cerdo y otros. It should be added that bread styles vary regionally; for example, the Sierra of Ixtlan is known for its salt bread, the Rincón for its sweet bread. Rincón Zapotec find valley cheese a special treat; no cheese is produced in the Sierra. For the southern Zapotec Weitlaner (1963) reports the following variations on the tortilla: "tortillas con frijol molido, . . . tortillas de coyol, tortillas de camote, . . . tortillas de elote, yuca. . . ." Fish and shrimp are cooked in soup, beef and wild animals are prepared by roasting. They drink el bejuco de agua, a wine or pulque made from palma de coquito (coconut palm). Taimas de coyul are not consumed because of the prohibitions on cutting this palm. Men and women eat together, seated on 339

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the ground or on benches. Hands are washed before and after meals, the belief being that such handwashing ritual will keep the ants and tejones from eating recently planted seeds. Weitlaner reports a fourfold classification of foods; fríos (such as rice, beans, roosters, avocados, pork, eggs); calientes (salt, coffee, honey, beef, oranges); dudosos (yuca, bread, camote); and tonificantes (milk, lemon). The hot-cold classification of foods is widespread in the whole area, being reported for valley, Rincón, Caxonos, and isthmus as well. SETTLEMENT PATTERNS

Rural settlements in the valley are principally compact or clustered villages, a pattern Schmieder (1930a,b) suggests is preHispanic. When the Spaniards first entered the valley of Tlacolula they found large, compact villages. At that time each of the pueblos owned considerable territory and very often had aldeas attached to them. When farms developed too far away from the main settlements, the Zapotec would settle permanently near their fields, forming aldeas or rancherías, which for a time remained dependent on the main pueblo. Today the size of these clustered settlements varies a good deal. Some villages rich in land rent sections to Indians from other communities. In other settlements the situation is reversed, and inhabitants are constantly seeking land to squat on, or to gain by means of an endless series of lawsuits. Property and land-tenure patterns (see below) result in the dispersal of a single individual's property around the village, a tradition which Schmieder suggests impedes the dissolution of the village. As far as can be deduced from pre-Hispanic and colonial materials, this settlement pattern has a long tradition among the Zapotec. Schmieder (generalizing primarily from his investigations in Mitla) contrasts the Zapotec with the Mixtec feudal land system and with the Mixe hamlet-like dispersed settlements. 340

The environmental situation in the mountains is certainly different from the valley. Yet the mountain Zapotec also live in compact settlements in spite of the difficult terrain. The scarcity of land suitable for the crops they raise encourages farmers to seek land at quite a distance from the pueblo, but generally the men commute to their fields and live in town. There are some exceptions. In the Rincón, for example, Juquila Vijanos has traditionally been a large (1700 population) town of dispersed homesteads. Most citizens maintain a domicile in the town center (Nader, 1964) but live on their ranchos. It is clear that certain aspects of the Zapotee settlement pattern cannot be explained in terms of environment alone. Sierra Zapotee and Mixes inhabit a similar environment; Zapotec settlements are primarily compact, and pre-Spanish Mixe settlements (Reals, 1945b, p. 14) were primarily dispersed hamlets. Spanish influence in the mountains blossomed not in the form of haciendas but in compact mining settlements sometimes long-lived such as the Mineral de Natividad, or temporary such as the town of Santa Gertrudis below Talea de Castro. For the southern Zapotec Carrasco (1951b, p. 91) reports settlements concentrated in villages, with scattered rancherías being semi-dependent on the pueblos (for San Rartolo, San Augustin, and Candelaria). The isthmus rural villages and the two principal cities of Juchitan and Tehuantepec are also compact (Covarrubias, 1946, pp. 152-53). Tehuantepec is a closely congregated, cosmopolitan city organized into 12 barrios, at the outskirts of which are individual milpas, and at the center the fascinating market area. Its rival city to the north, Juchitan (Covarrubias, 1946, p. 159), is a sprawling town of 20,000 nearly "pure" Zapotec inhabitants. Unlike Tehuantepec, it is not divided into barrios but into sectors that have no ceremonial significance. The people do recognize several divisions

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(Orozco, 1946, p. 51): the center where the merchants, shopkeepers, and "better" families live; the north or "uptown" section where embroidery and palm artifacts are made, and where there is an industry run by Syrians; the south section where live the poorer peasants, flower growers, and hunters of iguana and wild boar. Residential areas within a settlement, such as barrios, are important in some regions (Yalalag, Mitla, southern Zapotec), unimportant in others; the word barrio is used to refer to nonlocalized savings and loan associations in the Rincón and Yalalag. The development and function of barrios probably is best explained by historical reconstruction of the social organization of a particular town. The spatial arrangement of houses within a town varies from houses with yard and fence around them (Sierra Juarez), to houses with very little land around but with patios on the inside (variable distribution), to houses with corridors facing the street and built close to one another (Juquila town center). Houses are one-storied in the traditional towns and increasingly two-storied in the "progressive" towns (Sierra de Ixtlan, Talea); one-roomed in the dispersed ranch area, often two rooms or more in compact towns. Variations in the use of space within a house are described by Nader (1964) for the Rincón Zapotec. TECHNOLOGY

Apart from the tools described under "Subsistence Systems and Food Patterns" for agriculture there is a mill made of pine or metal (trapiche) used for grinding sugarcane and pulled by mules or horses, large pots for distilling mezcal (alambiques de olla), the backstrap loom for weaving, and various kitchen utensils. For good descriptions of tools and utensils see De la Fuente (1949b, pp. 48-52, 77-79) and Covarrubias (1946, pp. 278-81). Except for the weaving of cotton on the backstrap loom, and some leatherwork, the

Coapan, Villa Alta, Rincón, and Ixtlan regions have not developed crafts. Even weaving is rarely found in the villages of the Sierra de Ixtlan. What is needed is imported: serapes, petates, metates, pottery. In the Caxonos, however, craft production is varied: pottery, ixtle, huaraches, woven materials. In the valley the weaving of woolen products (such as the serapes of Teotitlan) is more important than cotton. The "colonial loom" is used. There is a great deal of pottery and a variety of modern crafts. In the isthmus there is some cotton weaving, pottery making, and palm weaving. In the southern Zapotec area there is some pottery, weaving of palm and, only rarely now, cotton. Weitlaner reports (1963) the production of fishing tackle (jarcieria), tompeates, a type of woolen scrape worn as an outer garment (jorongo), and the dyeing of material by utilizing liquids taken from the snail (caracól). The distribution of arts and industries briefly described by F. Starr (1901, pp. 150-51) was made the subject of a monograph years later by Malinowski and De la Fuente (1957). The form of the aboriginal Zapotec house was probably a rectangular or square room, with one door, no windows, and a fourpitched roof, which varied primarily in the materials used for construction and in size. So it is for the most part today although the number and spacing of rooms adds new dimensions to the continuum. The one-room house is still the most common. Sleeping, eating, cooking, and praying are activities carried out in a single room. Whether the house is of one or many rooms does not necessarily predict the materials used. In Choapan (De la Fuente, 1960, p. 238) house walls are made of wooden posts on which is set a four-pitched roof of zacate. A kitchen is sometimes attached. The Caxonos have a one-storied house with stoneand-mud walls, and a one-slope roof made from poles (morülos), reed, or tile; the kitchen may be inside or attached. Some houses have the temascal (sweat house) in341

FIG. 5 — Z A P O T E C COMPOUND, MITLA, OAXACA. (From F. Starr, 1899b.)

side. In Ixtlan a similar house is built, but there are new styles here using wooden walls, and a roof of light wooden shingles. The temascal is also found. In Rincón towns adobe houses with tile roofs now outnumber zacate. Rancho-type houses, with a fourpitched roof of zacate and walls of wattleand-daub or stone-and-mud are interspersed in town and rancho areas. In some cases the kitchen is a separate building. With the exception of Talea all houses have a temascal inside which serves the double purpose of bath and bed. In the valley the house with the fourpitched roof is still built, characteristically having the thatch carried up and protected by an upturned section to avoid penetration of rain. Adobe huts with tile roofs are also common (De la Fuente, 1960, p. 238). The temascal and the fenced solar are variablv present. 342

Isthmus houses are spacious, one-roomed, double-walled with sticks filled in with mud, roof of palm supported independently of the walls on heavy forked posts. Some are made of adobe, and there are modern house types. The temascal is not present. The enramada—a thatched roof supported on corner posts but without walls frequently constructed near houses and used as airy places for work, entertainment, or lounging during the day or as shelters over the hammocks at night (Covarrubias, 1946, pp. 26671)—is typical of Tehuantepec, however. Starr (1904, p. 122) describes the houses from San Geronimo to Tuxtla Gutierrez as "rectangular, composed of poles daubed with mud and whitewashed, and roofed with high, steeply-pitched roofs." From the point of view of changes in family life, housebuilding innovations that have affected interpersonal relations most

ZAPOTEC

are: the increase in the number of rooms (although in spite of increases, the family will often continue to live in one room), and the elimination of the temascal which functions as the family bed. Status symbols of the more progressive houses are: number of rooms, number of stories, and use of whitewash. House furnishings are few. Small undecorated wooden benches, a few storage nets, the matrimonial trunk, and a small table would fill the more humble homes. Modern additions consist of a variety of wooden beds, a sewing machine, and an improvement in storage bins. Hammocks are used for daytime lounging in all parts, excluding the isthmus coastal towns where the hammock bed is common. Most towns (whether they be agencias or municipios) have a municipal building made of wattle-and-daub, adobe brick, or cement. Most towns also have one or several school buildings. In the northern Sierra the majority of towns have a house for each of their musicians groups. The form of dress varies with locality within and between regions, usually displaying a continuum from pre-Hispanic to modern dress. Among the Rincón Zapotec dress reflects town, regional, and national citizenry. For instance, in Yobego, a Zapotec town bordering on the Bajos and the Chinantla, women wear a simple, long, white woven huipil with colorful bands down the side. This flows to mid-calf and hides part of the brown and white striped wraparound skirt held up with a palm belt {faja de palma). In San Juan Yaee, Lachichina, and Tanetze, the woven wraparound is now white, or brown and white striped; the huipil has about disappeared in favor of colorfully decorated peasant blouses of manta. In San Juan Juquila the all-white woven huipil is short and tucked under the wraparound. The faja used to wrap the skirt tight is palma at base covered over with a colored faja. The color distinguishes the town: Juquila, red; Tanetze, black, etc.

In Talea woven cloth has not been in use for over 40 years probably. Full skirts of manta with peasant blouses are now disappearing in favor of daintily patterned cotton dresses, loosely fashioned to cover the peasant blouse and skirt now worn as underclothing. In Choapan the huipil is used but the skirt is of modern materials. The huipil is still generally used in Caxonos with a full skirt or an enredo (wraparound). The Yalaltecos may well boast of the most talkedabout costume of the region, a prettily decorated long white huipil with the brown and white wraparound skirt. Dress in Ixtlan is a continuation of valley dress—a loose blouse, modern skirt usually full, sometimes a wraparound. The southern Zapotec (Weitlaner, 1963) wear skirts and blouses, dresses made from manta or cloth; some utilize the quexquemitl or ayate. Some villages still use a decorated huipil of manta. Cotton material made of algodon "coyuchi" was much used. Today some women still wear enredos of wool, black or dark blue with a brightly colored belt. In the isthmus (De la Fuente, 1960, p. 240) three general forms of dress are used: the short huipil with a long simple skirt, the short huipil with a long highly decorative skirt, and the short huipil with the preHispanic enredo (see photographs in Covarrubias, 1946). Some form of the rebozo or toalla is used everywhere. In Juquila (Rincón) a woven towel is placed around the head and kept in place by twisting the braids around as a band. In Yalalag the tlacoyales, a form of turban made from heavily woven braids of wool, is used for special occasions (Lehmann, 1905). Adornments of gold are common in the isthmus, of silver and beads in the Caxonos and Rincón regions. Coins are used for necklaces in the isthmus and northern Sierra. The feet are usually bare except for variations of the Yalalag huarache. F. Starr (1901, p. 148) describes an earlier huarache style for Mitla. 343

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FIG. 6—ZAPOTEO GIRL, SAN PEDRO QUIATONI, OAXACA. She wears an old-style handwoven huipil and a long glass bead necklace. (Photographed by Donald Cordry, 1963.) The male costume vacillates between the traditional calzón (a loose form of trousers), loosely pleated or colored shirt, straw or wool hats, and huaraches, and what can be called modern dress. Trousers may be made of manta (most general) or hand woven (still common in the Rincón). The capisayo (a portable reed shade) is used as protection from the rain in Ixtlan, parts of the Rincón, and the valley. F. Starr (1904, p. 123) found that the Juchitecos still wore the ancient breechclout of red cloth underneath their usual clothing. Since prehistoric times, the Zapotec, being a people interested in politics, trade, and "movimiento," preoccupied themselves with communication and built good roads which they maintained. Rivers such as the Rio Tehuantepec were used for trade, but prin344

cipally overland trade products were carried by human beings using the mecapal (a tumpline) for support and balance. Today certain villages become specialists in human transport; where possible, animals are now used as carriers. The animal-drawn cart is a common vehicle. Hammock suspension bridges still span Sierra streams. Roads are kept cleared by communal work groups. Since 1960 roads for trucks are beginning to move deep into the northern Sierra as a result of the Papaloapan Commission penetrations. The highway to Pochutla cuts through only the middle of the southern mountains so that the villages on either side are still several days' walk. The isthmus is connected by the Pan American Highway and the railways. Land is measured: (1) by hectare (showing the influence of the metric system); (2) almud (the amount of seed used to plant an area); and (3) by tabla (used where land is scarce and population abundant, or where land is fertile and population abundant). Neither the second nor the third have an exact equivalent. An almud equals the amount of land necessary for planting an almud of seed. A tabla is usually 1-1.5 m. wide and of varying length. The kilo and the arroba are now used. Irregular measures such as the carreta for sugarcane, cargadores and pezcadores (reed baskets of special size) for chile and other products, also serve (Mendieta y Núñez, 1949, p. 454). De la Fuente (1949b, pp. 134-37) provides a good list of native measures: Se vende por pieza, 'medida' . . . , montoncito, manojo, peso y unidades especiales. Los huaraches, la loza y otros productos se venden por par, pieza, o 'media cabeza' . . . 'cabeza' . . . formada de dos piezas, 'bagazo' . . . o paquete de ocho piezas y 'pantle' . . . formado por dos bagazos. El juego de calzón o pantalón y camisa es una 'muda.* . . . El maíz se pesa o se mide en jicaras y cajoncitos . . . Se miden las telas, las tablas, las reatas y las hamacas, las dos primeras en varas . . . Las reatas . . . en

ZAPOTEO

brazas . . . 'el hueso,' distancia entre el extremo de la mano y el codo, y el chuode. Parsons (1936, p. 201) supplements these data. No one, however, has yet analyzed the structure of this native system of weights and measures. In the market at least three systems of pricing exist: in terms of a trade item, in terms of reales, and in terms of pesos. I have not observed the second system in operation except when bargaining was being conducted in Zapotec (see Briggs, 1961, pp. 86-89). ECONOMY

The division of labor changes according to sex, age, rank, specialization, and season. Women weave, work in the home, occasionally in the fields (especially in harvest), and in the market. In the mountain and valley areas the men are of prime importance in the fields, in trade, and in public office. Men weave woolen blankets in the valley. Basket weaving is essentially a man's task. Both men and women make pottery. Men slaughter cattle and poultry; women slaughter pigs. Children are expected to care for younger children. Young boys are assigned to church positions and are increasingly expected to play a part in the fiesta system. Occupational specialization is developing in the larger compact towns. Elder men are excused from public service after the age of 60. For the isthmus (Covarrubias, 1946, pp. 282-83): Each sex has clearly defined tasks to perform: the men engage in all the agricultural work, the clearing of brush, the building and repairing of houses, of irrigation works and roads, the tending of cattle and horses, fishing, hunting, weaving on vertical looms, playing musical instruments, making salt, brown sugar, and fireworks. They work in wood, leather, iron, gold, silver, and so forth. It is for women to do all the cooking, make all corn products . . . as well as making chocolate, butter, and cheese. Women alone sew . . . wash clothes, gather fruits and flowers, and tend to the pigs and chickens.

On the other hand, both men and women carry heavy loads, the men on the shoulder, the women on the head; there are men and women witch doctors and massage experts, but bonemenders are men, midwives women. Both men and women act as officials in the maintenance of the religious ceremonial. Men as well as women make pottery, bread, and candles, and there are able women drivers of oxen. . . . But only women engage in commerce, and it would be extraordinary to find a local man in the market except to buy. . . . This taboo has enabled foreigners—Syrians, Spaniards, Chinese, and . . . Japanese—to corner the retail trade on the Isthmus. Seasonal and occupational specializations make further variety. There are all kinds of farmers: some specialize in corn, chile, or coffee, others in vegetables. Some work their own lands, work for others as mozos, or with others en compañía (in partnership). The tequio, communal work group, and gozona, mutual aid, are found throughout the area. There are classes of artisans and specialists such as doctors, the "educated," lawyers, musicians, curers. The trend, earlier observed by De la Fuente, is toward fewer musicians, weavers, candle makers, and merchants; more farmers, prayer leaders {rezadores), and curers. In summary, a specialized division of labor is more highly developed among the Zapotec than other groups in Oaxaca. The least degree of specialization is in dispersed areas, the greatest in sections where population is large and communication relatively facile. Real and movable property is considered the property of the individual who earned it or received it as inheritance or gift—individual meaning a single person, a town, a barrio. In his reconstruction of the land tenure system for Mitla, Schmieder (1930a) postulates that the Mitleños traditionally used an open field system similar to the Germanic tribes of northern Europe. Today an individual may own several plots of land irregu345

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larly distributed around the village. Communal town lands are often on the outskirts of individually owned lands. Some towns have no communal lands (Yalalag; De la Fuente, 1949b, p. 160), little communal land (Talea de Castro), and a great deal of communal land (Juquila). In general communal lands are used by those who need them; such people may pass the rights of the land to their children but they may not sell. In some towns corporations such as barrios (Talea) or sociedades own land in common but the greater proportion of land is held by individual property owners of both sexes. People who do not have land may rent, squat, or work in partnership. Trees are regarded as private property. Fruit from such trees is the property of anyone who may pick to eat on the spot. Dead wood and wild plants (i.e., quelites or medicinal herbs) may be picked by anyone if the amount is not too much. Fencing of lands is common in the Sierra of Ixtlan, rare in other parts of the Sierra, not uncommon in the valley and isthmus. In the isthmus land may be worked in three ways: individual clearings owned by whoever clears a patch of forest; rancherías settled by individual families and owned by small landowners; or by individuals or cooperatives working village lands (ejidos) (Covarrubias, 1946, pp. 285-86). In all parts, the town owns public buildings built by communal labor. Movable property such as musical instruments belong to the town. The santos are considered "dueños" or owners (De la Fuente, 1949b, p. 161) of their chapels or capillas, of their treasury, and work utensils. Wells belong to those who use and care for them unless there are special needs during an unexpected dry season. No matter what the basic economy the largest production and consumption unit in all areas is the bilateral nuclear family. For special occasions (weddings, funerals, fiestas) production units such as the ex346

tended family, the neighborhood, or the mayordomia come into play in order that a still larger residential unit such as the barrio or the whole town will consume its produce. The degree to which Zapotec communities are economically interdependent is sharply illustrated in Parsons' (1936, pp. 568-69) description and mapping of trade routes out of Mitla. All Zapotec towns import and export produce (Covarrubias, 1946, p. 291). Important trade centers are: Ixtlan and Natividad for the Sierra Juarez; Talea de Castro (with subsidiary centers in Yaee, Lalopa, and Camotlan) for the Rincón; Villa Alta for surrounding Zapotec, Mixe, and Chinantec villages; Yalalag for Mixe and Zapotec; and Zoogocho in the Caxonos. Tehuantepec outshines all markets in the isthmus, and Miahuatlan and San Augustin Loxicha (Weitlaner, 1963) are important centers for the southern Zapotec. In the valley, Oaxaca City and Tlacolula are the most celebrated trade centers, the market in Oaxaca being the largest Indian market in Mexico. Both Oaxaca and Tehuantepec markets are frequented also by Mixtec, Trique, Mixe, and Chatino (in the first) and Zoque, Mixe, Chontal and Huave (in the second), but the Zapotec in both cases run the market. Although we have scattered accounts on the markets of Oaxaca and Tehuantepec (Covarrubias, 1946, pp. 272-75; Augur, 1954, pp. 84-86), Malinowski and De la Fuente (1957) provide the only formal ethnographic report of a market system. This monograph is unique as the only published investigation of an Indian market as a social system, and the string of markets (Oaxaca, Ocotlan, Tlacolula, Etla, Zimatlan, Zaachila, and Ejutla) as a unified economic system. The work illustrates how impossible it is to study the economics of a single Zapotec community without looking at the transactions of the marketplace—the principal mechanism of distribution and social con-

ZAPOTEO

trol in economic affairs. It also illustrates the importance of economic transactions that occur outside the monetary system of markets. There are at least two kinds of Zapotec traders: those who sell their own produce only, and those who buy from one to sell to another at periodic markets. The first may be found in any village; the second usually in important trade centers. At least a cantina exists in most towns. Trade centers usually have a string of wellstocked stores usually managed by native citizens. The Sierra has traditionally been hostile to Mestizo or Spanish businessmen and tolerates them only as ambulant vendors. Money and barter are used in economic exchanges. Storeowners are susceptible to the "te lo paso después" charge system. A store may be rented to the merchant occupying it; individuals occupying puestos in the market are charged, the small fee being entered in the town treasury. Only tortilla vendors escape paying this quota. Traditionally Zapotec laborers have turned to the bajos of Veracruz for work on the tobacco or sugarcane fields, to the coffee fincas of Pochutla, or to the cities of Oaxaca, Puebla, and Mexico for salaried positions. Since 1945 a great number of Zapotec have worked in the United States as braceros. Wherever possible cash is converted into lands, cattle, plants, or gold jewelry. A shortage of cash is customary even among the richest. In places where individual mayordomos are responsible for fiestas of the annual religious cycle, surplus wealth is spent. These fiestas are often carried out by loans {ayuda mutua) rather than savings, but then a lifetime may be spent paying for a fiesta. In the Rincón the burden of fiestas is being shifted from individuals to cooperative groups such as the barrios, providing a better environment for the accumulation of wealth by individuals and by

the barrios. Rich people, in order to escape envidia (envy) avoid conspicuous consumption (better homes, dress, etc.) except where it involves public giving. SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

There are probably no features of Zapotec family and kinship that may be identified as peculiarly Zapotec except for the notorious power of isthmus Zapotec women. Variations on certain organizational themes are alluded to in the brief sketches of family life available in Parsons (1936), De la Fuente (1949b, pp. 162-74), Covarrubias (1946, pp. 338-54), and Nader (1964). Although there are nowhere proscriptive rules, most villages are endogamous, exceptions being reported for Mitla (Parsons, 1936, p. 95) and isthmus cities. Occasional marriages between Rincón villages may be carried out for rank enhancement or as a mode of buying citizenship into a town. Marriages between kinsmen and ritual kinsmen are the only overt restrictions on marriage that have been reported. Monogamy is the rule, although Weitlaner (1963) reports cases of polygyny in Candelaria and Buena Vista, and it is not uncommon for a valley man to support several women simultaneously. Monolingual towns in the Sierra are monogamously inclined, although monogamy may be serial. Residence rules have been reported as patrilocal by De la Fuente (1949b) and Nader (1964) at least until the first child, whereupon, the couple commonly resides neolocally. Weitlaner (1963) describes up to a year of bride service before return to the groom's home for a short time prior to residing neolocally. There is much variation, however, in residence behavior. The composition of the Zapotec family varies, of course, during the life cycle of the individual. Probably no individual passes through life without sometime having lived in a joint or extended family, even though in many places the nuclear family, 347

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considered as ideal, maintains separate cooking quarters. There is no reported single word for the nuclear family but "relatives" (blood or affinal) are referred to by a single term in Mitla (Parsons, 1936, pp. 6970), Yalalag (De la Fuente, 1949b, pp. 16567) and in the Rincón. Genealogies in depth are not generally remembered. Upon marriage a woman does not adopt her husband's name, although children generally take their father's name. In addition, in certan areas such as the Rincón, many families have apodos (nicknames) such as the Bautistas being Gi' or fire, the Hernández family being Cuete or firecracker, or others carrying the names of animals. Children inherit these apodos from their father usually. Sometimes an individual may acquire a nickname of his own and it will be passed on to his children. Parsons (1936, pp. 81-83) reports nicknaming for Mitla; De la Fuente (1949b, pp. 215-16) reports that some families carry the Zapotec name exclusively. Personal Spanish names are used in address unless kinship terms are employed. In spoken Zapotec, address kinship terms may be applied to relatives and also extended to nonrelatives as a matter of respect. This is especially true for primary terms as brothersister, grandfather-grandmother, and child. Age-class terms such as infant, youth, maiden, old one are widespread. Unlike the Trique, for example, there is a great overlap between terms used in reference and address. About the same number of kinship terms (and indeed the same terms) are used in addressing or referring to a relative, although personal names are often preferred in address. In Mitla (Parsons, 1936, App. A), Yalalag (De la Fuente, 1949b, pp. 165-67), and in the Rincón the system tends towards the classificatory for collateral relatives. Generation boundaries are ignored, and distinctions between mother's relatives and father's relatives are ignored in both reference and address. Information which I collected in 1963 sug348

gests that the southern Zapotec have a system less classificatory and more descriptive than the Rincón Zapotec, a system which recognizes generational differences between collateral kinsmen. Most bilingual towns intersperse Spanish kin terms at least for parent's siblings and their children, and in-laws. This serves to break down the major classificatory aspects of the system. The Zapotec reference system is discussed by Romney in volume 6, Article 11. The general rule for inheritance states that children of both sexes are to inherit equally from the parents. Another rule is that if the youngest is living with his parents at the time of their death, he will inherit a greater share. A further rule states that if one child is more deserving than the rest, parents may favor him. Time of inheritance is reported by Parsons (1936, p. 67) as "only those children or grandchildren who are living at home at the death of parents." De la Fuente (1949b, pp. 15661) and Nader (1964) report that major portions are inherited at marriage in Yalalag and Talea. In Juquila major portions are parceled out at the death of parents. Personal property other than land, such as animals, household goods, and money, presumably follows the same inheritance pattern, with exception of utensils, inherited by the sex who uses them. Needless to say, there is much variation, such as the observed fact that girls tend not to inherit as much land as boys. The compadrazgo system is variously used. In more urban areas godparents are chosen from among family members. In traditional villages godparents are usually chosen from outside the family but within the village for baptism or marriage. Weitlaner (1963) reports that paternal uncles, maternal uncles, or the grandfather may be chosen as baptismal godfathers for the first three children. Padrinos del rosario, confirmation, and so forth may be from anywhere. Yalaltecos may have Mixe or Castellanos as compadres. The number of padrino forms

ZAPOTEC

(i.e., baptism, confirmation, rosario, casamiento) varies from village to village as does the number of compadres one has. The number of godchildren and the type of relationship between two compadres is also variable. De la Fuente reports an asymmetrical relationship between compadres in Yalalag: "the padrinos give more and thus have more "respect." In Juquila Vijanos (Rincón) padrinos give less and have a great deal of respect. There is no reason to believe (Parsons, 1936, pp. 69-70) that the compadrazgo system is a substitute for an early larger kinship group among the Zapotec. Zapotec words for padrinos do suggest that a pre-Hispanic form of ritual kinship may have existed. Zapotec do not identify themselves as one group, but usually as members of a town and a region (see Leigh, 1960b). One Rincón town is an example: vis-à-vis outsiders they identify themselves as members of a town (i.e., Juquileños), as members of a region (BuIni rshidza') as distinguished from other peoples such as BuIni Gi' (the Chinantec), BuIni mirj (the Mixe), BuIni cerca (people of the Sierra), BuIni ron (people of the Caxonos), etc. Similarly in the isthmus citizens of Tehuantepec are Tehuanos, of Juchitan, Juchitecos, and on to the smallest villages. In Oaxaca City these peoples would identify themselves as serranos, rinconeros, vallistas, ismeños, etc. Loyalties are to the small nuclear family, to the palomilla (male friendship groups), to the barrio if there be one, and to the town—the largest territorial unit. Political and religious organization has been described in general terms which fit the Mesoamerican pattern of a hierarchial, age-graded structure maintained by public service of town citizens. Whether or not in fact they are described as "separate," both church and civil organizations are necessarily linked because of the alternating patterns of public service. A married male citizen passes through a certain number of positions (cargos) before he reaches the posi-

tion of principal or anciano. Although the form of organization is common to all the villages a close comparison in the Rincón (Nader, 1964) indicates that subtle variations in how the system is used may mean the difference between a centralized and controlled, or a decentralized and loosely structured, system of organization. Although town meetings, tequio (communal labor), and a system of local taxation are everywhere present and although the positions of policía, regidor, síndico, presidente, and alcalde may exist in each town, different numbers of public servants, different ways of nominating and electing (from the town at large or from barrios), the division of political labor, the presence or absence of ancianos or principales, and their power— all affect the differences noted on a cruder level as differences in personalities between villages. Today literate citizens may enter the ladder of government positions midway; instead of entering as topiles or policías, they enter as secretaries and from there climb the ladder to presidente and to alcalde positions. Some men similarly never go beyond being policía and regidor. In some places citizens refuse positions of a political nature (Rincón and southern Zapotee); in others (Yalalag; De la Fuente, 1949b, p. 215) citizens may force their acceptance by arms. In all parts there is an induction into office ceremony—the cambia de varas and the entrega de cuentas. This is traditionally carried out on New Year's Day. The formal aspects of political organization have been briefly described in the aforementioned monographs; much less attention has been paid to informal political activity. Mention is made of informal political pressure groups by Leslie (1960a), of the political functions of Rincón musicians groups by Nader (1964). That law and justice is a category long of importance to Zapotec is dramatized by Weitlaner's observation (1963) that the southern Zapotec still have a series of dioses 349

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de la justicia (see below). Law and justice have been of interest to pre-Hispanic historians; others such as W. C. Cruz (1946, pp. 93-120) have tried to reconstruct Zapotec juridical beliefs by philological investigations. De la Fuente (1949b, pp. 23950), Nader and Metzger (1963, pp. 58492), and Nader (1964) have made brief mention of law. That Zapotec villages have courts of law presided over by elected presidents and alcaldes is in line with state government organization. Litigants may be related by blood, marriage, territory, or business contracts. In one town the majority of cases presented are between affinals; in other towns relatives rarely appear in court. Especially high-prestige families avoid the court. Patterns of local procedure as well as the classes of complaints vary between towns. Except for notorious towns in the Caxonos and in the valley, feuds are not a common means of settling conflict. Some towns gain a reputation for being litigious, and specific complaints such as homicide, rape, and property grievances come to be associated with specific villages when they are passed to the district courts. The court will not punish certain infractions thought better settled by popular controls. De la Fuente has observed (1949b, p. 248) that it is usual to sanction or punish a relative of an accused if the accused flees, and that certain individuals are never fined or jailed: principales, ancianos, high functionaries. This is not so for the Rincón, where all violators are punished. Relatives of musicians may intercede for a member of their group. Self-help and witchcraft (De la Fuente, 1949b, p. 240; Nader, 1964) may be used as alternate means of achieving justice. Hierarchy of offices exists in religious organization; these are ubiquitous in varying forms, for the most part not unique to the Zapotec. Several important variables affecting this organization and its function are: presence or absence of a priest; pres350

ence or absence of Protestants; and the mode in which the mayordomía fiesta system functions. Mayordomías are reported for all Zapotec areas (Parsons, 1930a). Covarrubias (1946, p. 362) informs us that each barrio in Tehuantepec has a voluntary mayordomo, obtained by request. Although it may mean financial ruin for a man, it brings lasting social prestige. In the Rincón mayordomias are both appointed and requested but, as mentioned earlier, the burden of the fiesta is no longer shouldered by one man. RELIGION AND WORLD VIEW

Zapotec migration myths explain how certain pueblos came to be founded, but they do not explain the origin of the Zapotec. Myths dealing with origins claim the Zapotee were born from the rocks, caves, and trees of the regions. Such myths are common in South Mexico. Burgoa (1934) mentions a myth in which the first Zapotec chief descends from the sky as a bird. Local origin myths used to explain natural and archaeological phenomena abound in places like Mitla (Leslie, 1960a, pp. 21-22; Parsons, 1936, p. 214) as do myths explaining the arrival of the Spanish and the form of the world (De la Fuente, 1949b, p. 347-48). Parsons states (1936) that preconquest gods live in folk tales, barely ever remembered at rituals in Mitla. The strong exception she cites is the god of lightning—the Zapotec god of rain, fertility, and abundant crops. This god may appear as a lizard or a human being. He is the keeper of clouds and hail, which he releases to make rain or storm. When people are bad or irreverent the god of lightning may release hail before harvest. Natives are aware of his power, ways to placate him, and charms used against him (Parsons, 1936, pp. 212-13). De la Fuente (1949b, pp. 265-67) describes other supernatural beings: los lugares, el cerro, and las cuevas (the places, the mountain, and caves) and others more important

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earlier, such as the Sun and the Moon, the latter still deemed to have important effects on harvest. The only anthropologist who has found and described a living Zapotec cosmogony and cosmology is Weitlaner (Weitlaner and DeCicco, 1962, pp. 695-710). He indicates that the southern Zapotec conceive of a hierarchy of related gods who dominate the universe—an island surrounded by water. Two groups of gods are distinguished: those representing natural phenomena and having control over agricultural activities and those having purely social functions, primarily having to do with the administration of justice. A fourfold division is recognized between land and sea, wet and dry seasons. Further information is given on different versions of the functions and human characteristics of the gods. For Mitla Parsons says (1936, pp. 20431), "Gods, the saints, and the spirits of the dead, las animas, and the virgin all form the pantheon. Saints, who in time fall in and out of popularity, have the most variable position in this pantheon. They are used to punish, or to aid, and being liable to punishment themselves if they do not do their work well." Other spirits include malevolent supernaturals such as metlaciwa, sometimes reported of dual sex (Yalalag) or of feminine gender in the Rincón, a lady with the feet of a vulture (zopilote) who lures men into misfortune; duendes or little dwarfmen that cause mischief; the devil and such figures as the chaneque, conceived in no image and without sex, a sort of spiritual eye and universal intelligence that helps everyone if requested—and if tribute is paid (Steininger and Van de Velde, 1935, p. 81). Ritual practices are abundant in connection with shrines, the ceremonial calendar, and in dealing with supernaturais. Offerings of candles, copal, flowers, food, turkeys, chickens or their blood, money, drink, cigarettes, corn, beans, bread, and prayers are

all used (Parsons, 1936, p. 298). Reals (1935, p. 189) reports that near Villa Alta such sacrifices and offerings were made by hechiceros (wizards). Such offerings are also reported for the southern Zapotec (Carrasco, 1951a; Weitlaner, 1963). Parsons reports (1936, p. 56) the burying of food in the fields to appease the god of lightning and pilgrimages to around Yalalag then said to be lightning's cult center. This was done to ensure crops and good weather. Ceremonias de las lluvias (rain ceremonies) have been reported for Yalalag (De la Fuente, 1939, pp. 479-84) and for the Rincón. When asked why these ceremonies are no longer held, a Juquilan replied, "It rains now." Steininger and Van de Velde (1935, p. 92) report that villagers go to the mountains to plea for rain and there scatter flowers about, burn candles, sacrifice turkeys, and sprinkle blood on the ground. Other rituals which are protective of agricultural endeavors include various ceremonias de la milpa (cornfield ceremonies), ceremonias al dueno del cerro (ceremonies honoring the master of the mountain) (De la Fuente, 1949b, p. 307; Carrasco, 1951b, p. 95); these are common in the northern and southern mountains. Parsons also mentions (1936, p. 56) magic designed to protect against the elements. Rituals in connection with the compadrazgo are flourishing; not only does every newborn baby have its padrino, but every new house, school, cantina, and truck also. Rituals connected with the Zapotec concept of the soul are as plentiful and more varied (Leslie, 1960a, pp. 45, 53-55). Love charms and love divining are practiced (Parsons, 1936, pp. 117-18), and petitions for wealth are reported for Mitla (Leslie, 1960a, pp. 15-16) and the Rincón. At birth, animal guardians called tono or tona are acquired such as mountain lions, cats, or sandpipers. If a child is not baptized, he automatically becomes possessed of the power of turning into an animal (Parsons, 1936, p. 80) and is sometimes re351

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ferred to as a nahual. Weitlaner reports two tales of conversion into animal form for southern Zapotec and suggests that it is fading out of use, as it is in the valley and isthmus. Hunting and fishing rituals are mentioned by Balsalobre (1892; see also Berlin, 1957a), Parsons (1936, p. 48), De la Fuente (1949b, p. 349), and Steininger and Van de Velde (1935, pp. 79-83). Permission may be asked of the señor del cerro before killing deer. Much of the foregoing is passed from one generation to another by the oral tradition. Folk tales have long been collected for the Zapotec (Radin, 1915, 1917, 1935; Parsons, 1932a; Beals, 1935; Orozco, 1946), but with the exception of Leslie (1960a) there has been little analysis. Leslie did attempt a neglected task, that of documenting changes in tales, the process of mythmaking. Stories are invariably about animals, or humans who turn into animals: the small owl, tecolote, a bringer of misfortune; the saltapared, or wall jumper, a heralder of visitors; the corre camino (roadrunner), bringer of luck, good or bad (Steininger and Van de Velde, 1935, pp. 94-95); the venturillo, or vermilion flycatcher, a soothsayer among birds; and butterflies, forewarners of death. The mountain lion, the cricket, the fox, the eagle, and the hunter are common story personalities. Others stories deal with prognostications, especially dream stories (De la Fuente, 1949b, pp. 349-51; Parsons, 1936, p. 340), and many carry moralizing themes. In addition there are many songs dealing with love themes, or philosophy, or personal characteristics of individual towns or people (F. Starr, 1901, pp. 84-123; Orozco, 1946, pp. 214-39). Illnesses are attributed to intrusions of harmful objects, fright (espanto or susto and its various forms), whim or desire (antojo), improper religious conduct, soulloss (by fright, metlaciwa, chaneques), anger (muina), envy (envidia), shame (ver352

güenza), the evil eye (mal de ojo), air (aire), "cold" and "hot" foods, and now a series of modern beliefs about infections and germs. Although susto is the commonest explanation of sickness, more than one factor may be used to explain the sick state (Parsons, 1936, pp. 118-41; De la Fuente, 1949b, pp. 311-46; Steininger and Van de Velde, 1935, pp. 27, 40, 79, 90, 117; Covarrubias, 1946, pp. 382-87). Espanto as a cause of illness does not necessarily imply soul-loss (Foster, 1951). Toor (1926) describes the "evil spirits of fright" which enter the body of the Tehuantepec Zapotec as analogous to any concrete, intruded disease object. Some sicknesses are associated with specific causes such as aire with colds, headaches, toothaches, stomach pains; espanto or susto is a sickness caused by surprise encounters with men, supernaturais, or inanimate objects. Envidia and/or witchcraft causes fright, stomach upsets, tumors, swellings (bodoques), and other sickness. The concept of preventive medicine is well embedded among the Zapotec (Balsalobre, 1892). Preventives are common. Men wrap a faja (a sash) and women a soyate (a wide palm-woven belt) around their middle to avoid certain stomach or abdominal pains. Crosses and scapularies are worn, and rosaries for children with the same ends in mind. To preclude abortion the woman's abdomen is rubbed with egg white and catalan, a sweet liquor. During an eclipse of the moon she should not venture outdoors or the child will be born with a harelip (Parsons, 1936, p. 72). Rosemary is burned in a bowl with a piece of cow horn for eight nights to protect against mal de ojo de noches (Parsons, 1936, p. 78). In San Pablo the chaneque (also found among the southern Zapotec) is propitiated to insure a baby's health, and the first haircut must be given to it by its godfather (Steininger and Van de Velde, 1935, p. 40). In the same village herbs are distributed at

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certain fiestas to protect against or to cure hangovers, and there is a series of techniques to protect against witchcraft and the evil eye such as the use of amulets for little children. Weitlaner (1963) reports a ceremonia en la ciénega (ceremony in the marsh) used to prevent an epidemic called hidropesía or hinchazón (swelling). The list of remedies is impressive for sheer number and specificity. Steininger and Van de Velde (1935, pp. 84-89) report a number of herbs and animal parts: the cacomixtle (skunk) for headaches, the huizache bush (a kind of acacia) for sore and inflamed eyes, rosa de fandango (a variety of mint) to help a woman conceive, chicalote (a prickly poppy) for boils, wild garlic for high blood pressure, cloves for toothaches, quinine and lemonade for malaria, epazote morada (American basil) for worms, botijas for warts, and for dandruff and fleas a soap made from amole (a soap root of a maguey plant). As varied a list could be collected from any village. For fright, a common cure is to return the sick person to the place where he was frightened and call back the soul. In the isthmus Covarrubias (1946, pp. 382-85) reports that a victim of fright suffers general unrest, sleeplessness, loss of appetite, neurosis, and eventually dries up and dies. In some cases fright is cured by the person being able to tell what it was that frightened him, but the usual cure consists in "blowing away" the fright. The last resort is for the patient to "tell" (declarar) what frightened him as he parades through town, riding backwards on a donkey. In Mitla, as among the southern Zapotec, fright is cured by "calling the corners" (Parsons, 1936, p. 123). Special kinds of fright (sadness, sex-craze) are cured in other ways. In Mitla fright is cured by outlining a cross on the ground and filling it with black poppies (Downing, 1940, p. 54). For object intrusion sucking is used as a cure; suction cups (ventosas) are used to extract bad air (aire).

Causes of illness (such as fright) are diagnosed by divining. Copal may be used (Parsons, 1936, p. 120) or beans, cards, books, palpitations and suckings (De la Fuente, 1949b, pp. 325-26), or maize grains (Weitlaner, 1963). The narcotic toloahe is reported as a divining technique for the southern Zapotec. Two kinds of death are distinguished: sudden violent death and ordinary death. Souls of persons who died a mala muerte (violent death) are not able to complete the transition to the other world (Leslie, 1960a, p. 48). Both men and women act as curers, but only men are bone-menders and only women are midwives. Distinctions are made between kinds of specialists; for example, witches who cure by special techniques such as el soplar (blowing) or chupar (sucking) and curers—gentes que hacen remedios; or between individuals who cure espanto and those who specialize in midwifery. De la Fuente (1949b, pp. 320-25) discusses the division of labor in medicine. ESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL PATTERNS

Covarrubias (1946, p. 294) claims that the Zapotec of the valley and of the Sierra are the principal makers of objects of popular art, whereas the isthmus Zapotec lean toward romantic music, passionate poetry, and speech. The isthmus Zapotec cultivate language. In the 1930's there was organized an Academia de la Lengua Zapoteca, composed largely of native Zapotec professionals. Later in the isthmus there was an effort to develop bilingual instruction in schools, to publish bilingual journals, and to develop interest in bilingual linguistic research. These Zapotec have a love for speechmaking, and professional speechmakers (the cago:1a) are important members of the community (Covarrubias, 1946, p. 310). The spokesman (huehuete) is an important figure in Mitla (Parsons, 1936, pp. 187-89) and in the Sierra. Other art forms such 353

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FIG. 7 — Z A P O T E C GIRLS, YALALAG, OAXACA. (Photographed by Donald Cordry, 1963.)

as weaving are developing new inspirations for design. Oglesby (1940, p. 18) records one weaver as saying he had copied his designs from Caso's works. Still others in Teotitlan have copied designs created by visitors and Oaxacan residents interested in craft innovation. One popular artshop in Oaxaca has searched for, found, and encouraged native sculptors in clay, and various 354

governmental schemes ostensibly aimed at developing the popular arts are under way. Music is performed by bands of musicians at weddings, funerals, and religious occasions. Musicians need not perform any other civil or religious offices. Some villages, such as Talea de Castro, have also formed an orchestra whose performance meets the highest standards. In the isthmus a great

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variety of dances exist—the zandunga, danzones, sones, and "swing" (Covarrubias, 1946, pp. 235-57). In Mitla the fandango is danced to the tune of the jarabe zapateo, and the baile de los trastros is performed at weddings (Parsons, 1936, p. 107). On All Saints' Day in San Pablo the dance de los viejitos is one in which two participants furnish comic relief (Steininger and Van de Velde, 1935, p. 48). Native musical instruments are rare: the concha, which sounds like a French horn, is used to make music and call alarms; the pito (a fife), chirimía (flute), and drum are common. The bigu (shell of a large river turtle) is used at ceremonial occasions in the isthmus. The marimba, an important instrument in the isthmus, is now found throughout the whole area. Except for occasional mention of fiestas, patterns of play have not been described. Ethnographers occasionally note situations that cause laughter. For example, Leslie (1960a, p. 40) notes native delight in the use of nicknames: crabfoot, turtle, city woman, marimba teeth, little pig, big testicles, etc. In the isthmus bantering in the marketplace is the most notorious pastime of Tehuanas, and one which causes much laughter, especially if the object of fun is a man. In situations where laughter and expressions of joy might be expected, such as dancing during fiestas, the observing Zapotec are often surprisingly sober-faced. On the other hand, Leslie has commented on the alliance between misfortune and comedy among the Mitleños. Gossip is another favorite pastime, especially among women at the market, at the wells or mills, but Rinconeros at least make a clear distinction between gossip and slander. Parsons (1936, pp. 386-479) has a chapter on gossip, but she does not in fact deal with the subject; rather she uses gossip as a convenient label under which to lump undigested field notes. Patterns of etiquette are subtle and not easy to notice. Anthropologists may them-

selves learn etiquette behavior without being aware of the rules, and it may take a bungling visitor to elicit comments about crude behavior. Some formalities are more obvious: kissing the hands of elders as a form of respect, or the Mexican abrazo and handshake, being careful not to make close physical contact in either case. Several observers have stated that physical contacts are repugnant to Indians. More accurately physical contact in greeting is appropriate only to specific situations, as is silence or noise, visiting or drinking. Among the Juquilans, for example, drinking etiquette in the courtroom differs from that in a cantina, in a home, or at a fiesta (Nader, 1964). Visiting rules are specific also: a visitor in town pays his respect to his friends and relatives and they in turn present him with fruit or food. Ranch families have a strong sense of visiting hospitality. At the departure of a friend or relative, eggs, brown sugar, beans, or coffee constitute good gifts. Except for a discerning commentary on lying as a form of etiquette (Leslie, 1960a, p. 26), patterns of speech have not been reported. Alcohol and tobacco are reported for all regions in varying degrees and situations such as markets, fiestas, funerals, weddings, and rituals dealing with the supernatural. Alcoholic drinks include tepache (a mixture of sugarcane juice and pulque), aguardiente (sugarcane-fermented alcohol), mezcal (fermented juice of various agave plants), compuesto (cheap alcohol, citrus peels, and other fruits), and alcohol rebajado (cheap alcohol mixed with water). Although narcotic mushrooms are reported for the Sierra regions, use of them for vision induction has not been noted. Carrasco (1951b, p. 93) and Weitlaner (1963) mention the use of nanacates and piule (narcotic plants) for prognostication. Fiestas celebrate Catholic saints and ceremonies, or personal saints' days (in acculturated villages). Some fiestas are not 355

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based on religious or secular holidays, but are given for the fun of it (Covarrubias, 1946, pp. 257-58, 335ff.), and run by local cooperative societies founded just for the purpose of giving festivals. Detailed descriptions of fiestas are given by Parsons (1936, pp. 195-200), Covarrubias (1946, pp. 361-71), and Leslie, (1960a, p. 75). The success of a fiesta may be measured by the size of the market, the number of visitors from distant pueblos, the quantity of food and drink available, or by the number of drunken individuals jailed. In the Sierra the musicians often play all through the night and parade around various sections of town. Dances and tight-rope walkers and clowns provide amusement during the day. In the isthmus dancing the zandunga or the zapateado adds life to the scene. Weitlaner and Nader both report flute and drum players as being blind or disabled in some way. Apart from the isthmus, singing in the Zapotec language other than prayers and chants is not recorded. Rinconeros sang only epic-like chants for me after they had been introduced to the tape recorder. LIFE CYCLE

That children are desireable is reflected in the number of recommended prescriptions to insure conception: herbs, prayers, and promises, especially to the Virgen de Juquila (De la Fuente, 1949b, p. 175). That pregnancy carries with it some dangers is attested to by food prohibitions: a pregnant woman should not eat honey, the sapodilla plum (zapote), mamey, etc. (Weitlaner). If the temascal is available, it is used during and after pregnancy as a "cure." Weitlaner and Nader report a kneeling position for delivery for both southern and Rincón Zapotec. Rinconeros believe a baby will not be born well unless the father is present. Weitlaner reports that the woman is accompanied by her husband. A mother, friend, or midwife usually aids in the birth. In San Augustin Loxicha and 356

the Rincón the umbilical cord and placenta are washed, wrapped in a clean cloth and buried, either in the house walls or nearby. Previously in San Augustin cord and placenta were wrapped in a petate, placed high on a tree to rot, in the belief that children would thus become good tree climbers. After birth, mother and child are bathed; the mother is girdled with a soyate and remains in bed for approximately 20 days, during which time she is massaged. She eats chicken, atole, chile, and salt, and avoids eating beans and having sexual intercourse. No institutionalized couvade is reported. The mother suckles her children for one to two years depending on the number of other children, and weans them with the use of bitter herbs and other unpalatables. Last-born children are sometimes ready to be weaned before their mothers are ready to relinquish the nursing child. Weitlaner (1963) and Carrasco (1951a, p. 94) describe a ceremony for the southern Zapotec similar to a baptism. A few days after birth the father and a curer carry the child's and mother's clothes to the ciénega (manantial). They sprinkle the clothes with water and carry some back to sprinkle the child and his surroundings. Later the curer returns to the ciénega carrying a copal offering as payment for the future well-being of the child. Another version tells of a ceremony of burying alive a coconito (a small turkey) or three dozen tamales. Here the diviner participates; he blesses the child and "turns him over" {entregar) to the ciénega. In Candelaria there are prognosticatory signs, indicating that a child will be a curer with certain powers to ask for agricultural products on a mountain, or signs indicating that a child is destined to be a diviner. It appears that this career is revealed also by dreams. The only instruction that a diviner receives is with regard to the use of narcotic mushrooms (nanacates) used to reveal "cure formulas." Other signs suggest lucky

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fortune for a child enabling him to speak with departed souls {las animas) or unlucky signs. The tie between mother and child is strong and continuous. As De la Fuente suggests (1949b, pp. 177-80) the child is continuously with the mother, either strapped to her back or swinging in a cradle nearby or in the hands of family members in the same house. The most extensive comments on life cycle appear in De la Fuente (1949b, pp. 175-208). We have no childrearing studies for any Zapotec group. Generally speaking, growing up is a period during which family work responsibilities are gradually acquired. Play partners in dispersed populations are usually relatives, and play activity is often child imitation of adult behavior. Girls become expert tortilla makers by the age of eight. No puberty ceremonies are reported and there are few restraints on menstruating women. Marriage is between eight and 20 for girls and 12 and 22 for boys, the age shift being related to the degree of acculturation (the most acculturated marry later). Stability of marriage varies between and within regions as does the concept and type of marriage ceremony. Sometimes go-betweens are used, as in Mitla and Tehuantepec, and "asking for the bride" is a formalized endeavor. The rapto (marriage by "capture"), a familiar form of marriage in the Isthmus (Orozco, 1946, pp. 80-81), is becoming more widespread. Among the Rinconeros parents or padrinos may negotiate for their son. In the southern Zapotec (Weitlaner, 1963), the parents of the boy negotiate; while negotiations are going on the boy spends three days sleeping in the house of the girl, though separate from her. The decision to marry or not depends on an analysis of the dreams had by the couple. Unmarried individuals are considered peculiar. Variations in death ceremonies within a town depend on the age of the dead person. In Talea de Castro, the death of an infant

(an angelito) (Parsons, 1930a,) is not a sad occurrence usually since tender age insures passage to heaven if the child is baptized. An unmarried man who dies would have a wedding feast celebrated before his death ceremony because his parents "owe" him this. The funeral of an older person, a more serious affair, would involve the receiving and expensive feeding of visitors, all of whom bring some gift as a form of respect for the dead. And of course, there is drinking and music. The dead are placed in a wooden box, sometimes with food, water, and a change in clothes in preparation for the afterlife. The spirits of the dead are said to return occasionally, especially at Todos Santos (All Souls' Day). ANNUAL CYCLE

It is historical knowledge that the Zapotec observed an elaborate ceremonial year of 260 days, divided into four seasons and further divided into 5 weeks of 13 days each. But in 1951 Carrasco reported the contemporary presence of a ritual calendrical system in the Loxicha area of the southern Zapotec. In 1956 Weitlaner and two assistants spent two months in the Loxicha region and by strategy and various strokes of luck were able to obtain information on how this calendar actually functioned. That there was an island of Nahua-speakers in the Pochutla district is an important factor when considering the origin of the calendar, but Weitlaner (1958b, pp. 296-99) outlines the differences between the Loxicha calendar, the Mexican calendar, and the information on the Zapotec recorded by Fr. Juan de Córdoba. Briefly, he describes a series of nine days, each carrying the name of a god. Thirteen numbers run parallel to these nine days, but they are not combined with the day names. Each series of 13 numbers with its parallel series of 9 plus 4 days is called a tiempo and carries a special name. Four consecutive tiempos form a período, which also carries a name. The total system has 357

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five períodos. The five períodos of four tiempos constitute a cycle of 260 days (5 X 4 X 13 = 260). This cycle is independent of any Christian or agricultural calendar; in fact, the presence of the latter was denied. It was also discovered that the year

was divided into two seasons, the dry and the wet. As Weitlaner suggests, more explorations along this coast are needed before conclusions about this calendar system can be reached.

REFERENCES Adán, 1922 Agüero, 1893 Alba, 1949 and Cristerna, 1949 Angulo, 1925a, 1925b, 1926 and Freeland, 1933 Anonymous, 1900, 1948 Augur, 1929, 1954 Baca, 1895 Balsalobre, 1892 Bancroft, 1883-89 Barlow, 1944, 1945 Batres, 1889 Bauer-Thoma, 1916 Beals, 1935, 1945b Belmar, 1890, 1898, 1905a, 1905c Berlin, 1957a, 1957b Borah, 1960 Brasseur de Bourbourg, 1865 Briggs, 1961 Burgoa, 1934 Carmichael, 1959 Carrasco Pizana, 1951a, 1951b Carrasco Puente, 1948 Caso, 1941 Cazorla Vera, 1935, 1937 Cervantes y C., 1945 Córdoba, 1578a, 1578b Corriedo, 1852 Covarrubias, 1946 Cruz, E. T., 1939

Cruz, W. C, 1935, 1936, 1939, 1946 Cueva, 1607 De la Fuente, 1938, 1939, 1947a, 1947b, 1949a, 1949b, 1952, 1960 Domínguez, 1939a, 1939b, 1939c Downing, 1940 Fenochi, 1913 Fernández de Miranda, Swadesh, and Weitlaner, 1959 and Weitlaner, 1961 Foster, 1951 Frias, 1898

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García Granados, 1938 García Pimentel, 1904 Gay, 1881 Gómez Maillefert, 1923 Guerrero, 1939a, 1939b Haskins, 1940 Hayner, 1944 Henestrosa, 1936a, 1936b, 1936c, 1947 Henning, 1919 Heras, 1940 Inventario de asuntos penales, 1953-63 Islas, 1912 Iturribaria, 1941, 1955 Jiménez Moreno, 1942b Johnson, J. B., 1939b Leal, 1950, 1954 Leche, 1936 Lehmann, 1905 Leigh, 1960a, 1960b Leslie, 1960a Liekens, 1952 Longacre and Millon, 1961 López Chiñas, G., 1936, 1937, 1939, 1945, 1949, 1958 López Chiñas, J., 1936, 1937, 1939 López Vera, 1935 López y López, 1947 Macias, 1912 Malinowski and De la Fuente, 1957 Manzo de Contreras, 1661 Martínez Gracida, 1883a, 1883b, 1910a Mason, 1940 Matus, 1935a, 1935b, 1939a, 1939b, 1939c, 1940a 1940b, 1941, 1942, 1945 Mechling, 1912 Mendieta y Núñez, 1949 Mendizábal and Jiménez Moreno, 1937 Merriam, 1932 Molina, A. G., 1892, 1894 Morales Henestrosa, 1936, 1937 Morgadanes, 1940 Nadaillac, 1899 Nader, 1964, 1966

ZAPOTEO and Metzger, 1963 Nellis, 1947 Noguera, 1940 Oaxaca, 1956 Oglesby, 1938, 1940 Orozco, 1946 Orozco y Berra, 1858, 1864 Pacheco da Silva, 1686, 1687 Parsons, 1930a, 1930b, 1930c, 1931, 1932a, 1932b, 1932c, 1936 Peñafiel, 1887 Pérez García, 1956 Pérez Serrano, 1942 Pickett, 1946, 1948, 1953, 1954, 1959, 1960 Radin, 1915, 1917, 1925, 1930, 1935, 1943-44, 1946 Reko, B. P., 1945 Reko, V. Α., and Hestermann, 1931 Relación de Tlacolula y Mitla, 1955 Rendón Mensón, 1960

Reyes, G. de los, 1891 Rojas González, 1949a, 1949b, 1949c and Cerda Silva, 1949 Romney, 1967 Schmieder, 1930a, 1930b, 1931, 1934 Seler, 1892, 1904 Silíceo Pauer, 1923, 1927 Starr, F., 1899b, 1900-02, 1904 Steininger and Van de Velde, 1935 Swadesh, 1940, 1947, 1949 Toor, 1926 Toquero, 1946 Toro, 1924-27 U'Ren, 1940 Valdivieso, 1929 Valle, 1937-38 Van de Velde, 1933 Weitlaner, 1958b, 1963 and DeCicco, 1962

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17. The Chatino

GABRIEL

B

ECAUSE THE CHATINO were dominated by both the Mixtec and the Zapotec, archaeological remains in the area belong to either one or the other of these groups. Such dominations may account for cultural similarities with the southern Zapotec and, to a lesser degree, with the lower Mixtec. The Chatino language, part of the Zapotee family, is closer to the neighboring southern Zapotee dialects than to valley Zapotee. Generally, the Chatino area is mountainous, having altitudes ranging from 300 to 3000 m. Surrounded by the Zapotec to the north and east, the Mixtec to the north and west, and Negro villages on the coast, the Chatino probably occupy less territory today than when they first entered the area. Now a tribe of about 10,000, the Chatino live principally within the district of Juquila in the southern part of the state of Oaxaca. Major Chatino villages are Juquila, Nopala, San Juan Quiahije, Zenzontepec, Panixtlahuaca, and Zacatepec. Juquila, capital of the district, is an important religious shrine.

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There have been several Chatino uprisings since colonial times. In 1895 the inhabitants of San Juan led a rebellion against literate Mestizos, but were quelled by federal troops. In 1935 what began as a feud in Nopala developed into a bandit action throughout the district. It was the Chatino themselves who captured the leaders in 1937, bringing an end to hostilities. There have been few studies of the Chatino. McKaughan (1951, 1954), Upson (1956, 1960), and Pride (1961) have published on the linguistics; Carrasco (1961b) wrote a short article after his brief visit to the region. My work following field trips in 1956 and 1957 is mostly unpublished. 1 SUBSISTENCE

The staple food is corn, usually prepared as tortillas, pinole, and tamales; beans and squash are the other principal items. To1 Fieldwork undertaken in 1957 was sponsored by the Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia de Mexico. I was accompanied by Mr. Prescott Liddel.

FIG. 1 — G E O G R A P H I C DISTRIBUTION OF THE CHATINO

matoes, chiles, and herbs and seasonings have a place in the diet. Eggs are a major source of protein; chicken is not uncommon, pork and beef are available on special occasions. Dried fish, transported by Negroes from the coast, is sold at the markets, and river shrimp are caught in season. A variety of fruits are grown; most families have at least an orange and a banana tree. Coffee is replacing pozole and chocolate as the favorite beverage. Locally made mescal and aguardiente are the preferred alcoholic drinks; beer is available in most towns. Foods and beverages are classed as comida caliente (hot food) or comida fría (cold food), based not on their preparation but on native beliefs regarding dietary

restrictions. Two types of bananas, for instance, both eaten raw, may belong to opposite classes as may two varieties of cooked beans. SETTLEMENT PATTERNS

The Chatino prefer to live in a village, so that neighbors, on farms isolated from the nuclear village, often form small separate settlements which tend to grow into larger, permanent communities. The center of a Chatino village is its public buildings—townhall, jail, school, guesthouse, and church—built of adobe and covered with white stucco. Commercial establishments are in the central area; those natives who can afford to do so build their 361

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FIG. 2 — N A T I V E DWELLING (LEFT) AND ACCULTURATED NATIVE DWELLING (RIGHT). Note the cross above the tile roof.

adobe houses in the vicinity both for prestige and for convenience. The typical Chatino dwelling is a rectangular one-room structure, 3.5 by 5 m., with walls of twigs tied with bark or vines and often chinked with mud or adobe. Four posts, one at each corner of the house, support a gabled roof covered with grass thatch, although adobe tile roofs are not uncommon. A doorway facing to leeward is the only opening in the house. Flooring depends on the terrain, but generally the ground is cleared and a thin mud surface is tamped down. The area around the dwelling is cleaned, and here small children play. Residence is patrilocal, and compounds of two to five houses facing a common patio area are frequent. Because hilly terrain often prohibits this arrangement, however, dwellings may be individually located and oriented. During the growing season, the Chatino lives on his milpa, the permanence of his dwelling being proportionate to its distance from the village. On farms within easy walking distance from the village, a simple ramada shelters the man, who remains at night to guard his fields while the women and small children return to the village. 362

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Most native skills were abandoned after the introduction of a cash crop, coffee, which provides money for purchasing manufactured goods imported into the region. Pottery is seldom made except for an occasional comal or unfired pot. Narrow waist sashes, worn by both sexes, are produced on the backstrap loom, but weaving of huipiles is rare. Baskets are woven of split bamboo as well as more flexible straw. Shrimp nets of branches interwoven with twigs are made in Nopala. Houses are used for sleeping, storage, and cooking; sometimes a separate ramada serves as a kitchen. Corncribs constructed of the same material as the house are a common addition to the dwelling. There is little furniture in a Chatino dwelling. Small wooden benches or stools serve for seats and low tables. The family generally sleep on the ground on individual petates, but sometimes on raised platform beds (tapextle) or, in warmer climates, in hammocks. The Chatino man wears rural Mestizo dress: white three-quarter-length trousers tied at the waist (calzones) and a loose white blouse. Women wear long skirts of

CHATINO

light cotton print and a slipover blouse trimmed with thread around the neck and sleeves. Dark-colored rebozos, draped around the head or shoulders for warmth, can also form a sling for carrying children. Slips are worn by most women; younger girls are beginning to wear panties. Clothing is made at home from manufactured cloth, and hardly a town lacks a sewing machine. There are still no roads into the district of Juquila; until light plane service was begun in 1941, the only method of transportation was by horse or on foot. Today, planes carry passengers, light freight, and mail to Juquila, Nopala, and Panixtlahuaca, and telegraph connects these towns with the state capital. ECONOMY

Slash-and-burn agriculture is practiced, fields being allowed to lie fallow for six to eight years. Some cultivation employs oxen in the bottom lands, but most milpas lie on hillsides where the digging stick is necessary. Land is cleared in March and burned the middle of April. Corn is planted a month later, after the May rains have softened the ground. The milpa is weeded twice during the season, the corn being bent to prevent wind damage three to four months after planting. It is not picked until October or November, when the rains have ceased and the corn has dried on the stalk. Women aid in the weeding and harvesting but not in the cleaning, burning, or planting. Most farmers plant coffee on their milpas for their own consumption, bartering what is left at the local market. The Chatino supplement their income by the sale or barter of surplus products or by hiring out as laborers. Since the coffee-picking season does not coincide with the corn harvest, most families send at least one member to earn money on the coffee plantations at picking time. A few Chatino work exclusively as paid laborers on the plantations. Except in the larger commercial towns,

there are few full-time nonagricultural specialists, but the Chatino are beginning to enter such trades as smithing, carpentry, and masonry. The markets are generally dominated by Zapotec and Mestizo traders, with the Chatino selling only local surplus products. SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION

Ultimo-genitor inheritance prevails, and older sons are given a portion of the father's land at marriage. This factor, together with patrilocal residence, results in brothers remaining neighbors both at home and at work. Kinship solidarity and neighborhood interdependence are further enforced by the system of dar la mano, in which relatives, neighbors, and those who owe favors are expected to give a helping hand in house construction, feast preparations, agricultural labor, etc. More often than not, relatives, neighbors, and debtors are one and the same group. The intensity of familial relationships is indicated by kinship terminology (descriptive terms are used for all except the bilineal extended family), and by marriage customs. Marriage is prohibited within the third degree of kinship, and gifts from the bridegroom are given only to the bride's parents and grandparents (bilineal), to her older brothers and baptismal compadres, and to the couple which serves as marriage compadres. This last-mentioned pair has a joking relationship with the married couple, but a respect relationship is established with the couples' first three children, for whom the compadres serve as baptismal godparents. The prohibition against marriage with anyone from the village with the same surname suggests that there may be vestigal exogamous clans. However, the partition of towns into two sections appears to be a recent innovation imposed to facilitate census, rotation of topiles, tax collection, etc. Membership in the section, or in barrios in those villages where barrios exist, is based 363

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on residence, but because of patrilocality, there are many kinship ties within the sections. Juquila has four barrios, three in one section, one in the other, each with its patron saint. The barrio headman is usually chosen from a member who has served as town presidente. There is lively competition among these barrios in sports and for mayordomías. Every male must serve the town from the age of 14 until retirement at 65. Ideally, a boy begins as a topil (messenger) and after five years become a policeman. He spends 10 years at this post before he is eligible for election as an official. The political hierarchy, from lowest to highest office, is: third regidor, second regidor, first regidor, síndico and presidente, each post having, in addition, an assistant. A man is called to duty on alternate elections and if he fails to be elected to any office, he is appointed to serve on one of several committees. Those who have held office as presidente or assistant, are eligible to become alcalde (judge, among the Chatino), a post which, however, carries more prestige than authority. In theory an individual moves up through the hierarchy in successive steps, but in practice a not very capable man may remain in lower offices, while a more capable one may skip offices. RELIGION AND WORLD VIEW

Two religious systems, distinct but overlapping, operate simultaneously among the Chatino. The first is a mixture of Spanish Catholicism and native paganism. Each town has its patron saint, which is considered by the inhabitants to be at least as high in the hierarchical order as the Persons of the Trinity. Christian saints have specific attributes and functions and feast days. The mayordomía system, however, is not as vigorous as in many parts of Oaxaca, so that service to the church is an alternative to, rather than a part of, an individual's 364

political duties. This native Christian religion is similar to that found elsewhere in Mexico, though, of course, the specific paganism is Chatino. Veneration of the Virgin of Juquila serves to remind the Chatino not only of his Christian faith but also of his membership in a particular culture, since he feels the Virgin of Juquila to be peculiarly his own. The second is a relatively pure indigenous system, with strong animistic overtones, in which everything in nature—trees, earth, wind, stones—has its spirit. Some of these spirits are vaguely defined (though not vaguely conceived); others are personified, as, for instance, the old woman of the temascal and the ancient corn god. All wild animals have a supernatural owner and, besides, each class of beasts has its spirit guardian. Domestic animals, on the other hand, are guarded by saints. The Chatino finds no need to reconcile the two religious systems. Each has its own functions and operates in its own realm. The image of San Antonio Abad, patron of poultry, appears in more than half the homes in Nopala, but, significantly, he is not mentioned when a fowl is sacrificed to the spirit of the earth during an agricultural rite. The role of the shaman is not as strong as among the neighboring southern Zapotec. He divines under the influence of either the narcotic mushroom or the piule seed. His role as a healer is more or less confined to illnesses caused by malevolent magic, and he invokes native spirits for aid. There are also curers who specialize in a particular disease and call on Christian saints to cure. Chatino folklore is rich and varied. It retains one of the most complete sun and moon origin myths found in modern Indian Mexico (DeCicco and Horcasitas, 1962). Religious themes and didactic fables are popular, as are tales of finding riches and biblical stories, the latter modified to fit the culture.

CHATINO

AESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL PATTERNS

With the loss of crafts among the Chatino, their principal medium for artistic expression is sand paintings, an important part of funerary ritual. Made with sand, powdered charcoal, lime, clay, and leaves, the artist, using a carved wooden stencil, produces a cross surrounded by flowers, angels, and candles. Occasionally these paintings are made entirely of flower petals. For decorating crosses and icons, artificial flowers are constructed from paper and pieces of metal. Births, deaths, marriages, and religious feasts—times when people gather for conversation, drinking, dancing, gossip, and storytelling—provide the chief recreational activity of the Chatino. Village oflicials converse nightly at the townhall. For both men and women the weekly market is a social as well as an economic event. Small children play at adult activities, girls making tiny tortillas while their small brothers clean imaginary fields with a wooden machete. Girls also play with dolls of rags or wood, and boys ride stick horses or roll hoops. A form of handball common in rural Oaxaca is still played, but schools have introduced basketball and volleyball, and teams of older boys compete at these sports. Bathing, especially among older children, can be considered a recreational activity. LIFE CYCLE

Children are desired. The only form of abortion known, piercing the placenta sac with a sharp stick, is uncommon. A childless couple makes a pilgrimage to a sacred spot and fashions a miniature doll and cradle. They rock the doll, and the woman then holds it to her breast, imploring a spirit to give her a child. A midwife is called in at birth. The woman delivers in the kneeling position. The umbilical cord is cut with a piece of sharp split carrizo (bamboo), and the pla-

centa is then buried. When the umbilical cord falls off, it is saved so that the child will remain healthy. Seven days after birth, the infant is taken to a spring where a shaman performs a ritual to "bury the child's name," although the Chatino deny the existence of secret names. Baptism in the Catholic Church follows some time later. Adults show affection for children, who seldom receive corporal punishment. In those Chatino villages which have schools, education is generally limited to two years. The greater part of the education is informal and consists of training the children for their adult duties. Although there is no overt distinction between the duties of small children according to sex, the boys are generally in the company of their fathers and so do not perform many of the female duties. They will fetch water and run errands, however, just as do women and girls. Absolute virginity is not required of a bride, though an excessively promiscuous girl will have little chance for marriage. The average age at marriage for both sexes is between 17 and 20. Technically the boy's parents initiate the proceedings without his knowledge or consent, but in fact the boy has already spoken to the girl and made his choice known to the parents. Details are arranged between the parents, and on the third weekly visit it is decided what couple will act as compadres of the marriage. At this same time, decisions are made as to what gifts the bridegroom's parents will give each eligible relative of the bride. The principal part of the ceremony, which takes place at the house of the bride, is the exchange of rosaries by the couple. After the wedding feast, the girl goes to her inlaws' house but is not permitted to sleep with her husband for seven days. In the past, she remained in her father's house for five days, this period allowing time for any dream which may augur ill-fortune, in which case the marriage is never consummated. Any woman who does not partake 365

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in the ceremony, or who has not been married by a Catholic priest or under Mexican law, is considered as living in free union and is not recognized as her partner's wife. When a person dies, the body is placed on the floor of the house, in order that the "earth may receive him." The deceased is then laid on a petate, in which he will later be buried in the village cemetery. Various miniature tools and food items are placed in the grave, to be used by the de-

REFERENCES Carrasco, 1961b DeCicco, 1959 and Horcasitas, 1962 McKaughan, 1954 and McKaughan, 1951 Pride, 1961 Upson, 1956, 1960

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ceased on his journey to the place of the dead and in the life to come. The family must make a novena, which includes dietary and sexual restrictions, as well as prayers and bathing. The widow undergoes a 13-day ritual before she is free to associate with others. She may not have sexual relations for three years, however, unless she rids herself of her husband's spirit by rather devious methods (DeCicco, 1959).

18. The Mixtec

ROBERT RAVICZ and A. KIMBALL ROMNEY

Ì

IXTEC INDIANS are concentrated in the northern and western parts of Oaxaca (fig. 1). Some live in adjoining Guerrero, a few in Puebla.1 Neighboring linguistic relatives include Trique, Cuicatec, and Amuzgo, which with Mixtec appear to have been present for a considerable period in or near their present localities. Archaeology adds evidence to support this.2 Non-Otomanguean-speaking groups—Nahuatl, Tlapanec, Zapotec, Chatino, Huave, and Spanish—are in contact with the Mixtec through adjacent settlement, trade, marriage, compadrazgo,3 and fiesta. Less frequent is the presence of small groups of gypsies, known as hungaros,4 employing a non-Spanish, Indo-European speech among themselves. Most Mixtec speak Spanish, but Mixtec is the language in the home; monolingualism in some villages still approximates 80 per cent. GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Three climatic zones range from the high mountains of Oaxaca and eastern Guerrero

to the Pacific coastal plain. The region is rugged throughout; valleys are steep and narrow. Rain falls from April or May through October. The area stretches between latitude 16° and 18°38'N. (Chimecatitlan) and between longitude 96°45' Santa Flor) and 99°30' (Ayutla). Small numbers of Mixtec-speakers, reputedly with generations of antecedents in the area, reside in Zapotec communities such as Mixtequilla, near preconquest sites attributed to Mixtec on the isthmus (R. Diebold, person-

1 Language here determines inclusion. Mixtecan constitutes a block of languages whose distribution overlies some of the areas and cultural remains attributed to "Olmec"; these potential relationships have not yet been delineated. Aboriginally, Mixtecan distribution reached the Gulf of Mexico, the states of Chiapas and Tlaxcala. 2 Caso (1962) has suggested Mixtec ancestry in Monte Alban I. 3 Although we have here used the term compadrazgo to be consistent with the other articles in this volume and with the previous literature on Middle America, Ravicz has argued (vol. 6, Art. 12) that compadrinazgo is more appropriate linguistically and culturally. 4 "Gitano" is not used in referring to them.

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FIG. 1—GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF THE MIXTEC

MIXTEC

al communication, 1964). The total area encompasses some 14,000 square miles. Main drainage basins are the Balsas and Verde, to the Pacific. The upper slopes and plateaus on either side of the Pacific-Gulf divide constitute the Mixteca Alta,5 legendary origin of the Mixtec. Its eastern portions flow to the Gulf along the Papaloapan. The climate is essentially dry, but there are two semihumid zones: tropical on the Pacific and temperate in the Alta. Many Alta and Baja valleys classify as steppe and desert. Nearly every variety of Middle American tropical vegetation is found. The hot region, extending to 3600 feet, includes the Costa and Cañada, below the eastern rim of the Alta; this ranges from semihumid to hot and dry desert with cactus, small plants, and few trees. An Alta variety of this is dry, cold desert, interspersed with dry steppe and herbaceous vegetation. The upper temperate region in Alta and Baja has prairie-type vegetation up to 6200 feet. Above that is the cold region,6 dry to semihumid. Here, wheat has been a recent introduction. There is heavy erosion in the east. 5 The designations Alta, Baja, and Costa are commonly used in the geographic and historical references. They are based primarily on altitude with environmental rather than cultural significance, although the three areas seem to have had slightly different histories and probably reflect some cultural differences as well. They probably derive from the Mixtec terms, in which sabi (rain) is the common referrent. The Alta occasionally is referred to as montaña, both in sources and by present-day populations. The Spanish called the province La Mixteca; the Aztec called it Mixtecapan, 'Place of the Clouds,' or Mixtlan (mixtli, 'cloudy'; tlan). The Mixtec refer to themselves today as nyuu sabi, 'people of the rain.' Sabi is the god of rain. 6 The terms tierra caliente, tierra templada, tierra fria are applied to these hot, temperate and cold zones. There are many different microclimes despite their proximity; altitudinal differences create strong variations within small distances. Growing and vegetation zones vary with slight altitudinal changes. 7 There is a barrio named Mixteco in Huautla de Jimenez but it is a large Mazatec town. 8 Respected older individuals who act as intermediaries and assist ritually in establishing social relationships.

Internal pockets of Otomanguean are Trique and Amuzgo. Most of their relationships remain within the group, but contacts with Mixtec occur through fiestas, trade and occasional marriage. Although both tribes are fewer than the surrounding Mixtec, there are no patterned assertions of authority or hostile manifestations among any of them. Each language has derogatory expressions for its neighbors of a different group. Amuzgo, for example, refers by punning to Guerrero Mixtec as "dogs," to the Oaxaca Tacuate Mixtec as "witches." Amuzgo-Trique contacts are relatively rare. Popolocan contacts occur in the Mixteca Baja, between the district of Huajuapan de Leon and the area bordering the western fringes of the Tehuacan valley, between Chocho and the Mixtee border north of Jocotipac. From this area trade and travel are directed to the Tehuacan market, where much produce is of woven palm material. In the northeast, Mixtec islands are in the Cuicatec and Mazatec regions, on the north and south banks of the Rio Grande, Rio Tomellin, Rio Mazatlan, Rio Quiotepec, or Rio Santo Domingo which becomes the Papaloapan River. In the Cuicatec area are three villages, Cuyamecalco, Santa Ana, and Santa Flor, each with its outlying smaller settlements, or rancherías. San Juan Coazospam is the single Mixtec town in the Mazatec area.7 Contacts occur primarily with other Mixtec groups, though many shared patterns occur. Trade joins Mixtec and Cuicatec at weekly markets. Mixtec musicians often play for a festive occasion at another village, Mixtee or Cuicatec. Although infrequent, marriage occurs across language lines. Mixtee "speakers"8 are employed by Cuicatec as ceremonial officials, particularly for the "washing-of-the-hands." PosTCONTACT E V E N T S

The aboriginal development of the Mixtec places them among the high cultures of Middle America, unsurpassed in codical art, 369

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ceremonial ceramic ware, and the working of gold and other valued materials. The extent and nature of their relations with Nahua-speaking groups remains undetermined, but strong cultural influences seem to have diffused from the Mixtec in late prehistory, influencing the Puebla-Tlaxcala and Aztec cultures, through common deities, calendrical system, and other aspects of mythology9 and religion. At the beginning of Spanish conquest, between 1520 and 1522, Aztec domination exacted tribute payments from the Mixteca and maintained military garrisons in the larger Mixtec centers. The Costa may have been less affected, and apparently smaller settlements were little touched by Nahua intrusive features. In the Valley of Oaxaca and on the isthmus, Mixtec invasion and conquest of the Zapotec were under way. Both were fighting the Aztec as well. Subordinate and superordinate contacts with other traditions were thus not unknown when the Spaniards arrived. Conquest was achieved in the Mixteca with the same speed characteristic elsewhere. Mixtec dislike for the Aztec and the burden of tributes probably hurried the Spanish victory. One account, involving the canny Alvarado, narrates the capture and killing of the authorities on the Costa through treachery. Soldiers and merchants, but especially the early Christian missionaries, were responsible for introducing new ideas, social forms, and goods. Mixtee culture had similarities with the Spanish way of life and eased the transition following the conquest, but the methods of the priests—use of the Mixtec language and the often permissive attitude toward many non-Christian traits— were long-lasting factors in acculturation. Churches were built atop former temples; the cult of the saints and ceremonial kinship were introduced. There was no Mixtec "em9 An origin myth from a Nahuatl village in Tlaxcala is strikingly similar to a Mixtec origin myth from the Mixteca Alta (Ravicz, unpublished field notes from Tlaxcala, 1959).

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pire" to collapse; instead there seem to have been regional groupings of hereditary, stratified authority, probably kin-based, not tribal. Common or noble status was acquired by birth. At some points, larger aggregations were formed: Coixtlahuaca in the Alta, Tututepec in the Costa. Information is sparse but suggests council rule at the local level. Priests were important as the bearers of knowledge: ritual, esoteric, mythological, historical, calendrical. Most of these forms were lost; some have been retained, either syncretized or, rarely, intact. The class system was destroyed; hereditary rulers were dispossessed, and the theocracy was wiped out. Land and labor exploitation by settlers with royal grants initiated the encomienda system. Family and local mores were disorganized by the mistreatment and disregard for the Indians. Individuals and communities were dispersed and resettled elsewhere without concern for social or climatic ties. Epidemics ravaged the native populations. On the Costa, Negro slaves replaced the Mixtee who had died or fled from the new order. Subsistence additions were mainly the plow, oxen, and new plants and animals, notably the chicken and pig. The racial and cultural blendings gave rise to the Mestizo. The municipio form of local political organization spread throughout the region, without entirely displacing the older council of elders or ancianos (Mixtec, tya sha?nu). Nationalistic movements have received mixed support either regionally or locally. Under the recent land redistribution ejidos have been organized in some places. Lately, construction of roads has brought the Mixtec new knowledge and techniques in medicine, education, and occupation. Through Mestizo disdain and Spanish mistreatment, the Mixtec salvaged what they could from their aboriginal culture; the ruggedness of the region and the sparse, indifferent white population favored its survival along with a 16th-century southern European cultural overlay.

MIXTEC

Estimates (Dahlgren de Jordan, 1954) for the late 16th century suppose a population about that of today, a decrease of 50 or 75 per cent since the conquest. Today, Mixtec-speakers number approximately 275,000. Of these some 25 per cent speak only Mixtec; the remainder speak both Mixtec and Spanish.10 On the fringes of other language areas, such as Trique and Amuzgo, there is some trilingualism. The number of Mixtec-speakers is nearly 10 per cent of the national total for speakers of indigenous languages over the age of five years. In Oaxaca, they constitute 37 per cent of the native-language speakers (Inst. Nacional Indigenista, 1950). Population density averages 20 to the square mile, increasing to 30 in some parts of the Alta. ETHNOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION AND SOURCES

Published ethnological materials on the Mixtec are few and provide only incomplete coverage. In view of the relatively large area and population and the high aboriginal cultural development and its significance in Middle American anthropology, the lack is striking. Of all the high cultures of Middle America, only the Mixtec has not received even minimal study. Except for a cursory economic survey, information on present-day Mixtee culture is almost nonexistent. Little relevant material based on field observation appeared in the 400 years following the Relaciones Geográficas of the 16th century.11 Schultze-Jena reported on Guerrero Mixtec in 1938. The economic survey by De La Peña and others for the Instituto Nacional Indigenista, published in 10 The percentage of monolingualism is an average. Many settlements have 90 per cent monolinguals, whereas others show 10 or 15 per cent. The decisive factors are probably the presence of Mestizos and the nature of their relationship with the Mixtec, and the proximity to trade routes and communication centers. Monolingualism is declining, but population is increasing. 11 An authoritative historical summary is supplied by Dahlgren (1954).

1950, was followed by Dahlgren's report, not specifically based on fieldwork, in 1954. Marroquín's Tlaxiaco work (carried on in 1953) was published in 1954, Dyk's in 1959. Fieldwork was recorded by Susan Drucker on the Costa (1963), Romney and Romney (1963), Ravicz (1958), and Ravicz and Romney (1955). Others have worked on Mixtec materials: Borah (1960), Cook and Borah (1963) on demography; survey materials gathered by the Department of Anthropological Investigations of I.N.A.H., including Puebla Mixtec; Rafael Mijangos on health problems, primarily on the Costa; I.N.I. Centro Coordinador, Jamiltepec; Irmgard Weitlaner and Bodil Christiansen on weaving processes; I.N.I. Centro Coordinador, Tlaxiaco, on problems of health, communication, and education, based on prior survey and planning by Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán and related to overpopulation in the Alta. Pertinent to the latter problem is the report by Patiño and Cárdenas (1955) based on their 1953 work. Schultze-Jena's contribution lies in both the amount of material on the Mixtec of Guerrero and its considerable quality: data for house construction, subsistence, belief and ritual and language, with comparison with relatively neighboring "Aztec" and Tlapanec, as well as with Oaxacan Mixtec. The I.N.I monograph (1950) is concerned with economic and social problems, and covers much of the Mixtec area, with consequently thin but useful data. Dahlgren's useful book (1954) contains a summary of prehistory, codical and early Spanish reports, and a selection from later documentary sources on subsistence, social organization, and other cultural aspects. The Tlaxiaco report assesses the general economy in the region—land tenure, crop production, and local industries—and focuses on the market of Tlaxiaco and its importance as a socio-economic event for the surrounding Mixtec area. Agro-economic emphasis marks the Patiño and Cárdenas report (1955). Soil anal371

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ysis, detailed data on costs of crop production and cattle raising, suggestions for resettling populations living on poor lands of the Alta on the Costa leave no room for cultural data. This aspect is presented by Romney and Romney (1963) for a village in the Baja. Although problem-oriented, the study gives adequate coverage to traditional categories, the emphasis lying on child socialization and personality development. Ravicz's work (1965) is a comparative study focusing on social organization in several villages in the Alta, Baja, and Costa. Dyk's collection of folklore contains much socio-cultural detail as well as information on legend, myth, and disease. None of these sources has provided the desired ethnographic coverage, and so comparative data are thus not at present available. There is range of variation of Mixtec subcultures. Studies of change are particularly needed, with the introduction of new roads, knowledge, medical attention, and education. Most of the isolated areas are still untapped sources of ethnographic interest. Older forms of social organization are extant, though usually blended with the newer. Many of the ritual patterns and beliefs are clearly aboriginal in marriage rites, in curing, and in agricultural ceremonies. SUBSISTENCE

Subsistence patterns show little variation.12 Although there are differences in soil erosion, climate, demographic factors, and fertility of land, Mixtec farmers follow a similar form of subsistence agriculture. This is due to a delicate ecological balance. Where subsistence is meager (parts of Guerrero and the Oaxacan districts of Hua12 Variations occur in different aspects of Mixtec culture, but nowhere to the degree that the subculture no longer appears Mixtec. This is partly through the retention of Mixtec speech. Each of the three major zones contains internal variation in traits and patterns, approximately to the same degree. It may be asserted that the Baja is somewhat more acculturated, but such a claim requires more intensive study.

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juapan, Nochistlan, Tepozcolula, and Coixtlahuaca) the weaving of native palm into saleable products is essential (Jocotipac). Herding (cattle and horses are more common in the Costa where there is more grazing) is minimal, although goats and sheep are kept in the Alta. Burros are the beasts of burden. Fishing is seldom attempted. Fish are rare in the few short waterways; occasionally they are available on the Costa from the Negros near the sea. The only relatively common variety is dried fish, shipped in from larger markets outside the Mixteca. Where fishing is attempted in the mountains, dynamite charges are used: a line of men wait a short distance downstream to collect the few, stunned fish. Hook, line, and weir seem unknown. Hunting no longer is productive other than for partridge and for the few remaining deer on the Costa. Rabbit traps are used in the Alta. Lizards, snakes, and grasshoppers are eaten occasionally; a kind of locust (chicatana) is a delicacy on the Costa, eaten toasted and with the wings removed. Wild plants supplement the diet. The maguey is important in the production of pulque in the Alta. Fruit is more abundant on the Costa and Baja. Chickens and turkeys are kept primarily for ritual eating or offering. Pigs are less often kept. The ubiquitous dogs are not eaten. Slash-and-burn agriculture is the main technique. Digging stick and hoe are common, as are oxen and plow. Terrain and wealth decide the method. Good land on the Costa requires little more than the digging stick. On the steep slopes of some of the valleys and in rugged parts of the Alta, oxen are of no use. Since oxen are expensive, many people cannot afford them and so a team is rented out by Mestizo or Mixtec owners, for the duration of field work. Fields lie fallow for four or five years, especially in the hills and smaller settlements,

MIXTEC

where people are fewer. Where trees stand in the field, they are burned, and planting takes place around the stumps. Considerable mobility is required by this subsistence pattern. Individuals often walk one or two hours to their fields. In Guerrero secondary houses are built near the distant fields, to which most of the family move during the season. On the Costa a man frequently remains in a temporary shelter at the field throughout the planting period. Both practices are followed where sugarcane and corn are grown. Planting time occurs in mid-March or April, or immediately after the rains commence. Depending on altitude, harvesting is between August and December. Preparing the field, planting, and harvesting may be done by individuals, family members, paid labor, or informal cooperative aid by friends, neighbors, and compadres. In return, those who help are fed meat and tortillas. Weeding (limpia) is done by family members. An old custom infrequently observed is allotment of a field to the church. This is worked cooperatively by the cofradía or the entire village; profits are used to benefit the church or the patron saint. Agrictultural ritual is observed in parts of all zones. Important rites occur before planting and at harvest. Offerings must be made at those times to the spirits of rain and earth. This is done in the field by the owner or user, or in his absence by his wife. If offerings are not made, the spirit is offended, and crops will be spoiled through too little or too much rain. Preplanting rain ritual occurs in caves in most of the mountainous areas of the Alta, and in some of the Baja; elsewhere and on the Costa, rites are performed on hillsides. Natural rock or man-made shrines at these places receive offerings of copal, candles, and animal sacrifice. These are also offered in the fields, but on the hills and in the caves the offerings are made on behalf of the entire community by specialists, usually

leading elders or sometimes the entire body of officials. One of these or other specialists (who also cure) may hold rites on behalf of the crop of an individual or of a small group. Particular stones protect individual and communal crops in the Alta. Some of these are aboriginal Mixtec seated human figurines. Corn, beans, and squash are the staple crops, often planted in the same field. Chile is invariably on hand, mainly traded in from the lower altitudes, as are most fruits— papaya, anona, mango, and banana—which grow profusely on the Costa, where diet is more varied than in the uplands. Tomatoes are everywhere. A variety of small peach and a pomegranate are planted in the Alta. Some cacao is grown on the Costa. Rain provides sufficient moisture for crops. Irrigation is practiced in a few valleys, where some cash crops such as alfalfa are also grown. Wheat has been of relatively recent introduction in the Alta. Cotton is grown on the Costa; some of it comes from trees. The agricultural round and the attitude toward the land as a living and dynamic personalized force become an integral part of Mixtec personality. Attachment to the related ritual acts as a deterrent on emigration and as a strong integrating sociocultural factor. Food preparation, like marketing, is done by the women. Corn is usually shelled outside the house; grinding, cooking, and eating are done inside, mostly on the ground. Women may sometimes assist each other or in-laws may prepare food together, particularly in an extended family, but the nuclear family appears to be the basic subsistence unit. Meal times are flexible, especially during the agricultural season, when the men seldom eat with their family. Women rise first, stir up the fire, and prepare coffee, tortillas, perhaps some leftover beans with chile made into one of various sauces. Men leave early for the fields, after coffee or a light 373

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FIG. 2 — S E T T L E M E N T PATTERN, CALCO. Total, 339 houses.

CUYAME-

less isolated houses. The tortilla is a scoop and a container as well as part of the diet. Gourds serve as scoops or cups. Cups and glasses may be used. Pulque is drunk in the Alta, coffee everywhere.13 The coffee is boiled and taken with sugar. Milk is drunk mainly on the Costa. Water is seldom imbibed but it is used to rinse the mouth after eating. Soft drinks are known in many places; fermented sugarcane (tepache) is found locally, and distilled cane is sold widely. Chocolate is drunk at fiestas. The alcohol drunk at fiestas results frequently in intoxication, mainly among the men; women drink sparingly. Since drinking is an integral part of the fiesta, the number, elaboration, and emphasis of fiestas determine the amount. Men usually take a few swallows of distilled cane or aguardiente in the field on workdays. Liquid from the coconut, as well as its meat, is consumed on the Costa.14 In many places, a small corn surplus is a trade item or a medium of exchange for clothing, curing services, or other necessities. Most surplus is distributed through fiestas and as part of social responsibilities in marriage, mayordomías, or compadrazgo. SETTLEMENT PATTERNS

portion of beans. If they are not to return until evening, they may take with them a prepared meal, to be eaten cold after noon. Some return in late morning for a light meal. When the field is not too distant, a child or the wife carries the meal to the man. Returning in the late afternoon or evening, the man eats about the same fare, the boiled beans with onions warmed, perhaps a piece of meat on fiesta days, supplemented by watercress, fungi, herbs, or greens. Women and children may eat at midmorning, in the afternoon, and little at all in the evening. The diet is nearly the same from day to day. During the day, children may be given a piece of tortilla or a sweet. Utensils for eating include small plates, spoons, and fingers, and possibly forks in 374

Compact, dispersed, and vacant patterns occur (figs. 2-5). Even though terrain varies from the steep slopes and valleys of the uplands to the more rolling lowlands, there is no close correlation between terrain and settlement form, except that in general the grid variant of the compact settlement, where it occurs at all, is restricted to the 13 Coffee grows best between 800 and 1200 m. altitude. It centers mostly on isolated fincas on the Costa, in the Baja, and in the Sierras Cuicateca and Mazateca. For the Mixtec, it must be acquired by trade; it is an important cash crop, not grown by Mixtec but by Spaniards, Germans, Mazatec, Trique, and Mestizos. Mixtec work seasonally on the Finca Carlota, near Ayautla, coming from Cuyamecalco, Santa Ana, and San Juan. 14 The copra industry is controlled by Costa Mestizos. Costa Mixtec do some wage labor in connection with it.

t EL

ROSARIO

FIG. 3—SETTLEMENT PATTERN, JAMILTEPEC. Total, 647 houses.

valleys. The compact form seems most evident in the larger population centers, particularly when Mestizos are present, but it is always accompanied by a few dispersed settlements. The dispersed and vacant towns occur independently of the compact, and they may constitute the modal types. In the mountains, whatever the settlement pattern, structures are placed high on the slopes, frequently near the ridge. At San Miguel in the Alta, 6500 feet altitude, the vacant center lies in a shallow basin between two spurs descending from the ridge 300 feet above. The center controls the seven springs for which the settlement is named: ndute usya. On the flanks of the basin and flowing over and slightly down the spurs, the residences, separated by 100600 yards, are scattered among the fields. Falling sharply from the springs, a stream

descends through brush and unplanted narrowing spurs to the road. Access to the road requires a 40-minute walk, then an hour and a quarter from road to center. The road winds northeast for 4 hours through the mountains to the market center at Tlaxiaco, passing through territory of two other communities, where fields and houses are visible. From one of the two main spurs in San Miguel, footpaths lead south and southwest to outlying fields and eventually to other settlements. From the other, a path leads to the road 15 to the Trique country, passing 100 yards north of and slightly below the 15 The road, opened in 1960, is passable for motor traffic except during heavy rains. Buses make the Tlaxiaco-San Andres run twice daily, a trip of an hour and a half. This is an important communication element in the attempt to join the Costa people and products with other parts of Oaxaca and Mexico.

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FIG. 4 — S E T T L E M E N T PATTERN, JUXTLAHUACA (BARRIO OF SANTO DOMINGO)

FIG. 5—SETTLEMENT PATTERN, SAN JUAN (RANCHERIA DEL ESPAÑOL). Total, 55 houses.

376

nearest dwelling. Cut off by hills and pine growth, San Miguel is thus completely unseen. An hour and a half by foot to the west lies the Trique market of San Andres. San Miguel has no market, telephone, radio, lighting, doctor, telegraph, stores, airstrip— or Mestizos. This vacant center is the politico-religious core. It contains the Catholic church and buildings for municipal affairs and religious observances. The church has no priest in attendance and is used mainly for cofradía purposes. Two adjoining structures are used by the judge and by the agent representing the municipality and their assistants. The other structures are unoccupied and serve only for ceremonial occasions. A structure was intended for a school, but there has been no teaching or teacher for some years. There are no dwellings. For each of the nearly 200 families, houses consist ordinarily of one or two structures: the main one for sleeping, storage, visiting, and fiesta, the other for cooking. The two may be adjacent or, more commonly, facing each other across a yard or patio. The bin for corn storage may form one side of the patio or stand alongside the kitchen. A goat corral, rarely more than 20 yards away, completes the layout. As in San Miguel, the residential center of Cuyamecalco, 5000 feet altitude, is built high on a slope but extends for half a mile just below the ridge, along both sides of the trail. The farmlands run down 3000 feet to the Rio Mazatlan. The rail line is an 8-hour walk or animal ride, 12 hours to the district political headquarters. An airstrip is a 3hour walk away. Cuyamecalco is a compact settlement, for the terrain makes the concentrated grid impractical here. The road along which the village lies is the main road connecting district communities. Position of the settlement ensures control of the road and the fields below. The river is not navigable and is impassable in heavy rains. There is no motor traffic. Rising to the ridge above, as at San Miguel and elsewhere in

MIXTEC

the Mixteca, is the monte, the communal land used for planting, grazing, and firewood. Other monte lies south beyond the ridge and east over a spine. The vertical range gives Cuyamecalco growing areas in three climatic zones. Plentiful water comes from five springs rising over a distance of about 1000 yards, slightly above the road level. Seasonal rains from May through September permit two maize crops a year. Outside the main center, dispersed settlements make a demographic continuity with neighboring communities. On the east, a long narrow pass on the road joins Cuyamecalco and Santa Ana. An upthrust from the west spine marks an agenda of Cuyamecalco. On the opposite slope of the ridge above the settlement lies another agencia, separated from Santa Ana by a spur and from Santa Flor by a pass. Cuyamecalco is a commercial, political, and religious focus. As with San Miguel and the vast majority of other settlements, it is also the main source for social relationships. An important difference from San Miguel is the presence of many Mestizos, composing 10 per cent of a population of 1800. The civil offices and the church lie just below the road and are built around the open market. The third side is bounded by the school, the fourth drops off to houses below. Internal divisions in the village, secciones,16 serve as markers for censustaking and collections, but have no other socio-political implications. They are called first, second, and third secciones, and each has a name. The second sección is the village center. Within its limits are all the stores, controlled by Mestizos, who live behind. Mixtec also live in the sección. There is no special orientation for house doorways. Most face north; some face south and east, from which come the clouds and rain. Houses are closely or loosely grouped. In the few compounds the door of each house opens onto the common space. In the valleys and on the Costa, where land is

more level, the compound is more common. It supports the patrilocal emphasis in residence, as does the grouping arrangement. The household consists of one or more single-room structures; multiroomed ones are rare. Adjacent cooking huts are frequent. Storage is occasionally in a separate loft outside the house. About 20 to 40 minutes' walk from the center of the village are the agencias. Cuyamecalco has six, comprising 88 houses. Their settlement is dispersed. The cemetery is at the west edge of the village, about 100 feet below the road, and at the level of the church and municipal building. It serves both Mixtec and Mestizo.17 On the Costa, Jamiltepec has adjacent but separate burial grounds for the two groups. Presence of a Protestant minority and their church seems as yet little related to the settlement. Marriage occurs between villages though there is no local exogamy rule. Padrinos may be sought outside one's own village. Observances for local saints draw visitors from elsewhere. Specialists, musicians, curers, and "speakers" (see note 8) work in different villages. Officials of two villages meet to discuss land or other disputes; if not settled, they meet with district officials. Trade and markets are important factors for bringing people together from different localities. On the whole, people do not travel broadly; news and gossip do. Some villages are closer to communication routes than others; Cuyamecalco and Juxtlahuaca, more 16 These are elsewhere called barrios and were previously so named here. Each keeps its Mixtec name, but this gives no clue to any former organization function. On the Costa there appears to be some weak form of organization: representation of the barrio by elders; ascription of barrio status through birth. Such is true also for Mixtepec, in the Alta but bordering the Baja. On the Costa competitions of dance and music and some interbarrio rivalry manifest through occasional fighting. Marriage rules do not appear to apply to the barrios. 17 Note the difference from the Spanish pattern, where the cemetery is adjacent to or part of the churchyard.

377

FIG. 6 — M I X T E C HOUSES, TILANTONGO. (From Starr, 1909.

than San Miguel, for example. Movement tends to be within the altitudinal zone, though traders move between diflFerent ones, crossing cultural boundaries as well as environmental ones. Land in the Costa region of Jamiltepec and in the Baja valley of Juxtlahuaca is more fertile than in the mountains. Each is a district center; each has doctors, priests, merchants, teachers, and motor traffic most of the year. In both, Mixtec live apart from Mestizos in the internal village divisions. Juxtlahuaca has one main Mixtec barrio at the southeast corner of the village containing 15 per cent of the population of 4000. Jamiltepec's three barrios lie west of the Mestizo-dwelling commercial center and constitute 70 per cent of the population of 3500. In that center are also the school, municipio, and church. Mixtec interact less with the Mestizos than in Cuyamecalco. 378

Juxtlahuaca has a church and school in the barrio, permitting the Mixtec to identify strongly with barrio locality. The Mestizo area contains church, municipal offices, school, and airstrip. In both villages, the markets are in the commercial center, but selling is mainly in the hands of the Indians. Juxtlahuaca's pattern is grid compact; Jamiltepec's is less ordered and nucleated, each barrio being a short distance from the other and slightly dispersed. Footpaths connect them. In neither village are church, schools, municipal buildings, and market grouped, but they are in the same barrio and within a few hundred yards of each other. Jamiltepec is a large market center, having a daily market as does Juxtlahuaca. Mixtee traders come from Tlaxiaco in the Alta as well as Costa Mixtec and Negros. There are permanent, large springs in the

MIXTEC

village, and seasonal rains fill the streambeds; it is along these springs and waterways that the barrios are bounded. The village sits on a hill rising 900 feet above the coastal plain. To the south, the land drops rapidly to the Pacific, 15 miles away; the fields lie on the slopes below the village and on the plain. Tropical fruit trees —mango, papaya, banana—shade nearly the entire village; houses are sometimes hidden from view just a few feet away. The land, a red-brown sandy loam worked without the plow, gives two crops a year. Houses may be grouped or compound, depending somewhat on terrain and on patrilocal emphasis. The single-structure households generally denote smallness of family, lack of wealth or cooperative aid for house construction, or occasionally unmarried individuals. Variation occurs within all communities. Eight days' walk north from Jamiltepec lies the valley of Juxtlahuaca. Contact over such distance is rare; mule drivers or individuals curious to see the Costa area or a regional fiesta or to try the thermal waters are among the few who travel so far. Juxtlahuaqueños are better acquainted with the Baja and nearby Alta. The valley, at 4500 feet altitude, is part of a north-south series dotted with villages along the banks of the Juxtlahuaca River and other tributaries of the Mixteco. Water is plentiful year round, both from the river and from the many household wells. Irrigation is practiced, under municipal water control. Rises in the valley are slight, so that farmland and residence are often on the same level. But here as elsewhere, other lands must be utilized as well; communal lands, generally poorest and farthest from the main settlement, are primarily in the hills. Most fields are separate from the residential center. Farther south in the valley a few individuals live next the fields permanently. Compounds are common, and multiroomed dwellings more frequent than in

FIG. 7 — S C A T T E R E D HOUSES IN ALTA. (Photographed by R. Ravicz.)

MIXTECA

FIG. 8 — A N I M A L AND STORAGE STRUCTURES. (Photographed by R. Ravicz.)

Other villages. Barrio organization holds for fiestas and a few communal affairs, thus securing some political autonomy from Mestizos. Added to other Mixtec patterns, considerable socio-cultural distance is achieved in this manner. TECHNOLOGY

In agriculture, the principal tools are the estaca, a stick with a point at the digging end to make the hole into which the corn is 379

ETHNOLOGY

dropped; the gancho (called asadon in some areas) or hoe; the plow, wood or metal tipped; the machete, for clearing the fields of brush and trees. It has the widest use of any implement, in building, cutting firewood, opening coconuts and canned goods, trimming maguey. The opocote is used to extract aguamiel. In hunting, rifles are the most common weapon. Rabbit traps are constructed of twigs and a heavy stone. A blowgun (cervatana) with pellets is used in the Alta for shooting at birds or as play for the children. A punishment of prisoners may involve whipping with a tuchi (virile member of a bull). A wooden or metal press is utilized in the making of panela, a brown sugar made from dark cane. The cane is put into the press by a man, while an animal team (mule or ox or horse) circles the press to provide power for squeezing. To extract the juice thoroughly on a wooden press, the cane is put through twice; once suffices for a metal one. The extracted juice is boiled in metal vats for six hours until thick, the scum which rises to the top being skimmed off periodically. When thickened, it is poured into individual gourds in which it solidifies. After removal from the gourd, it is ready for use or for sale. Discarded gasoline containers are used to carry water. Storage of water in clay jars (ollas) is widespread. Jars and pots of clay are the most frequent containers for food and liquid. Wooden ladles and clay cooking pots of various sizes are the primary cooking utensils. Comales (griddles) of clay or metal are indispensable for cooking and reheating tortillas and for toasting chiles; molcajetes serve for grinding chiles, seeds, herbs, onions, garlic, and tomatoes. The mano and metate grind corn. Gourds are containers for corn or other items, measures for weighing on a scale or by volume, scoops or cups for liquids, and molds for panela. Secondarily, they may serve as headgear for women. Baskets, especially tenates, are used as 380

carrying bags, suspended on the back from a tumpline. Leather bags for carrying small, personal objects are favored by men, hanging from the right shoulder by a leather strap. Sieves are used for winnowing: some are held in the hand; others are stationary on legs, with a slanting trough which has a sieve bottom. Rectangular wooden forms mold adobe bricks (Juxtlahuaca, Cuyamecalco). Ceramic manufacture is predominantly utilitarian, clays are local. The common form is simple and unornamented, although pottery of any locality is widely seen. Molds and wheels are not used. Firing is done in the open; some ware is sun dried. Painting is infrequent but it appears on some pots and clay toys on the Costa. There is no glazing or incising. Palm is an important material in the manufacture of carrying bags (tenates), mats (petates), rain capes and hats, all of which are sources of income. There are two kinds of palm, one native to the Mixteca and another commercially grown in Guerrero. The latter is of a finer texture and considered more valuable, costing more for Mixtec who buy it at such market centers as Tequixtepec in the Baja. Palm weaving is done by individual handwork, either alone or in groups. Petates and tenates are the items most widely distributed to indigenous markets, in and out of the Mixteca. Some of these and the hats are bought by Mestizo contractors in large lots, to be delivered to processing centers such as Tehuacan. There, the hats are finished, twine and coloring added, then shipped to be sold in urban and tourist areas and in rural regions. Adults and children, as soon as they are able, weave palm. Learning is mainly by imitation; little instruction is required, as the process is not complex and as adult models are readily available where nearly the entire population practices it. Weaving is done throughout the day whenever hands are free. Municipal officials weave in their

FIG. 9 — M I X T E C WEAVING MAT, TILANTONGO. (From Starr, 1909.)

office, women in the house or on an errand, children in play groups, men walking to and from the fields. They weave on the roads and in the markets; a nearly finished hat is placed atop the head and another begun immediately. In this way two or three hats may be woven in a day. To keep the palm pliable and moist in the dry climate, it is stored underground in pits next the house. Candle making is undertaken in connection with observances for a saint. The candles are made a month or so before the mayordomia under the direction of the mayordomo. Although skillful, candlemakers are not specialists; they are members of the mayordomia who know how to handle the heat and pour the wax, in order to build up the candle. The process occupies several hours and has ritual aspects; food and drink and tobacco are provided for the workers, and mayordomia members are present. It may be done during the day or evening.

The wax belongs to the cofradía and is reused several times. Textile materials are cotton and wool. Wool comes from the locally raised sheep, most common in the Alta. Cotton is available for local use on the Costa where it is grown, but in the Alta and Baja it is purchased, as are the rayon ribbons and threads increasingly used as decoration. Dyes are also purchased from Mestizo storekeepers. The most common weaving apparatus is the backstrap loom. It is widespread but distribution occurs irregularly, mainly in the more isolated areas of the Alta and Costa and in Guerrero. Wool is used to weave serapes and jorongos for men and boys, and skirts and rebozos for women and girls, in the Alta. Wool is woven into some cotton huipiles as decoration. Woven of cotton are huipiles, skirts, rebozos, fajas (belts) for women, and a white fabric {manta) from which women make garments for men. On the Costa, men's carrying bags are of cotton. 381

FIG. 10—MIXTEO, SAN BARTOLO. (From Starr, 1909.)

MIXTEC

Wool is carded and spun, by use of a gourd and a malacate. Many women weave in some settlements, but only one or two in places like San Juan where weaving is becoming lost art. Women who cannot weave but who still wear indigenous dress purchase or barter for the desired items. Whether with kin or non-kin, this is predominantly done within the locality. This kind of interchange does not occur in markets but between individuals in homes. Spinning of cotton is especially common on the Costa. At Jamiltepec, spindle whorls are manufactured. The products of weaving are utilitarian but usually incorporate decorative elements. The forms range from geometric to stylized representations of animals and plants, arranged in bands or stripes. They range from simple borders on neck, sleeve, or pants to repeated patterns covering nearly the whole garment. The Mixtec are able to distinguish the place of origin of a woven item from its design motif. Within a village, reputedly any woman's woven work is recognizable as hers. A huipil takes one and a half to two months to weave. This effort plus the degree of ornateness determines its prestige value. Diffusion of European elements is seen in the embroidery stitches and in some designs, as well as in the stitched-on rayon ribbons rather than woven stripes. A non-textile fabric worked by men is a portion of the bark of a palm. This is interwoven by hand into clusters, each cluster then tied, and the clusters placed shinglefashion over each other to form a kneelength rain cape. Now infrequent except in the more isolated parts of the Alta, it is being replaced by the palm cape (capisayo) or plastic one. Clothing For men, shirt and pants are the basic clothing, ordinarily of white cotton. The shirt, donned over the head, has sleeves reaching the lower arm, the more conserva-

tive ones being coUarless. Pants either button or wrap around the waist, the latter kind reaching to midcalf and being the more conservative. When worn, footgear is sandals or huaraches. Hats are purchased, worn all day and frequently inside the house. On the Costa and Alta, where elders continue to be important, their insigne is the black felt, broad-brimmed, highcrowned hat. Less isolated areas have adopted traditional rural male dress. The Tacuate of Zacatepec retain a conservative form, wearing above-the-knee pants; part of the pants is a long wraparound portion which passes between the legs from behind and tucks into the pants at the waist to form a front pouch; this serves as a carrying bag for tobacco, money, and other small items. Both pants and shirt are ornamented with woven animal and other designs. In the Baja and Alta, men wear jorongo or poncho in the cool evenings. Women's dress consists of a skirt (or an undergarment) and an overgarment, the huipil. The undergarment is a wraparound affair, varying in length from knee to lower calf. The overgarment slips over the head, its length varying as does the undergarment, which it may or may not cover. Garments show a slight tendency to be shorter in the highlands where both the half-trotting gait of the women and the steep terrain make lengthy garments less practicable. On the Costa, the wraparound skirt may be long or short; the upper body remains bare, 18 the overgarment being folded atop the head or around the neck. The overgarment is donned only at marriage and death. Footgear is rarely used by women. In the less conservative areas, rural female dress is worn. Women may wear the malestyle hat, which they remove inside the 18 Mestizos exert pressure to make women cover the upper body by shaming both women and men, calling attention to the breasts, making derisive remarks, some with sexual implications, and laughing. In Jamiltepec, Mixtec women cover the breasts when in the Mestizo area.

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newest clothing is buried with the deceased owner. Curers carry a small cloth bag under the skirt, around the neck. In it is often a special stone, a preconquest Mixtec figurine, and other ritual objects. There is little use of ornaments. Earrings are worn by females, the ears being pierced at an early age or at birth. The earrings are of plastic or false gems, seldom of gold. Hair is worn long by the women; it is brushed daily and washed at least twice a week. On the Costa the hair is worn tied into a front knot. Cosmetics are not used. Bathing is weekly or oftener, daily on the Costa. The men cut their hair with scissors, or they search out an out-of-doors barber at the market town. Body hair being slight, shaving is infrequent and accomplished at home with a naked blade. Mutilation seems unknown. Modesty and certain fears concern nudity: a foreign substance can enter the body more readily when unclothed; this seems of more anxiety for men than for women. Houses

FIG. 11—MIXTEC WOMAN OF PEÑOLES, OAXACA. Note wraparound skirt. (Photographed by Donald Cordry, 1963.)

house. The gourd is carried atop the head, but its main uses are other than as headgear. In the Alta women wear rebozos in the evening, and a few use scrapes. In the less isolated areas, the rebozo is worn at all times, serving as protection from the mal de ojo or aire, a flirtatious male, or the weather; as carrier for child or material object. From about the age of six, children adopt the dress of adults; prior to that time, they wear little or no cover except at night. Adults do not remove clothing at night. Two or three changes of clothing are common. At fiestas, it is prestigeful for a woman to wear her two or three best huipiles. The 384

Houses are rectangular or round, with a single entrance and no windows. Walls are of adobe, brush, poles or wattle-and-daub; a few are of palm or logs. The roof is palm thatch most often, sloping to head or shoulder level of the inhabitants; tin roofs occur in the less isolated areas. In parts of the Alta, the apex of the roof extends beyond the walls at either end for 2 feet to afford a smoke outlet. Although not readily classifiable according to area, house types are distinguished mainly in form: the round house seems most related to the Costa but reaches into the Baja; round corn storage structures (trojes or cozcomates) are in all zones; rectangular dwellings seem less frequent on the Costa. Combinations of wall and roof constructions account for five house types in San Miguel, including the "log cabin," apparently restricted to parts of the Alta.

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One- and two-room structures are found; if two rooms, each may have its own entrance and share a wall. The average room measures about 12 by 15 feet. Cooking is usually done in an adjacent brush hut or in the one-room dwelling. Storage is ordinarily inside the dwelling, an overhead place of small beams extending from one wall as much as one third of the room's length and the entire width. A ladder gives access to this and to the outside storage unit when present. The structure is not unlike a corn troje: it is built of palm and thatch, raised on four stilt-like beams to about 6 feet above the ground. The troje may be made of logs or adobe, with a top of logs or brush. A shelter consisting of a brush roof on posts serves for oxen, mules, horses, burros, pigs. Sheep and goats are kept in a small corral made of posts. Brush shelters large enough for one or two people are often built alongside the fields for use by boys or men working or guarding the fields, or for shelter from the rain. Furnishings are few. They consist of the cooking utensils, kept on the dirt floor or hung on pegs or nails in the walls, near the firepit; mats on which to sleep, woven from palm; a table which serves as altar, holding candles, images of the saints or Virgin, relics, herbs, and often garlic, a protective agent; two or three low wooden chairs and a table. The non-cooking structure is frequently called the "casa del santo." Sleeping, eating, most of the food preparation, and other housework is done on the floor. In each zone some houses have woven mats of twine, branches, or palm which are attached to four-legged log frames to make a bed, atop which the petate is placed. When not in use, petates are rolled and stood in a corner. The mano and metate are kept next to the firepit, which also provides a little warmth for the house. Candles are tied in bundles and hung on a wall; they provide light in the evening. Fuel is wood, encino (oak) and ocote (pine) being the most

common. Trunks for storage are found occasionally. The table is rarely used for eating but has utilitarian items on or under it. It usually parallels the long axis of the room and the wall facing the entrance, with a long and a short side against adjoining walls. When in use, it is moved slightly away from the two walls. It may stand along the wall at right angles to the entrance. The fire may be in any corner of the room except near the door or the table. Sweat houses are found in all zones, but not every house has one. They are built behind the house, adjacent to it or projecting into it, or in the cornfield. There are no communal ones. Two main types occur, both rectangular. One is of stone and earth and relatively permanent; the other is a temporary structure of brush with mats thrown over it. The larger one holds two or more people, the makeshift one an adult or an adult and child. The latter kind may be erected in front of the house. The sweat house cleanses women after childbirth and cleanses individuals at the end of sickness. TRANSPORTATION

Travel and transportation are overland. The occasional airstrips are utilized almost exclusively by non-Mixtec. Rivers are not navigable. Walking is the ordinary mode of movement. Though individuals seldom travel without a burden, the gait is rapid. A pace of 2½ to 3 miles an hour is not unusual in the mountains, with a 40- or 50-pound load; this can be maintained for the 8 or 10 hours of a walking day. A halt is taken every hour or two, for a few minutes. During the walk, to refresh oneself, the mouth is pursed and air forcibly expelled once or twice, with a low whistling sound. Burdens are carried almost entirely on the back, by tumpline or by carrying net slung over the head or right shoulder. When carried on the head by women, the burden rests on a head pad. Such a burden may be a basket or pot. Frequently, one hand helps 385

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support the load on the head. Carrying poles are utilized for water-bearing, a container attached to either end and the whole carried over the right shoulder or high up on the back. Motor habits are such that loads are not carried by hand even if there should be a handle. Children are carried on the back or across or astride the hip. The former, a more usual practice, requires a rebozo, in which the child is wrapped. The second method is common on the Costa, where the upper body of the woman is not clothed, and the child frequently is carried on the left hip. Travel is seldom outside the locality. People travel mostly for trade and markets, ceremonial observances, visits to relatives or acquaintances. News and gossip from elsewhere attract attention, but travel merely to see the sights or a new region is rare. Few facilities are available. In the larger market centers are individuals, or an occasional larger enterprise, to make and sell cooked food. Most travelers carry cooked food with them, ordinarily eaten cold. When possible, people try to carry sufficient to last them throughout the trip, especially if it is of only a day's duration. As the idea of rent is rare, there are few rooms to be rented for sleeping. Travelers may be given a floor on which to sleep in the municipio, or in a private house. Most of those who come in to market sleep out-of-doors in a protected place near the market or along the walls of a store building. Traveling merchants establish contacts along the route where they are given lodging and often storage for some of their excess merchandise. Trading partners and other formal relationships are not established. Social relationships based on marriage, kinship, or the compadrazgo do afford hospitality for the traveler. There are paths and larger foot and animal trails in all areas. The footpaths lead to roads or into fields or outlying residences. Roads connect larger settlements, are more 386

widely used, and afford easier if somewhat longer travel. Markers indicating location or directions are not used. Verbal directions are given in terms of landmarks or residences. Most topographic features such as waterways, ridges, passes, hills, or trees are known by place names, in Mixtec or Nahuatl, less often in Spanish. Mules, burros, and horses are the pack animals, though few Mixtec can afford an animal. Riding the animal is rare. A man ordinarily walks alongside or slightly behind the animal, holding a stick to guide it. Wheeled or other vehicles are not found, other than occasional wheelbarrows or bicycles in some of the less isolated valleys. Trucks and buses are restricted to places where roads have been recently constructed, under federal and state funding and supervision. Local settlements in those areas provide labor, but pay is by nonlocal agencies. Local roads and paths and streets in the villages are maintained by the municipal authority. General clean-ups of roads and public facilities are made once or twice a year, in which most males must cooperate. Weekly cleaning of the settlements and repair of municipal property such as roads or bridges is done by young men serving in the compulsory communal service (tequio). Mail is managed through services set up in the larger villages and is handled by Mestizos. Mail arrives by truck or burro, weekly in the more isolated settlements. The mail truck also provides a further if limited means of transportation. Travel and roads are sources of potential danger, in indigenous thought. This attitude tends to restrict movement and migration, as well as to affect outlook on those, especially strangers, who travel. Many stories, tales, and news items of dire happenings connected with trips support this. Some amount of ritual is thus directed at travel; divination can determine the outcome of the journey and the propitious time for departure; herbs may be carried to ward

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off dangers. Departures are quiet, quick, and unannounced. Travel at night occurs only in emergency. Nightmares often act out the dangers of night-time travel. WEIGHTS AND MEASURES

The metrical system is in practice in the more accessible areas. More common are sight-estimate or determination by size of available materials. In land dispute, arbitration may require agreement among municipal officials based on investigation by visual measurement of the boundary. Distance is reckoned by reference to a "known" such as that between two points, e.g., between fields, trees, villages, village and river. Or it may be reckoned in terms of elapsed "time": forenoon, a "day" of daylight. Heights of human, inanimate, and animal objects are indicated, respectively, by extending the right-hand forefinger with the thumb at its base and the remaining fingers touching the upturned palm; by joining the fingers of the down-turned open palm; by pronation of the open hand to the diagonal. Infants and small children are occasionally compared in size and age to dogs or rabbits. Large size or weight appear to have no comparable referrent. The span of the hand, apparently restricted to use by diviners, is found in the more isolated areas of Guerrero and those fringing the Trique. Standard measures include maquila and arroba. The former is a three-sided wooden container of varying size employed especially to measure corn. Gourds serve as measures for foods, solid and liquid. They are used alone to calculate by volume, or in conjunction with small, hand-held scales in the marketplace. With barter frequent as a means of exchange, items such as corn, coffee, and (more rarely) the cacao bean assume relatively standard values, along with the more widespread use of national currency.

Counting is done in Mixtec or in Spanish. Writing is primarily in Spanish, as is reading, both a function of Federal Rural Education. Where the I.N.I, has concerned itself with education, initial literacy is achieved through Mixtec teachers, language, and texts. Number and, to some extent, size seem emphasized rather than weight; thus, the number of turkeys in a wedding gift betokens prestige more than do size or weight of the birds. Again, the number of gifts to the compadre emphasizes his status. The success of a fiesta meal is judged by the amount of the portions of food, the hands being used to describe the size of the servings. Division of the day into hours appears in the more acculturated areas, but with little emphasis on exactness or promptness. Time is ordered by seasons (wet and dry), by day (lightness and darkness, with pre- and post-midday distinctions), by weeks and months (mainly as these relate to the mayordomia and agricultural cycles), by the position of a few astral bodies, by occasional knowledge of an almanac. There is to date no record of present-day persistence of an aboriginal calendar. ECONOMY

Division of Labor Men and women work long hours. Laziness and complaints about hard and long work are undesirable traits; the former rarely occurs among adults, and in children it is punished by scorn or physical force. Competition in farming, crafts, or kitchen seems absent, although the value of land and its products is realized, and work, planning, and some capital reinvestment occur in the more acculturated villages and through an occasional entrepreneur elsewhere (San Miguel). In general, agricultural labor is performed by males, household tasks by females, but women in some settlements help to plant 387

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the seeds or to weed the fields, and men bring in firewood or slaughter an animal. Housebuilding is done by men, herding by children or women. From about age eight, boys learn from and provide some aid to their father, girls having begun earlier to cooperate in housework. Single men and women farm and do housework, if there are no family members with whom to live. Informal charity of food, fuel, and other necessities is provided the aged and infirm, where there is no family to assume such responsibilities. Weaving and pottery making, although female tasks, are not prohibited to males, nor are the men who practice them considered deviants. There seems more male participation in these activities in the Alta than in the Baja. Although an individual's work is identifiable, and although there are criteria which allow weaving or pottery to be judged qualitatively, there is little prestige accruing to individuals. Material rewards are not cumulative. Most weaving is done for the weaver's use, and there is no general drive toward achievement in craftsmanship. There is little overt ranking as to the relative desirability of customary tasks. Leisure for men is indirectly correlated with seasonal agricultural requirements, whereas women find time for daily leisure. Play is encouraged in children. Specialization Specialists are few. Full-time specialists may include diviners and curers, though in some areas these are part-time activities. Fireworks makers follow a similar pattern, as do potters in the Alta. Traveling merchants work only part-time, carrying on farming as well. Municipio and cofradía participants serve prescribed periods only, receiving support from family more than from community. A few landless individuals work as farm labor, and occasionally women with no means of support hire out as servants. 388

Property Although wealth distinctions are apparent, no wealth-based social classes appear to differentiate Mixtec society, and wealth accumulation is slowed by the demands of the fiesta systems. Individuals, both male and female, may own clothing, ornaments, implements, ceremonial artifacts, animals, land, and residence structures. Items of this class may be exchanged 19 or otherwise distributed as the owner wishes. There appears to be no corporate identity of any form of kin grouping as regards property ownership or claim, but kin and extended family support may be forthcoming as the result of property dispute with another party or group, leading sometimes to long-term feuds. At the group level, villages often feud over disputed boundaries. The use and alienation of privately owned items by others is subject to municipio adjudication, but in actuality the right of the owner to act independently is covertly accepted. Theft is rare, markedly so in isolated regions. Punishment invokes whipping or imprisonment, as well as a fine and restitution to the owner. Borrowing is frequent. It usually involves an item needed for the kitchen or an implement. Longer-term loans of money or of corn occur. Interest on these transactions is collected by Mestizos, seldom by Mixtec. Although loans are made within the kin range, there is also predilection for non-kin borrowing, to prevent eventual conflict in the kin group. The compadrazgo provides a secure source of loans and assured repayment. Land is privately or collectively held, most often by a combination of the two. Predominantly communal ownership or control occurs within the ejido-system communities. Where the combination pattern holds, grazing and wooded land are open 19A San Miguel man exchanged a piece of land for a pre-Hispanic Mixtec figurine.

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to use by all, as are some of the farming areas. Use rights are determined by community officials. Water is communally controlled in most places. The basic modes of tenure are scattered, rather than forming continuous distributions. All individually held property may pass through inheritance, though some clothing and implements are subject to burial with the deceased owner. Other property is distributed in accord with the wishes of the owner, most frequently passing at death, though some fathers choose while alive to distribute land to heirs. Property usually passes to children; otherwise, it tends to move through the consanguineal lines to parents or siblings. Property is left to young children under the trust of another party: the remaining parent, kin or an older child, or a compadre. Females may inherit all property items, but the inheritance pattern favors males. There is some tendency for younger male siblings to inherit the homestead, although the patrilocal rule obtains in many places. Ritual responsibility passes to the offspring considered by the father to be most responsible in ritual matters. A child of a needy family may be passed on to a compadre or kin; the child may share in the inheritance of his parent and perhaps of the surrogate parents. It is generally considered that needy kin within the extended family will be cared for, but specific provision for this is rare. Inheritance derives from both parents. Communal land may not be transmitted at death, but right to its use may continue with offspring of the deceased, subject to agreement by community officials. Restricted size of ejido plots frequently implies that older siblings will be forced to emigrate in search of work or land. Production/Consumption

Units

The basic unit of agricultural production is the nuclear family. Mutual aid may be provided by other kin, compadres, or neigh-

bors. Labor is occasionally hired. In more isolated areas, communal officials aid in house construction. A plot of land may be cultivated by the community as contribution to the church. Small amounts in the form of contributions or taxes are collected by officials of municipio or cofradía. Palm products depend on the residential unit. Preparation and eating of food primarily occurs within the nuclear group, but in the more conservative areas and where patrilocality is observed, the mother directs the work of unmarried and married females. At the harvest fiesta, cooperative labor determines the size of the consumption unit, although this is not practiced everywhere. Other consumption groupings include the mayordomías and other ritual observances. Trade and Markets Most marketing takes place in the market network lying within one day's travel. For ritual observances, this is extended to two or three days' distance. Traders extend their spheres to several days' walk, even a week. Goods are exchanged between zones, Alta pottery from Cuquila reaching Putla and Zacatepec, the same potters or other traders bringing lowland chile and other products on the return trip. Jamiltepec spindles are traded into the Mijeria, and palm-oven products are spread into the valley of Tehuacan or to Puebla and Mexico City for processing. Alta wraparound wool skirts from San Miguel are sold to Copala Trique, along with plastic beads and ear ornaments brought in from Mexico City by the same Mixtec trader. Items of native production sold in markets are primarily food. Processed and manufactured goods are either made elsewhere or are produced by local Mestizos. Most markets are held weekly and are characteristic of the larger population centers, many small settlements having no market. Market days are staggered, so there is little conflict within a day's radius. Regional markets, 389

FIG. 12—MIXTEC GIRLS OF CUQUILA, OAXACA. (Photographed by Donald Cordry, 1943.)

F I G . 13—MIXTEC C O T T O N SPINNER AND CHILD, SANTA MARIA ZACATEPEC. (Photographed by Donald Cordry, 1962.)

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Some move to Mexico City in search of work. The availability of land in the Alta and Baja diminishes with population growth, and new agricultural techniques to improve land yield have not yet been accepted. Costa land, productive and plentiful but hot and moist, fails to attract emigrants.

such as Jamiltepec and Tlaxiaco, are held daily, one day of the week becoming more active as people from outlying communities move in. Markets bring together people from diverse cultures or areas. Juxtlahuaca attracts Trique, Nahua, and Guerrero Mixtec; Tlaxiaco draws diverse Mixtec, from Alta and Baja, as does Mixtepec, as well as Trique; Cuicatec and Mazatec join in the market at Mixtec Cuyamecalco; Mixtec meet Amuzgo at Xochistlahuaca. Both goods and news are exchanged. Visiting at markets means gossip, meeting friends, courtship, and prostitution. The medium of exchange is ordinarily based on the national currency. Barter is frequent in all zones, corn and coffeebeans being the principal media, but simple exchange of other items occurs. Traveling traders are nearly always males, but many wives, also loaded, accompany their husbands. Local selling in the market, though, is restricted to females when the items are food. Craft products may be sold by men (pottery in Tlaxiaco) or by women (pottery in Jamiltepec), but it seems not restricted by sex. Females selling fruit in some Costa village markets solicit men for sexual purposes. Marketplaces are most frequently in the town center, near or adjacent to church. Municipal authority keeps them clean, erects and repairs structures necessary to their operation, collects a fee for selling space, and maintains peace and order.

Although differences in wealth occur, the range is relatively narrow, given the predominantly subsistence level. Of value are land, its products and improvements, animals, and money. In calculating prestige, wealth of this nature is a subordinate factor to status, experience, and skill. In general, there seems a weak motivation to wealth accumulation, although in some of the more acculturated villages individuals work toward this goal. Most wealth is channeled through the fiesta system, mayordomías, marriage, compadrazgo. To some extent, generosity and respect for the recipient are implied in the amount of wealth thus distributed, but massive donation or consumption is the exception. Where present, the mayordomía may compete with Mestizos (Juxtlahuaca). In the Costa and Alta, female indigenous dress is counted as wealth, the amount and quality of design elements and the time invested for weaving being the principal criteria. Social class seems not to be a tendency in Mixtec society; where differentiation in wealth and other factors occur, the move is one of Mestizoization, disclaiming Mixtecism.

Labor Export

SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

For subsistence and labor supply, localities are relatively self-sufficient. With the growth of population, expanding awareness and the created material needs of the outside world, young men emigrate, seasonally or permanently. Some go to the sugarmills of Puebla, others to pick cane or crops in Veracruz. Many have worked as braceros in the United States; those who return bring new ideas, new material elements, money.

Wealth and Its Uses

Family and Ritual Kin Bilateral organization characterizes kin groupings. Corporate groups like the clan are absent. Descent emphases are vague, with naming generally following the paternal line; the father's surname is carried down in the more acculturated areas, elsewhere a man's first name becomes the surname for his offspring. Women frequently retain their paternal surname. Nicknames 391

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are frequent but rarely in address. Some degree of personal identity is contained in the personal name, so that it is not often used. Flexibility characterizes the dominant (patrilocal) rule of residence; financial need, lack of sons, and other factors promote matrilocality. Matri-patrilocality occurs in the Alta, where bride service obtains, up to two years in duration. Neolocality, like the other forms, occurs in all zones. As the nuclear family is fundamental to subsistence and nurture, the extended family holds its importance by aiding these and other activities. Authority rests with the older males, particularly in matters between the family and the outside world. In domestic affairs, husband and wife consult, and the woman's advice and judgment receive consideration. Both have authority over in-marrying males and females. Marriage patterns vary. The older pattern of parental selection of mates is giving way, but is still frequent. Agreements may be made between fathers years before the marriage of their children, in the Alta and Costa. Such arrangements may involve payment of an agreed value—in money or goods—over a period of years, such value to be repaid if the contract is voided, through divorce or failure to marry. In these areas, marriage may be contracted between the ages of eight and 11; elsewhere, 17 or 18 for either mate is common. Where the younger age is customary, as in the Costa, the girl moves to the residence of her husband-to-be to learn the style of his family, and after a few years they are married. Gobetweens arrange marriage details in most areas. Marriage fiestas range from the twofamily, quiet affair (Zacatepec and some isolated parts of the Costa and Alta) to functions involving large distributions of food and community attendance (Cuyamecalco, Juxtlahuaca). Compadres are the more important ele392

ment of the compadrazgo dual system, but the selection of padrinos by children on the Costa is a means of allowing children to participate in and learn about these significant relationships. Several classes of each type are recognized in the Mixteca, but those gained through baptism and marriage are considered fundamental. The same individual may serve for both duties, or (more frequently) different individuals are chosen. Selection of these padrinos usually is made by the father, or by the groom's father in the case of marriage. Choice is dictated by valued traits: peacefulness, respectfulness, trustworthiness. The child is taught to respect his padrinos; respect is also observed between compadres, probably the most important of adult social relationships. Some fiestas acknowledge the service of the compadre; children give padrinos gifts; compadres are invited guests at other fiestas. In this way, the compadrazgo is an outlet for distribution of wealth, notable in such demonstrations as the washing of the hands of the compadre in the CuyamecalcoCoazospam area. Marriage is prohibited between compadres or their kin of the same or preceding and succeeding generations, with variations in different areas. Two or three generations of two families may be linked in kinship terminology. Formal group relationships are few; there are no age grades, initiation rites, trading partners. Visiting, not frequent, is primarily by children for play or women for gossip or borrowing. Travelers are received by the authorities and granted permission to remain unless they cause a disturbance or are suspect (e.g., some missionaries, government land or tax agency representatives). The fiesta is the occasion which brings people together for marriage, death, and mayordomía. At that time food and drink abound, visiting and gossip prevail. Etiquette calls for separation of the sexes, in word and action, except in the more acculturated areas. Music and dancing are the order of the day,

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wherein men and married women participate without body contact. On the Costa only women who have had men may dance, and sexual activity with one or more men is frequent at these fiestas. Gift-giving comes about primarily through the compadrazgo or as part of a fiesta. Relations between individuals are structured by respect. Speech tends to be relatively formal, even between drinking males. Drinking is frequent at fiestas, otherwise occasional. Women may drink, lightly. Wife-beating as discipline and outlet for aggression occurs. In general, although frictions arise within the kin group, relations based on respect and formality toward others are emphasized. Gossip is frequent, as social control and communication. Witchcraft accusations and practice are common, directed both within the kin group and within and (less frequently) without the locality. Age is respected; although no especial favors are accorded those unable to support themselves, the aged are provided with food and shelter, usually by kin. Local and Territorial Units In increasing order of size and authority, residential and administrative units are the ranchería, agenda, municipio, and distrito, all grouped into the entity of a state. Within these units, in descending order of size, occur the interpersonal relations of greatest frequency and intensity. People living in the same residential area share friendships, kin and compadre relations, political and religious statuses, antagonisms, and a common subculture. The local saints afford a strong focus of identification. Localities are the basic social and political unit. Relations between them depend primarily on trade and markets, ties of kinship, and compadrazgo, religious pilgrimages, and any unique event such as a boundary dispute, killing, or theft. Within the locality are the ranks that structure the political and religious groupings.

Political and Religious

Organization

Each organization consists of a series of graded ranks through which a man passes during his period of servicio, taking his time intermittently over a number of years. The more traditional pattern calls for serving alternately in religious and political organizations. The trend has been to separate the two sets of servicio by making participation more voluntary, placing greater authority in the political area, and by other means. In some areas, Mestizos hold political control. Predominant in more isolated areas, but not restricted to them, is the authority of the ancianos or principales. These older and experienced men are advisers to the political organization on matters of communal interest; where the alternating ladder system operates, men pass out of the joint servicio system into the anciano status, the highest. Elsewhere, religious leaders and practitioners become ancianos. In conservative Guerrero communities, ancianos constitute the real authority and represent the people and locality. Many of them serve other roles: go-between in marriage, dispute mediator, fiesta speaker, curer. Little income accrues to men holding political status; their support comes from kin who work their fields. Holding religious position mainly requires proper observance of the fiesta of the saint; celebrating these mayordomías is the basic duty in the organization. Each successive office demands more outlay of personal wealth; a man may spend years accumulating enough for this purpose. In the past and still in more conservative places, servicio has been required. Individuals were expected to volunteer or else they were selected by ancianos or outgoing cofradía officials. Today, free choice is operative in many places. Under the guidance of the presidente, as active leader of the political organization, 393

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Other officials carry out the duties of maintaining justice, order, and cleanliness, as well as communicating with the next larger administrative center. Relation of Village Units to State or Nation If no corporate kin group or tribe is present, the municipio village serves the primary social, political, religious, and subsistence needs. Certain ties of administration and legality bind it to the outside world. Killings lie within the jurisdiction of the district. Few individuals have contact beyond the municipio, and then mainly of trade or occasional pilgrimage. State relationship to the village remains vague and unimportant; the concept of the nation in many places is imperfectly understood and little heeded. To some, it means a place, to some the memory of revolution, to most a vague symbol unrelated to themselves. RELIGION AND WORLD VIEW

There is a vague idea of a soul, an entity which leaves the body at death or in dreams, which has uneven distribution. Animals also have this quality, and men and animals are related through the tona (Costa, tono) concept. The world is animate: spirit beings exist in places and in objects of nature. Toward man, these can be helpful or harmful; if he shows them disrespect, they cause him physical pain, sometimes death. An important natural being is tahayuku, spirit of the hills, who control animals and water. Exemplifying the duality of nature, tabayuku has a strong bisexual component. It also acts as social control, warning against the danger—madness, death, or giving birth to a monster— of infidelity. Such spirits can assume any form or garb, so that man must be careful of his actions toward others. People, as spirits, can do harm or good. Witchcraft beliefs are widespread. Ritual surrounding agriculture and health reflects two primary areas of anxiety. Propitiation ceremonies accompany planting 394

and harvest, featured by offerings of animal and liquid nourishment to the Earth spirit. People feast at harvest in gratitude to the Earth spirit, kin and helpers participating. The most important ritual is directed toward the invocation of rain, especially in the Alta and in Guerrero. In the latter, there is some indication that the rain deity is structured into a hierarchy of differing areas of authority. Offerings of prayer, animals, copal, and flowers are made prior to the onset of rain (San Marcos), primarily for the community, although individuals and small groups may employ the services of a rainmaker. There appears to be widespread association of idol and hill or cave with a settlement. Ancianos act for the community in Guerrero, making offerings in the hills to stone idols representing Rain. In the Alta, one or more elders officiate in a cave, making offerings on altars of natural stone before a stalagmite or a carved stone representing Sabi (Savi, Sawi), Rain. Indications from the Alta suggest that rain propitiation is a cult in which guardians of special stones inherit the stones and ritual rights in family lines. The stones represent Rain and have the inherent power to help make a plentiful harvest, protect the settlement, and bring rain. Preconquest figurines found in the fields usually are kept on the house altar, on the person, or in the house, being regarded as the gods of the people who went before and being thought to bring good rain, crops, and protection for the household. Curers and diviners also carry them. Springs, streams, and swamps are sacred places, invested with the power of the spirit who dwells there, or simply with a power. This is true in all zones. At marriage in the Alta, stones representing the bride and groom are taken from a natural formation or from a cave and set up outside the dwelling of those just married. Considered to bring good fortune, health, and many children, the stones are phallic and have a fertility function.

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Practitioners are rarely full-time specialists. Curing and divination are practiced by both sexes but usually not by the same person. Disease is explained by (1) witchcraft —witches can harm or overcome harm; some do both; (2) dangers from "hot" and "cold" foods; (3) mal de ojo—children are especially susceptible to "strong looks" from others, at which time their blood heats up; (4) susto—fright, frequently involving soul-loss resulting from a frightening experience; (5) aire, a related concept—frightening night-forms; (6) chipil, characterized by pallor, apathy in adult males, belligerency and crying in children, brought on by the knowledge of pregnancy of the wife or mother. Curing, mainly by curers or witches, takes place in the house of the patient, near springs, before preconquest idols in the hills, or where the illness began. It may be undertaken by kin or neighbor. Curing involves consumption and offerings of animals, plants, and food items, food avoidances, the sweat bath, sucking, decontamination, offerings of copal, prayer, and church-blessed objects, modern medicine, limpias with flowers or by blowing alcohol on the body. Divination reveals the diagnosis and the proper curer. Insight may be obtained from using psychotomimetic substances—mushrooms, flowers, and seeds, all believed to have curative value as well; measuring oneself (shoulder-hand); heating an egg; reading the tracks of a dying, sacrificed fowl; questioning the patient. Notions of afterlife are vague. There is an idea in some areas that the spirit or soul-quantity continues to exist: somewhere far away, in the cemetery, or to the west. Elsewhere these concepts are either denied or not known. The dead are said to return in late October, when they are met at the town entrance with flowers, music, and candles, feted for a four-day stay. Life is difficult and man must work hard; his survival depends on nature and its sym-

metry. This is a delicate balance, maintained by a careful, respectful approach to the world of relationships. Man's place in the scheme is established and accepted and so change is not a desirable process. Reference to themselves in relation to the outside (Mestizo) world reflects the Indians' near-stoic acceptance of their position; pride is lacking, manifest in a few as shame but in the majority as a fundamental humility. AESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL PATTERNS

Women have periods of relaxation from daily labor, most of the men's time being taken up in agricultural tasks. During moments free from food and children, women visit or talk with others at home; gossip is common. The woman spins or weaves, rarely deviating from established design elements but caring about her work and its execution. In painting pottery, the woman's skill is rapid but careful; she shows degrees of preference among her work. Workmanship has its criteria of quality and taste, suggested by the looking and handling of pottery in the market before purchase. Female virginity at marriage is prized and expected in the traditional settlements, prized but not expected elsewhere, though efforts are made to retain it. Children learn about sex in the course of growing up, as it occurs in their sleeping rooms, in conversation, and in the animals about them. Elimination of body waste should be done in privacy; children are excepted. Squatting position marks defecation; males urinate standing. Fecal matter is left exposed and eaten by animals. Places for elimination may be the field, alongside the house, near bushes. Modesty is practiced, insofar as practicable. In bathing, the penis is kept covered by the hand, subject as it is to witchcraft; men from the Alta and Baja claim Costa women can gain control of the penis. Clothes are washed once or twice a week; bathing is weekly or oftener on the Costa. 395

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Houses are not decorated. Bands or individuals who play supply music for fiestas. Occasionally, one or more individuals will play and sing in the evening. Violins and guitars are the frequent instruments, the psaltery preserved in a few settlements. Dramatic forms are restricted to the formalized speech of ancianos at marriage or on other occasions, or to ritual dance forms. The themes are the Spanish conquest or animal imitation. These are rehearsed under the direction of an older man who maintains this traditional knowledge. The animal imitation is especially to amuse and frighten children. Both forms use masks and special clothing and take place in the open. Etiquette

FIG. 1 4 - D A N C I N G FOR

RAIN IN THE

TECA ALTA. (Photographed by R. Ravicz.)

MIX-

Personal cleanliness and general sanitation are not motivating values. Men expectorate in and around the house, women less. Water is swished about in the mouth after eating, then spat onto the floor. Removal of body lice is frequent. Leisure for males is spent talking with wife and children, making repairs about the house, or having an occasional visit. The low rate of literacy, the subsistence economy, the lack of lighting, theaters, teachers, and other entertainment and educational media help to account for the few activities. Group sporting events are limited to acculturated settlements; music and dance are related to ritual occasions of the cofradías or life cycle. Sundays are usually rest days, as are many days of the fiesta cycle. Cosmetics are not used, nor are face or body otherwise decorated. Ear pendants and necklaces of plastic are widely favored. 396

Respect characterizes interpersonal relations. Conversations are marked by low tones and by reserve of emotion, also a feature of formal oratory. People may greet by lightly touching each other's fingertips, tipping the hat, and giving a "good day" salutation; toward ancianos and compadres greetings include hand-kissing. Courtesy demands sharing, both accepting and offering. Men are seated and fed first. People should drink together and in equal amounts; overdrinking is permitted at fiestas, but is otherwise undesirable. Cigarette or cigar should be proffered to all present on any occasion; this with liquor comprises the appropriate fiesta gift to the host. Politeness is valued; rudeness is considered a form of aggressive behavior and verbally condemned. Spoons are an occasional implement, but the tortilla is the primary one. Belching is not thought an expression of appreciation and is rare. Flatulence is frequent but given no heed. The use of habit-forming drugs is unknown. Psilocybe mexicana and Rivea corymbosa are used for divination. Alcoholism appears occasionally in women, more frequently in men. Ritual drinking is considerable, consistent with the number and

MIXTEO

importance of fiestas, but social, daily drinking is uncommon. Tobacco is widely used, but chain-smoking is rare. Fiestas are one of the few patterned modes of entertainment. Large numbers of people are brought together at social affairs where they exchange humor, news, and gifts. Invariable elements are food, drink, and tobacco. There is usually music, sometimes dancing. Over all reverberate the fireworks, noisy reminders or splendid visual offerings. Observance of the saints or village patron saint summons dancers in mask and costume who interact with the spectators, teasing, insulting, and joking. LIFE

CYCXE AND PERSONALITY

DEVELOP-

MENT

During childbirth, the woman kneels on a petate, assisted by a comadrona and helper or the husband, who hold the woman from behind. The woman may pull on a cord suspended from the ceiling or be helped by female kin. An ornamented, woven cotton belt is worn during pregnancy; on the Costa, the designs help the Rainbow of the West ward off the Rainbow of the East who might harm the child. For 15 days after birth (Guerrero), the husband daily tightens the belt about the wife's abdomen. The female genitals are steam-bathed under a blanket to prevent childbirth fever. Sharp cane is used to cut the umbilical cord; if metal were used, the child would waste clothing as an adult. The cord and placenta may be buried near the house, sometimes under the hearth. In Guerrero, this prevents "frio" in the mother, which would impede further childbirth. In the Baja, the remnants are wrapped in cloth or in a basket and hung in a tree, so that the child will be nimble. Elsewhere, disposal in a tree or in a buried hat prevents exposure to the earth, which would result in bad eyesight in the child; burial or burning prevents animals from eating it. Shortly after birth, ceremonies for the

child take place. In Guerrero, the child is placed near a waterfall or spring because these have powers over people. To promote long life, flowers and sacrified chickens are offered to the springs or to the hill idols. Exposure of the child in a grove of trees or on a hillside in the Costa will summon its tono. Alta ritual puts small tortillas inside the sweat bath as an offering to the Earth spirit to safeguard the child. Food and drink are provided alongside the structure for all who wish to attend the mother's first bath. First clothing for the child is provided by the padrino. Nursing continues for two or more years, during which pregnancy is not expected to occur. Kin, neighbors, or comadres may also nurse the infant. The child spends most of its first two years wrapped in the folds of a rebozo, on a woman's or child's back, lying on a petate or in a wood or cloth cradle. The child, rarely punished when small, is given much attention and affection: touching, tapping and patting, kissing, nosing, nonsense words, laughing, cooing, by female adults and children, somewhat more reservedly by men. Toilet training, like most of the socialization process, stresses permissiveness; shame is used as part of the teaching. Handling of a child's penis by other children or an adult is expected to have a calming effect. Until the ages of seven or eight, children are allowed considerable playtime. Boys are permitted to be away from home more than are girls (although visiting other dwellings is not encouraged) so as to minimize potential friction between adults through children's quarrels. Girls playlearn female tasks early, helping by age seven to bring water, herd sheep, take masa to the molino. Sons accompany father to the fields, so that by puberty a boy can work a field alone. Keeping pet animals is rare, although children may caress or play sporadically with a dog or small pig. Adult statuses and relationships are imitated in 397

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serious play. Shouting and other noisemaking is discouraged—in younger children by soft shushing sounds, warmth of body contact, and the edge of a rebozo in the mouth; in older ones by a soft vocal reminder or an occasional spanking. Disobedience, failure to respond, and repeated misdemeanors bring physical punishment, most frequently by the mother but also by other kin. Bitter herbs are both a weaning device and a punishment. Rewards include food, affectionate display, verbal appreciation, a gift. Shaming, threats, references to witches or strangers who steal children are further socialization controls. Initiation rites are those of the church, beginning with baptism. Puberty rites are absent, but marriage before or at puberty is frequent. These events signify the onset of maturity and adult social responsibility. Sexual relations in this form of marriage occur when the couple desires, sometimes years after they begin sleeping together. Educational facilities of the federal government in conjunction with local efforts at school construction provide fundamentals of literacy, history, and arithmetic. Poor attendance in some places is due to the wishes of parents who want the children's help at home or in the fields, or who feel that learning may take the children away from home and culture, or to an early marriage. Required military service for males at 18, for a year, exposures to increasing economic needs and Mestizo scorn, coupled with the belittling of Mixtec custom by priests and teachers tend to discourage early marriage. In the late teens, men begin servicio, giving to civil or religious organization the first of many years. In addition, several weeks a year are given for tequio. Responsibilities of the compadrazgo commence at this time, along with child-rearing for husband and wife, and active participation in work and ceremonial rounds. Old age is respected for the experience of its years and for the series of cargos it 398

has encompassed. It is believed to know and control information, particularly ritual lore, giving further authority and even power of witchcraft. Death of an adult is mourned with sadness, dancing, music, and feasting. Burial places are little marked, just by a stone or flowers. Kin are seldom present at burial, compadre and civil or religious personnel officiating. The coffin is a petate or a box. No fiesta is held for children. Grave accompaniments may include clothing, implements, and food for a vaguely conceived journey, the food to feed animals met en route. ANNUAL CYCLE

Slash-and-burn preparation of the field is done between January and March. April and May are spent preparing other fields, removing weeds, and some plowing. Early corn and beans are planted. Fruit is collected in the Costa and low valleys. Squash and chilacayote are planted, frequently with the corn and beans. June brings weeding and an irrigated harvest. Aguacates and mango are ripe. July starts weeding corn and beans, planting other beans. August means harvest in many places, September in others, and planting again for late irrigation crops. Some higher lands are burned for next year's crops in September and October, corn is readied for picking, then in November beans and squash. Corn is stored, beans are cleaned and stored, and fields are prepared for the following year. Animals are premitted to graze in the fields. Irrigated corn land is ready in December. Ears may be exposed to sun in the fields or outside the house, kernels removed and stored in outdoor bins. Sugarcane crops occupy considerable time and energy, although not grown everywhere in the Mixteca. Aside from the prescribed rites of agriculture and rain, periodic ceremonies mark the cofradías and certain other important days. New civil officials are installed the

MIXTEC

first of the year, marked by ceremonies under the direction of ancianos in remoter areas, more secular elsewhere. Important days, such as the Holy Cross, are celebrated with mayordomías in some places and elsewhere more syncretically; in the Alta it is conducted by an elder with animal sacrifice in a cave. Cofradías devoted to saints celebrate ceremonies during the religious annual round. Each community has its patron saint or set of saints. These are ranked in importance, and a man must fill the role of mayordomo for one or more minor and several major saints in order to pass along the servicio ladder. In the Alta, the cofradía passes annually to a different settlement, ultimately making the round of seven that form the religious community. In the Baja, the Mixtec and Mestizo settlements of a village vie with each other to celebrate the patron saint's day, some years each celebrating its own observance. The mayordomo is enjoined to care for the saint during his year of tenure, keeping it clean and provided with candles and new clothes. In some communities, cofradías maintain the observances mainly among their members, but a wider pattern invites the public to participate, primarily in provisions of food and drink and in other activities. These take place the night before the actual day and are marked by gaiety, fireworks, sometimes music, long hours of

drinking and talking. The following day, the office is ceremonially turned over to the succeeding mayordomo, and he is expected to begin the year with a fiesta. For important saints, multiple mayordomos are selected, with one having final authority. Costs of mayordomias are considerable. Cofradías seldom have money for more than candles, so that the mayordomo is responsible for the funds necessary. Some money is collected from the public, but the greatest amount must be provided by him. Spending a quarter of one's annual income (calculated on the minimum wage rate) is not unusual. Large mayordomias last several days. People come from other communities to be fed and entertained. Preparations proceed for more than a month before the observance. Dancers rehearse, candles are made, meetings are held by the mayordomos. The tempo steps up in the final few days. Ceremonial attire is repaired, musicians play, the first fireworks are heard, women cook. Mixtepec, during the dual saints' days, has none of the group dancing found elsewhere; instead, drinking males may dance anywhere in the village, wearing male or female dress and masked as animals, men, women, or grotesque beings. A mayordomo may carry a monkey. Music is provided by a band that has little to do with the dancing.

REFERENCES Caso, 1962 Cook and Borah, 1963 Dahlgren de Jordan, 1954 Dark, 1958 Drucker, S., 1963 Dyk, 1959 Fabila and others, 1962 Inst. Nacional Indigenista (Mexico), 1950

Marroquín, 1954 Patiño and Cárdenas, 1955 Peña, 1950 Ravicz, 1958, 1961, 1962-65 and Romney, 1955 Romney and Romney, 1963 Schultze-Jena, 1938 Starr, F., 1909

399

19. The Trique of Oaxaca

LAURA

w

HEN FIRST CONTACTED b y

the

Spaniards 400 years ago, the Trique Indians of Oaxaca were living in the forested mountains of the Mixteca. The Trique zone is embedded in the Mixteca Alta and forms a continuous block of monolingual villages within which there are no other Indian-speaking groups and no Mestizo villages (fig. 1). There are cultural variations among Trique villages, but none so great as that between Trique and neighboring Mixtec. Within the Trique unit a general cultural division between the Chicahuaxtla and Copala regions is recognized (Tibón, 1961, p. 142).1

1 I wish to thank the Instituto Nacional Indigenista for providing me with maps of the area, although I take full responsibility for revising the map of Trique settlements. In particular I am grateful for information, transportation, and hospitality received at the Institute's Center in Tlaxiaco, and from Mr. Claude Good of the Summer Lingustics Group in San Andres Chicahuaxtla. Prepublication comments by R. E. Longacre and Barbara Erickson were most useful. With appreciation I acknowledge the assistance of Mrs. T. E. Kemnitzer, who drafted the maps, and of Mrs. Anne Brower, who made editorial comments.

400

NADER

The Trique speak a tonal language that is considered a member of the Mixtecan language family (Longacre, 1959). The relationship between Trique and the other members of this linguistic family (Mixtec, Cuicatec) and the general Otomanguean stock has been discussed by Longacre and Millon (1961), Swadesh (1960), Olmsted (1961), and Maria Teresa Fernández de Miranda and Weitlaner (1961). Longacre has postulated two main Trique dialects: Chicahuaxtla and Copala. Within Chicahuaxtla there are in addition to San Andres two marked subdialects: Santo Domingo and Itunyoso. Internal language analysis has been discussed by Longacre (1952), Garvin (1953), Hamp (1954), and Longacre (1955, 1959). Longacre is presently working on a grammar of Trique. The southern Sierra Madre mountains range from 2000 to 3200 m. in the Chicahuaxtla area and from 1400 to 2000 m. in the Copala area (figs. 2, 3). Situated at about 2400 m. altitude, within the general setting of high mountains, clouds, and dampness, Chicahuaxtla villages are varied.

FIG. 2 — T O P O G R A P H I C A L MAP OF THE TRIQUE AREA. (Instituto Nacional Indigenista, Mexico.)

San Andres and Santo Domingo del Estado are about 500 m. from one another in a mountain pass. From the environs of San Andres, the warm southern lowlands and the Pacific can be seen to the south; to the north, the lands of San Martin Itunyoso. San Andres and Santo Domingo are surrounded by high mountain peaks, and the climate is cold and cloudy, with strong southerly winds. In contrast, San Jose Chicahuaxtla is in a valley that protects it against strong winds; it is warmer, but also drier during the winter season, when wet clouds would be welcome since running 402

water is too far from the village to be used for irrigation. The area referred to as Copala runs the gamut in topographical and climatic variation. The town center of San Juan Copala is in a valley protected from the cold of the mountains, thus enabling the inhabitants to grow warm-climate crops. Higher altitude regions of Copala are ideal for coffee growing. The citizens of San Juan live in barrios away from the town center and scattered in the mountains and southern valleys around Putla. The Trique have had a long history of

FIG. 3 — L O C A T I O N OF TRIQUE VILLAGES

escaping to the mountain forests in time of attack (Tibón, 1961, p. 130). Legendary history tells of such flights as early as the 13th century, when a foreign king successfully attacked from the mountains of Tlaxiaco; at the beginning of the 15th century the Trique suffered defeat at the hands of the Aztec, and wars between various Mixtec kings are said also to have affected them. The Spanish conquest did not much change their position. Most Copaltecos continued living scattered in the mountains. In the Chicahuaxtla area Christianity of a sort

only gradually crept in, principally through the work of the Dominican missionary Father Gonzalo Lucero. Attempts to "open up" the Copala area have been less successful; Copaltecos continued to live dispersed in the mountains, especially in troubled times. Under the Spanish viceroys an annual fair was instituted in Copala, which was generally viewed with suspicion by the Copaltecos. In the middle of the last century the Trique embarked on an attempt to liberate themselves from the oppressive treatment of 403

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whites and Mestizos from the surrounding area. An uprising began in 1843 and guerrilla warfare continued for five years, until its leaders, who were famous for their valiant efforts, were captured in 1848. From that time to the present there has been little change in the attitudes of the Trique, the whites, and the Mestizos. Economic exploitation of the Trique by the whites and Mestizos of Putla, Tlaxiaco, and Juxtlahuaca continued, and when the Copala Trique began to raise coffee this exploitation flourished, for the exploiters could sell guns and alcohol to the Trique and expect remuneration in pesos. So it continued until in 1956, when the Trique killed a lieutenant and two soldiers, federal airplanes bombed Trique settlements, and federal forces were sent to Copala, where a cuartel has been stationed ever since. Tibón (1961, pp. 129-54) gives an impassioned discussion of this. The Trique population inhabit five pueblos and their related rancherías: San Andres Chicahuaxtla, Santo Domingo Chicahuaxtla, San Jose Chicahuaxtla, San Martin Itunyoso, and San Juan Copala. The whole population spreads north to Mixtepec, south to the Hacienda de la Concepcion, east to Cuquila and San Miguel Progreso (both Mixtec villages), and west to Yucunicoco, Putla, and San Pedro (fig. 2). According to Longacre (personal communication). Trique settlements reach to the Guerrero border, three small settlements reportedly extending over into Guerrero. The five Trique pueblos are attached to three different administrative districts, despite the fact that they are culturally, geographically, and linguistically a unit. San Andres and Santo Domingo pertain to Putla, San Martin and San Jose to Tlaxiaco, and Copala to Juxtlahuaca. Of all five pueblos only Itunyoso is presently classed as a municipio; those presently classed as agencia municipal are: San Andres, Yosonduchi, San Jose, Laguna, Santo Domingo, and Copala. Each pueblo has various ran404

cherías attached to the town municipal administration. According to the 1930 census, the total number of Trique-speaking people was 2,741. This figure did not change radically in the 1940 and 1950 censuses, but, in the summer of 1962 the Indian Institute reported the astounding figure of 20,000 Trique. The Catholic missionary in San Juan Copala judged 15,000 to be closer to the actual number. The censuses elicited from the Chicahauxtla area are probably unreliable (San Andres 2000, Itunyoso 800, Santo Domingo 1069). In Copala, because the population is dispersed and because there is continuous internecine warfare between the various barrios, it has been impossible for any census to be taken. The Trique are one of the least studied Indian groups in Mexico. In 1901 Frederick Starr took Orozco y Berra to task for careless ethnographic reporting. Orozco y Berra had located the Trique in southern Oaxaca, actually confounding the Trique with the Chontal. Starr also mentions an early work on the Trique language by Belmar (1897)—"probably the only treatise upon that language in print"—in which Belmar mentions that there are six Trique towns. Starr corrects the misimpression that San Miguel Chicahuaxtla or San Miguel Progreso (as it is now called) is Trique; San Migueleños speak Mixtec. Starr's own report on the Trique covers approximately four pages. Undoubtedly there were many visitors to the area between 1901 and 1940 but the first published ethnographic report on the Trique came in 1940 with the publication of Carlos Basauri's La Población Indígena de México (1940c). Basauri's work is an outline report but in fact the most detailed account of Trique culture and social organization to this date (see his 1940e). The next treatise, written by Juan Comas (1944, pp. 159-241), deals with the anthropometry of the Trique. Comas' paper was based

TRIQUE

on field work done when an expedition of anthropologists (Professors Carlos Basauri, Arturo Monzón, and Eusebio Dávalos) went to work with the Trique in 1940 for three months. Two other publications followed this expedition: the first on Trique theogony (Monzón, 1945b), the second (Comas, 1953) a general essay on the social problems of the Trique. In 1962 I spent 10 days visiting Trique villages. Fortunately the picture in linguistics is not so grim, owing to the work of Robert Longacre, who worked and lived in San Andres during a period of 10 years. Longacre's work is being continued in San Andres, Santo Domingo, and Copala by the Summer Institute of Linguistics. Several ethnographers have visited the area but have not published any results of such visits. Gutierre Tibón, a journalist, published his observations on Copala in 1961. SUBSISTENCE SYSTEMS AND FOOD PATTERNS

The Trique are (in order of importance) farmers, hunters, and gatherers (Basauri, 1940e, pp. 438-40). Their principal agricultural crops are corn and beans; their own production is supplemented by corn purchased in Tlaxiaco, Putla, or Juxtlahuaca. To insure abundance, after harvest the lands are sprayed with aguardiente, tepache, or pulque. In times of scarcity they dig for roots, collect greens, and sell whatever eggs, chickens, or cattle they have in order to buy staples. They hunt deer, wild pigs, doves, rabbits, tejón, squirrels, and other animals and, in addition, they eat a species of spider, a type of ant, frogs, and grasshoppers and a large triangular black beetle like a squash bug. Coffee, the single remunerative cash crop, has been cultivated in Copala since the end of the 19th century. Recently the Instituto Nacional Indigenista has developed communal truck gardens in San Andres and is attempting the same in San Martin and San Jose. These gardens use some irrigation, as do some San An-

dreños near the Haciendo de la Concepcion. They generally do not irrigate in the highland areas although hand-watered cornfields during dry season are reported for Copala. Preparation of agricultural lands includes the usual slash-and-burn techniques, the small wooden plow, and the digging stick for planting. The wood from the clearings in Chicahuaxtla is not sold but used for building homes and for firewood. The Copaltecos, in addition, use wood to make charcoal, which they sell to surrounding Mestizo settlements. The basic food is the tortilla. This may be supplemented by various kinds of chiles and greens (quelites), beans, gourds, and tomatoes. Although the Trique eat small quantities of meat, milk, eggs, fish, or other nonvegetable food, their diet is essentially vegetarian, supplemented with animal foods only at fiestas. Vitamin-deficiency diseases are reported as widespread. In years of serious drought, such as 1961 and 1962, even the usual diet of corn, salt, and chile may not be obtainable; during such times Trique maintain themselves by digging for roots and catching frogs and grasshoppers. The few cooking utensils are homemade of wood. Usually the whole family eats from a single plate, crouched or sitting on the earthen floors inside their houses. The morning and evening meals are eaten inside the house; the noon meal either at home or in the fields. Principal drinks are atole de maíz, peloncillo, aguardiente de caña, and tepache. SETTLEMENT PATTERNS

Most of the Chicahuaxtla towns are compact in settlement, varying from San Andres, which is most compact, to semicompact Itunyoso, where each house and garden is fenced off by maguey plants. In Copala, San Juan has a closely compact ceremonial center which is semivacant. Most Copaltecos live in the surrounding mountains on 405

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dispersed ranchos, especially in times of feuding. Only a Trique could tell where one ranchería ended and another began. The settlement is different in the two regions: Chicahuaxtla has four towns and several minor settlements; Copala has only one town, San Juan, and a proliferation of barrios, none of which have separated officially from the town center. Any single settlement may be from five minutes' to a whole day's walk away from any other Trique settlement. In contrast to the spacious setting of ranch houses, conditions within these oneroom (approximately 4 by 4 m.) houses are crowded. An overcrowded house is not enlarged by building additional rooms, but instead one wall of the rectangular building may be extended in a semicircle. TECHNOLOGY

Tools primarily used in agriculture are made by the Trique: the coa for digging in mountainous areas, the simple plough for more gentle terrain, the mattock, awl, and malacate, A variety of traps, each specialized for a particular animal (deer, wild pig, squirrel, rats, birds, coyote), are used in hunting along with ixtle carbines and Mausers. Axes, knives, mecapales (a device for carrying made of ixtle), and tenates de palma (baskets of palm) are bought in Tlaxiaco, Putla, or Juxtlahuaca. For carrying purposes the Trique use nets made of ixtle woven out of maguey fiber grown in the area. Trique women are famous for their production of beautifully woven dresses, napkins, sacks, and (earlier) men's clothing. They spin and weave on a backstrap loom (Starr, 1901, p. 145), using cotton bought from the Mixtec; homespun thread is woven into white huípiles in close or open weave, into which they later work a beautiful colored design in wool. The dark thread is dyed by Trique women; the red and yellow colors are either bought or dyed with juice of the madroño berry mixed with 406

limewater. Colored thread used in the huipil is sold by Itunyoso Trique. The huípil is made of three separately woven long pieces sewn together. Narrow horizontal bands are outlined by colored threads woven into the texture along with decorations of diamonds, zigzags, rosettes (called in Trique butterflies), and the like in colored wools (Starr, 1901, pp. 144-45; Basauri, 1940e, pp. 441-42). Starr describes the huipil as sparsely decorated in blue, white, brown, and black; since 1901 the huipil has become completely decorated in full patterns of blue, white, red, green, and yellow. The houses are rectangular, circular, or rectangular with apsidal ends. Starr (1901, p. 143) reports many circular houses and some rectangular for San Andres; Basauri (1940e, p. 445) mentions that the majority of San Andres houses are rectangular. In Copala center a great number of houses are still rectangular with apsidal ends. The basic construction of these houses is described by Basauri (1940e, pp. 444-47) and Starr (1901, p. 143). The walls are constructed of poles (oak) set a few inches apart and daubed with clay. There is a single doorway but no windows. The roof is thatched with zacate, palm, or (in Copala) banana bark. To a Trique the most aesthetically appealing house is circular. All these buildings have a long life span, although the thatch roof may have to be renewed every 20 years or so. The other building usually found close to a house is the temascal or sweat bath. This may be a simple structure composed of several long poles bent and pinned to the ground on both ends to form a cavelike structure. These poles may be six inches from each other; the space between them is covered during a bath by petates and blankets. A second type of temascal made of log and rock is more permanent. Household interiors are simply furnished, the one-room houses never crowded with belongings. The Trique sleep huddled to-

FIG. 4—TRIQUE HOUSE GROUP, CHICAHUAXTLA. (From F. Starr, 1909. gether on the hardened dirt floor or on mats, and sit either on the floor or on small wooden benches. Household utensils are stored in baskets or wooden boxes. Clothing and other belongings hang from the rafters in baskets. In 1900 the men's dress (Starr, 1901, p. 143-44) was of unbleached cotton woven in the village. The shirt was short, ending at the waist, and trousers were rolled up to expose the legs. Today the men wear shirts and trousers purchased in the larger towns; the shirts are often brightly colored, the trousers still rolled up to show the legs. The older Trique think it shameful to wear

trousers down to the ankle. Sandals may be worn, and scrapes bought from the Mixtec keep them warm. The woman's basic garment is the brightly decorated huipil. For everyday wear the length is slightly below the knee; flesta ones are down to the ankles. The enagua, the skirt worn under the huipil, is a woven wraparound strip reaching from waist to knee in the Chicahuaxtlas. In Copala the enagua is a pleated tube. Women usually wear nothing on the feet. The head may be covered with a jicara de calabaza (a cupshaped dried gourd) or with a rebozo; necklaces, earrings, and some finger rings supply 407

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adornment (Basauri, 1940e, p. 443). The hair style is pigtailed; Copala women, who wear one braid, refer to Chicahuaxtla women as two-tailed women. Very old and very young women wear their hair loose. Graveled roads leading to Trique villages are a product of the last five years. The road from Juxtlahuaca to Putla is paved only as far as San Juan Copala; another paved road has been built from Tlaxiaco to San Andres to Putla. All other roads are dirt and in bad condition; between villages, paths abound that are passable only on foot. Trique are known for carrying goods on their backs by a tumpline supported across the breast (not across the forehead as the Mixtec), rather than on beasts of burden. Trique are not carriers of heavy loads like the Mixtec. As one informant expressed it to Longacre, "We're people, not animals." ECONOMY

The economy is based, in order of importance and availability, on agriculture and hunting, small commerce, and salaried jobs. Men are responsible for agricultural work and for the production of the principal crops: maize, beans, squash, chilacayotes, and chile. When produce is in excess of family consumption, it is sold in the Trique markets by the women and in Mestizo towns such as Tlaxiaco, Juxtlahuaca, and Putla by the men. Children, male and female, are responsible for herding oxen, sheep, goats, chickens, and turkeys. Trique are often hired to feed and care for the cattle of Mestizos on Trique lands; the few Trique who have cattle rent or share draft animals on a cooperative basis. In the division of domestic labor, both men and women weave baskets. Cooking, weaving cloth, and caring for chickens and turkeys are the duties of women, who also carry water. Washing clothes is both a male and a female job, men traditionally washing their own clothes. Adult men participate in tequio, communal labor projects. 408

Apart from weaving, there are few crafts; the baskets are crude, and no pottery is made. The Trique lack any large-scale industry, such as the scrape or hat making of the Mixtec. The absence of craft products is reflected in the exchanges at weekly markets. Both San Andres and San Juan have one important market day (Monday) and several small markets each week, attended by Trique from surrounding settlements, Mixtec, and Mestizos. Trique women sell maize, fodder, eggs, chickens, goat skins, and occasionally animal skins, chiles, chilacayotes, toasted grasshoppers, squash, and some wool. At these markets Mixtec men and Mestizos sell cotton, dried meat, chiles, yarn, thread, needles, ribbons, glass-bead necklaces, earrings, lime, and medicinal herbs to the Trique. Specifically, salted fish and bananas are sold from Pinotepa Nacional, pottery and scrapes from Cuquila; Mestizos and Mixtec sell groceries, scrapes, sombreros, and clothes. Aguardiente de caña comes from La Hacienda de Concepcion and San Martin. There are no stores in Trique villages, although some individuals sell odds and ends, principally aguardiente, from their homes. Communal ownership of land is still a Trique ideal. Informants in Chicahuaxtla stated that only the use of the land can be bought and sold. In no sense is there equal distribution of land (Basauri, 1940e, pp. 436-37; Comas, 1953, p. 2). As Basauri has noted, there are many individuals who lack land altogether or who have a piece so small that it is not enough to meet subsistence needs. Houses may be sold and taken apart to be built on the property of the new owner, or rights to the plot may accompany the purchase of a house. Most of these transactions are carried out by verbal contract. If transactions are between villager and outsider, municipal authorities often intervene. In only one village, San Martin Itunyoso, did I observe the fencing-off of land and house property. The position of comisariado has been incorporated into the municipal

FIG. 5—TRIQUE WOMEN, CHICAHUAXTLA. (From F. Starr, 1909.) organization of several Trique villages during the past decade; the official, a man chosen for his good memory, is in charge of land documents and land confficts. The basic production and consumption unit is the nuclear or extended family. An extended family form is especially common for those Trique who leave their wives and children and work as laborers in the lowlands around Putla, in Tlaxiaco, Hacienda de Concepcion, in Mixtepec mines, or even as far as the sugarcane fields of Veracruz. In 1962 there were about a dozen Trique working in Mexico City. There is little surplus wealth in the Chicahuaxtla area, and what there is in surplus money is held by the wife. It is mainly spent in religious feasts and funeral ceremonies.

Money is buried with the corpse, in amounts varying from five to several hundred pesos. In the Copala area surplus wealth is also used in internecine warfare to buy guns from Mestizos and to pay bribes to government and army officials. Important status symbols for men are cattle, guns, hats; for women, the number of huipils. SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

Trique families share many characteristics with other Oaxacan groups. The villages are endogamous, although there is marriage between rancherías, and the occasional marriage between villages may create intervillage conflict. Monogamy is the rule for Chicahuaxtla whereas polygyny has been reported for the Copaltecos. Sometimes ad409

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ditional wives are acquired through internecine warfare between rancherías; rich coffee cultivators are said to be able to support more than one wife. Children are supposedly named after the saints, and some last names are chosen at random. Tibón (1961, pp. 150-52) reports that Trique, in the words of Putla informants, rob the most distinguished citizens of their names in an effort to gain the power of their namesakes. According to my Chicahuaxtla informants, Trique do not publicly use the real name of their children, perhaps because of their belief in the nagual (see below). As a rule no personal names or family names are used in address, but kinship terms of address are applied universally to all Trique, regardless of their relationships to ego. The most important principles in this system of address are reciprocity, relative age, sex of speaker, and sex of person spoken to. The kinship reference terminology is discussed by Romney (Art. 11, vol. 6). A few comments may be pertinent here. Kinship terms include a contrasting set of terms used for address and reference, with the greater number of terms in the reference system. Distinctions between mother's relatives and father's relatives are made in reference but not in address. The compadrazgo system functions here. Godparents are not chosen from the same family, and there is only one set—padrinos de bautizo. An intermediary arranges this relationship soon after the child is born. Then the father of the child invites the godparents to dinner. If the child dies, the padrino dresses him and pays for the funeral costs if he is able. The compadrazgo terms used in Chicahuaxtla are taken from the Spanish; kinship terms are extended to the relatives of compadres. Customs of inheritance have been variously reported. Cerda Silva (1957e, p. 345) reports inheritance as going to the eldest son. Basauri (1940e, p. 453) states that 410

although land is officially inherited at death, actually each mature son has already been assigned his parcel earlier. He reports that if the mother lives beyond the father's death, she controls the property. A daughter at marriage receives her trousseau from her parents, but, according to Basauri, she does not inherit land, although her husband may inherit from her parents. Inheritance appears to be bilateral and age-graded. As one male informant reported to me, "My father left little; my mother a lot." An older brother has more right than a younger, unless the father dies while the youngest is at the breast, in which case the reverse is true. Property other than land— animals, household goods, huipils, and money—is inherited by both men and women. If the census figures are correct, the Trique residence group rarely contains more than six members at any one time. Interpersonal family relations among the Trique have not been described except with reference to family solidarity in feuds between families. Killings within families cause great sadness and inspire special prayers to the gods of the sun and moon. Conflicts between men and women of the same family are said to be won by the man if the fight is physical and by the woman if the fight is verbal. In verbal duels women never look at their opponents. Trique have a strong sense of identity as a group. Their loyalties to the group are unquestionably strong vis-à-vis a nonTrique—to the point of excluding bilingual Trique from being considered as Trique. Within the group their loyaties are first to their family, second to the locale—barrio, ranchería, town, region (Chicahuaxtla or Copala). Conflicts starting with individuals expand to include family and/or locale. Drinking and insults are usually involved, and Trique themselves recognize that they anger more quickly than Mixtec. "La raza es así." There is occasional feuding in Chi-

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cahuaxtla between villages, but not as frequently as between barrios in Copala. There is little conflict between residents of Copala and those of Chicahuaxtla. Basauri describes (1940e, pp. 450-54) Trique political and religious organizations in general. Both types of organization are apparently linked here, as they are elsewhere in southern Mexico, and both conform to the hierarchial, age-graded structure usually reported. A male citizen has to pass through a certain number of positions (cargos) in order finally to achieve status as principal. Positions are assigned either by the out-going officials or by a group referred to in Chicahuaxtla as caracterizados. In all major Trique towns there is a church, and there is a municipal building in all but Itunyoso, where officials meet in various houses. The mayordomía system works throughout Chicahuaxtla, but it has not been described for Copala—and it would not surprise me if it were absent, or present in deviant form, because of Copala's political instability. In San Andres there are 12 mayordomías of which two are female: the mayordomia of widows {viudas) and of unmarried women (solteras). In Itunyoso, all mayordomos are men and, according to informants there and elsewhere (Basauri, 1940e, p. 451), mayordomos also constitute town authority (la autoridad). The mayordomia, it appears, is inextricably interwoven with politics, a relationship not so often postulated as that between the mayordomia and economic distribution. Trique courts of law probably vary less in form than in function and substance. In Copala feuds are a chief means of resolving conflict; in Chicahuaxtla feuds are occasional. This single fact is bound to affect court functioning. A month's sample of court cases from San Andres indicates that their court plays a predominant role in settling cases between litigants from different villages, which may be general for market towns. The common grievances brought to court

FIG. 6 — T R I Q U E WOMAN, SAN ANDRES CHICAHUAXTLA, OAXACA. (Photographed by Donald Cordry, 1961.)

are robbery and assault and battery. Heavy court fines for robbery indicate this is the most serious grievance, and often the defendant is paraded around town. Five out of 18 cases involved family and mostly dealt with complaints against men for assault and battery. One case was brought by a father against his son for being so drunk as to allow enemies to injure the father. The court jailed the son for not watching out for 411

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his father and made him pay 100 pesos towards his father's cure. The Copala court does not function as an impartial adjudicator of disputes between the barrios, although ofiicials in "cooperation" with Mexican army officials (Tibón, 1961, pp. 137-38) prosecute the guilty, in death cases. The common grievances which result in feuds not settled in court are property trespass, rape, adultery, and the conflicts resulting from intrusion of Mexican schools. RELIGION AND WORLD VIEW

Trique mythology serves to explain how life came to be and why it functions as it does. Origin myths are varied; some explain how the first two Trique began and populated the world, how some people emigrated and began speaking other languages, the first being Mixteco and the last Spanish (Good, personal communication, 1963). Others explain that Trique came from the Mixtec group to settle in San Andres; they describe San Andres and Copala as being founded by siblings. Still other legends tell step by step how the Chicahuaxtla group migrated from Teposcolula, where they were being run out by Mixtec. Each place they came to they gave a name, then moved on to find a more ideal location for living, splitting up as they went, some leaving for Copala, others experimenting until finally the cacique, a woman, arrived in San Andres. There are myths explaining the origin of the gods. The sun and moon, for example, started as beings living in a gourd; they were taken home and cared for by a goddess (their mother), rapidly developed, and killed and ate their father, a deer; then they enclosed their mother and her sister in a sweat bath and, on the back of a cat and a rabbit, arrived above as sun and moon, and so began and lit the world. There are many such stories about the gods of lightning and of water, and about other gods—stories that picture the gods as having human qualities. 412

There are tales describing the genealogical and hierarchial arrangements of the gods—the sun, the moon, the earth, water, fire, air, and minor figures such as the bath (el baño), the places (los lugares), and the stars—and telling of the regulations these gods force on living Trique. Monzón (1945b) comments on data (Saville, 1898) collected in Copala on the creation of Trique gods. Prayers offered to the gods picture them as being capable of helping an individual if he knows how to propitiate, and may start, "Do me a favor, fix up the heart of the enemy who fights with me because you're the one who cares for me." In addition to these are stories of enchanted places and tales explaining the more mundane affairs of life. Wilfrido C. Cruz (1946, p. 247), who has published two lovely Trique stories, states: "los triques prodiyeron los cuentos más brillantes y hermosos del suelo oaxaqueño. . . . El origin del sol, de la luna y de las estrellas, los eclipses, los tormentos, la construcción del mundo, la muerte de la luna, etc., etc., son los tópicos más frecuentes de su exaltación poética y mitológica." Longacre's collection of Trique myths and tales unfortunately remains unpublished. Every person has his counterpart in animal form, his nagual. The death of an individual is regularly explained by saying, "She died because that night they killed a deer in the mountain," the deer being her nagual. The concept of the nagual is similar to that of a tonal in other parts of Mexico. The Trique word sabio is loosely translated as "witch," curandero as "medicine man." Witches, as gods, are believed capable of good and bad actions. In his discussion of measurement, Tibón (1961, p. 145) describes the custom of witches, who, by hand measurements of their own bodies, achieve clairvoyance. The measurement is said to capture for them certain extrasensory messages. By working themselves into a semitrance they are able to divine

FIG. 7 — T R I Q U E MARKET, SAN ANDRES CHICAHUAXTLA, OAXACA. (Photographed by Donald Cordry, 1943.)

what is happening in distant barrios, what dangers lurk near. Witches are also capable of divining by mushrooms and candles. Trique Catholic rituals are a blend of Trique and Catholic religious beliefs, but some rites are distinctively Trique (Tibón, 1961, pp. 134-35). For example, on the 25th of March, San Marcos Day, Trique from all parts visit a cave near Copala where they worship. They usually sacrifice a sheep or goat, leave flowers and incense, and

miracles are said to occur. Caves are good places for individual and collective rituals (ibid., pp. 145-46); offerings are made in return for information, wealth, or health. If one god does not perform his duty, the Indians may turn to another. Other rituals, such as those associated with the temascal, are individual rather than collective and are mainly associated with curing. One of the principal causes of illness is believed to be espanto or fright (Basauri, 413

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1940e, p. 462): espanto del agua, espanto del lugar (possibly due to falling), espanto de mohína (anger that is not expelled), or a variety of other situations such as when a woman is attacked by a man. In all probability espanto is related to the idea of soulloss. An individual may also be frightened by a tacuate (a man who appears with his trousers rolled up), who takes the eyes of his victim. Other causes of illness have to do with the evil eye, anger of the gods, or the killing of the nagual. (Longacre recorded a story of a woman who knew she was going to be killed by lightning, the ancient rain deity, because she had offended the god by spilling corn on the ground— corn being the son of lightning.) In addition, machete fights, jealousy, and hunger diseases also cause illness. Tooth problems are explained simply by saying, "An animal is eating my mouth." A variety of cures is employed. A curandera will cure a sick baby by massaging his stomach and sticking her finger down his throat. Sucking removes foreign substances causing sickness. There are bonesetting specialists, and specialists for curing espanto. Temascal bathing, however, seems to be the most practical cure for everything, including espanto. In addition, personal religious rites are performed in miraculous caves. Besides the medicinal herbs mentioned by Basauri (1940e, p. 463) are many more, such as those used to dull the pain of childbirth and to induce labor. Mexicans have classified the primary causes of illness as tuberculosis, vitamin deficiency, parasites, and malaria. They have also noted the Chicahuaxtla Trique's enthusiasm for modern medicine in recent years, especially as this contrasts with the Mixtec of the surrounding area. AESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL PATTERNS

In Western society, aesthetics are often conceptually separated from the more mundane aspects of life. Among the Trique much of 414

what has been described in previous pages is undoubtedly part and parcel of their aesthetic outlook: for example, the carving of religious figures, the production of huipils, the building of houses, the care taken in locating a house, feelings about the physical environment, the quality and substance of storytelling, and the formal conversations by which human relationships such as marriage are contracted. Much of this is art and is so recognized by the Trique. For example, every Trique woman understands the technical skills involved in weaving although only a few of these craftswomen are considered artists. An artist does more than the minimum; she weaves into a decoration a variety of motifs and has an appropriate sense of color and form. The more complicated the pattern, the more artistic; if it is to be a tightly woven garment, then the weave should be compact. Similarly housebuilding, a craft known to all men, is made an art by a few highly talented builders. The aesthetic aspects of their oral traditions are yet to be described. Religious fiestas are also a time for aesthetic expression. The church and capillas and the pathways to them are often decorated with flowers and foliage. The ceremonial music in San Andres is supplied by a band of contracted Mixtec and three cantores or native Trique musicians. The play-acting described by Basauri (1940e, pp. 459-62) for Holy Week, while of Spanish Catholic origin, is at present an integral part of the Trique aesthetic-religious-recreational world, and its meaning is not readily available to an outside observer. For private recreation during these fiesta evenings, a three-tone fiddle is played. The men, each facing his partner and each dressed as a woman, dance to this all night at different homes, followed from place to place by the women. One could describe the heavy drinking of tepache and aguardiente at fiestas as recreational although it may not always serve this

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purpose. For example, the usual drinking among the autoridades may be a withdrawal rather than a recreational activity. Trique smoke very little, and the use of narcotics has not been reported in the literature. Patterns of etiquette permeate all social relationships: in the formalities of contracting new relationships such as those entailed by marriage or by the compadrazgo or in refusing to contract relationships (rare); in the custom of referring to all Trique as kinsmen; in the visits made to sick friends and relatives or to dead people. And such visits have certain formal requirements: one never visits empty-handed; one may offer to help arrange a sweat bath for a sick friend or for the dead; the family of the deceased carries candles, flowers, aguardiente, tortillas, and loose change to drop into the casket. These patterns of etiquette vary from village to village. In San Andres conversations are never started without the proper kinship address, but they tell that in Copala conversations may be started without such terms. "They do not speak with respect, they merely stand at the door and say, 'Are you sitting?' The visited answers, 'Here I am sitting,' and the individuals enter without further announcing themselves." LIFE CYCLE

Although Trique are prolific (a woman may bear as many as 12 children), the infant mortality rate is high. At the time of childbirth there are rituals mainly involving the dios del baño (god of the bath). The mother has to undergo 10 or 15 separate sweat baths after a child's birth. The temascal is fed a bean sauce (mole) and tortillas, and is presented with tepache, as grateful acknowledgment for its care to mother and child. The father need not bathe at this time, although some do. If the bath appears to be harmful, it is fed more tortillas and presented with flowers. For a girl the umbilical cord and placenta are buried to insure

fertility; for a boy it is hung on a tree so he will be strong enough to climb. The postpartum sex taboo lasts from 20 to 40 days. Very soon after birth, godparents are sought through an intermediary, often an older relative. Children are carried on the back and nursed for periods ranging from 18 months to as long as six years for the last child. Mothers wean their children by applying various unpalatables, like manure, to the nipples. Children are toilet-trained when they can walk. Young boys are punished by being given feminine tasks. Childhood is not marked by special ceremonies for girls or boys, except for male entrance into the civil-religious hierarchy as topil. In San Andres the position of topil has gradually been abolished because young boys now attend school. Boys marry between the ages of 18 and 21, girls between 12 and 15. Marriage is arranged by the parents of the couple. A payment is made to the girl's parents, returnable only if there is a divorce, a matter involving solely the respective families of the couple. The meal prepared by the girl's family may equal the cost of the payment made to them. The bride's father also transfers all the girl's clothing directly to his son-in-law; this property may be of little or great value depending on the quality and number of huipils included. Upon the second marriage of the girl no such payment need be made. Marriage by capture is becoming increasingly frequent in San Andres and San Juan. Church weddings may take place long after the couple's children are born and grown. Ideally a boy will spend a week with the girl's family, after which the girl goes to live with her husband's family—in the same one-room house with his parents or in a small rancho within calling distance. If the husband is working away from the town, it is appropriate for a girl to return to her parents' house; she may also return for 415

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periodic overnight visits. Adulthood is marked by marriage and children for both men and women, and by movement through the age-graded religious-political hierarchies for men. Trique death practices and beliefs are an example of mixed Trique and Catholic religious beliefs (Basauri, 1940e, pp. 458-59). Adults are laid in wooden caskets or just wrapped in a petate; prayers are said by a specialist (sometimes a Mixtec); and after 24 hours the individual is buried. What goes into the casket relates to their conception of the afterlife. Tortillas, water, money (often no small amount), beans, and grazing grass, needle and thread will help them on their long journey through several worlds. The beans and grazing grass will be given as compensation to animals hunted in life that are met in the afterlife and re-

quest their eyes back; the grass goes to domesticated animals killed in life. Trique believe that one goes to "purgatory" for 29 days then on to the "land of God" (the underworld village). Those who die violent deaths cannot go to the land of God but become wandering spirits. Death in childbirth is classified as a violent death, as is death by accident or by murder. "If we die 'a good disease' (some regular illness) then we go to the land of God" (Longacre, personal communication). Individuals who have been murdered are said to be empowered to call their murderers into the afterlife after them. Death practices for children are simple: no money or food is included because as children they have not sinned and will therefore not go on a journey through the several worlds or prisons (carceles) but will go straight to heaven.

REFERENCES Basauri, 1940e Belmar, 1897 Cerda Silva, 1957e Comas, 1944, 1953 Cruz, W. C., 1946 Fernández de Miranda and Weitlaner, 1961 Garvin, 1953 Hamp, 1954 Longacre, 1952, 1955, 1959

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and Millon, 1961 Mak and Longacre, 1960 Marroqum, 1957 Monzón, 1945b Olmsted, 1961 Peña, 1950 Starr, F., 1901, 1909 Swadesh, 1960 Tibón, 1961

20. The Amuzgo

ROBERT RAVICZ and A. KIMBALL ROMNEY

s

OUTHEASTERN GuERRERO and adjoining western Oaxaca is the home of the Amuzgo.1 Neighboring Oto-Manguean linguistic kin are Mixtec, along a rim running from east to northwest and, prior to the Spanish conquest, probably extending far to the west. Non-Oto-Manguean-speakers—Nahuatl, Tlapanec, and Spanish—have some contact with Amuzgo. Nahua live a few hours' walk to the north and west; Tlapanec, two to three days to the north, beyond the Mixtec. Speakers of Spanish occupy adjoining towns (the coastal centers of Ometepec and Cacahuatepec) and a few reside in the larger Amuzgo settlements (Amuzgos and Xochistlahuaca). Amuzgo speech prevails in all activities. Although many Indians can communicate in Spanish, monolingualism appears to range from 50 to 80 per cent.2 Trade and political dealings account for most contacts. Amuzgo travel relatively little, especially outside their own cultural boundaries, which closely correlate with the linguistic distribution. Marriage and other contacts beyond the borders are few, and the environment provides a high degree of

isolation through a relatively rich subsistence. The area, some 2000 square miles, lies between 16° and 17° north latitude and 98° and 99° west longitude. The terrain is broken by streams and arroyos, and by verdant hills. Although not extremely high, the hills are myriad; the region is rugged, sloping off slightly to the east (Oaxaca), where the terrain is less hilly and where valleys are more accessible and more extensive. Altitude ranges between 1000 and 1700 feet in the low hills of the southern Sierra Madre along the Guerrero-Oaxaca Costa Ghica. Drainage is southerly to the Pacific Ocean. 1 Orozco y Berra (1880) suggests villages or peoples of the same name in Guatemala. 2 Fieldwork for this article was conducted by Ravicz in 1960; a brief visit to Amuzgos was also made in 1956. Large gaps remain in ethnographic coverage, which deals with materials collected from Amuzgos, Xochistlahuaca-Cozoyoapan, and Zacualpan. So far as known, anthropologists have not otherwise worked the Amuzgo area. Gratitude is herewith expressed to the U, S. State Department and the Buenos Aires Convention, and to Stanford University for financial support in conducting the research.

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The climate is essentially semihumid and tropical, depending on altitude, with hot days and cool nights. The rainy season lasts from May through early November, winds being from the Pacific. Rainfall reaches 90 inches, causing increased difficulty of communication marked by rising water in the fast-flowing waterways and by heavy going on the thick, slippery mud of the footpaths. This is relieved only by the canícula. Amuzgo reside in 12 communities.3 Two, Amuzgos and Ipalapa, are in Oaxaca; the others are in Guerrero. The same language is intelligible in all but with degrees of difference, the town of Amuzgos apparently being the most differentiated.4 Cultural differences, as would be expected where language and environment are similar, are slight, depending probably on the degree and nature of contact with non-Amuzgo and on community self-consciousness with resultant identity-maintaining mechanisms. Population estimates place at about 13,000 the number of native speakers over the age of five, of whom 10,000 are estimated to be monolinguals (Amuzgo). 5 Population density averages perhaps 14 to the square mile. Few learn another indigenous language, preferring a few words of Spanish or of the other tongue when among non-Amuzgo. Non-indigenous Spanish-speakers living among the Amuzgo may be teachers, merchants, or government representatives. All but transients learn Amuzgo, since it is the language of the home, business and politics, school and all other interactions. Children born to non-Amuzgo grow up learning Amuzgo along with Spanish. There is no activity designed solely for the non-Amuzgo.6 An occasional individual or family of another subculture is found among the Amuzgo. Thus, a Mixtec curer (brujo) may settle in an Amuzgo community to continue his practice. Nahuatl-speaking pastores herding their animals in the region often settle for several months on a hillside near Amuzgo settlements. 418

Negative attitudes are directed primarily at Mestizos and Mixtec. Statements about the former reflect the insecurity and frustration of the Amuzgo as a minority, classsubordinate element, though predominant in population in many places. The Mixtec represent a more legitimate target for hostility, since they are an indigenous people. Amuzgo call Guerrero Mixtee "dog," Oaxaca Mixtec "brujo." Such prejudices do not seem to color Amuzgo views of Nahua and Tlapanec or of Costa Negros, except for a satirical dance connotation. Ethnological investigation among the Amuzgo appears to be lacking. There is also an unfortunate gap in our knowledge of this part of the prehistory of Middle America.7 Further research is needed to clarify 3 Orozco y Berra (1880) claims there are 28 settlements in the state of Guerrero, a number perhaps based on residences or settlements lying outside the population centers, since many Amuzgo come to "town" only on occasion. Two cases demonstrating "fluidness" were observed during the current research. In one, several persons from at least three nonrelated families settled some four hours from the center to live adjacent to their fields, which they found too distant from their former homes for efficient commuting. In another instance members of a religious faction built new homes at one edge of town, enabling them to form a common residential unit supporting their membership and belief, whereas they had previously lived in different parts of the town. 4 Suggestive of population or cultural differences is the distinction made by Reyes (1593), who gives two Mixtec terms for Amuzgo: ( 1 ) yodzotaca, amuscos primeros; ( 2 ) yodzocosa, amuscos segundos. Yodzo in Mixtec refers to plain, meadow, or valley; the following morphemes are not known, however. 5 These figures are based on the 1940 census. The apparent increase of nearly 5000 in population over the age of five from the 1930 figures finds no simple explanation. Health programs had not yet been undertaken, nor were there technological or other factors. Many figures here utilized will probably be alterd by the next census. The increase in population should be considerable if comparable to increases elsewhere as the result of the introduction of roads, some degree of medical service, and the antimalaria campaign. 6 It is not clear in the figures on population density of native-language speakers whether or not this kind of bilingualism is included. 7 Archaeological mounds are prevalent, many

FIG. 1—GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF T H E AMUZGO

the role of cultures of the various OtoManguean-speaking groups, of which Amuzgo is a member, which appear to have several thousand years' residence in this area. Like the others, Amuzgo lies athwart North and Central America and overlies "O1mec"-assigned territory. Both ethnological and problem-oriented studies are needed, for there is nothing extant in the literature. The Amuzgo offer a rich source of indigenous cultural material, apparently undisturbed. In several houses, people have small figurines, claimed to have been found under or around the house or patio, bearing strong "Olmec" appearance. Some are kept on altars, others as collection pieces about the house. Larger, worked stone figures are utilized in rain and other ceremonies relating to crop fertility. One shrine near a field consisted of three such figurines.

much of it probably of preconquest origin, particularly in belief and ritual, health, and some aspects of social organization, for example, the position of the principales and the possible existence of moiety or dual town organization, suggested by Gonzalo Aguirre Beltrán for the Costa Chica. Data on the aboriginal calendar system are required for a comparative study of coastal modes of astral reckoning and related religious patterns. Such data would provide the basis for an attempt to detail areal relationships and cultural movements. Linguistic studies (G. M. Cowan, 1947) have forwarded such efforts. As yet, little is known about the conquest and subsequent history of the Amuzgo. In general, the Spanish-Mexican patterns gov419

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erning many indigenous cultures dominate and overlie those of the Amuzgo. Subsistence additions include pigs, chickens, plants, and the plow, ox and mule. The cofradía and municipio systems characterize political and religious organization, and the compadrazgo is prevalent. The old custom of elders (principales) forming the authority of the community has been retained. Ejido organization is present. Certain beliefs and practices surrounding man, nature, and their relationship still operate. SUBSISTENCE PATTERNS AND FOOD HABITS

Agriculture provides basic subsistence, in which maize, beans, and squash predominate, followed by chile and tomato. In smaller quantities are coffee, cacao, and rice. Fruits include coconut, mamey, zapote, banana, tamarind, aguacate, guayaba, mango, orange, and lemon. Sugarcane is the main cash crop. Some wild plants, typical of Tierra Caliente, are gathered. Deer, rabbit, a wildcat species, some birds, turtle, mapache, jabalí, and iguana are hunted with guns. A welcome addition to the diet is shrimp, abundant in the San Pedro River,8 lying below and bordering Xochistlahuaca on the west. It is both a trade item and a good source of animal protein for coastal people. Traps are set for the two shrimp varieties, distinguished mainly by size, the larger being more prized. Domestic animals include oxen, mules, cattle, dogs, chickens, and turkeys. The fowl is largely for fiesta purposes. Pigs and goats occur but, as with cattle, not in all households. Milk seems not to be drunk. Agriculture includes both temporal (dry farming) and irrigation, water for the latter coming from springs and arroyos. Temporal lands are usually two or three hours' distance from the villages. Of the two corn crops, the first is planted in May, the second in mid-January. Fields are prepared for planting by slash-and-burn. Ejidos are operative in some areas, such as Xochistla420

huaca. Sugarcane yields one crop annually. Corn is harvested in November and in midApril. Beans are planted in the monte or in the milpa when corn is in elote around August 10, and are harvested in late November. When fields are far from the village, a secondary structure shelters the family or the male head during planting and harvesting. Many families live permanently in the fields, visiting the village on ceremonial occasions. Women and children aid in the weeding and harvest. The plow is used sometimes, but many fields are worked with a digging stick. Four or five seeds of corn are dropped into the hole. Clearing occurs in December. Ritual before planting is aimed at propitiating spirits and promoting rain and crop fertility. This takes place near the fields and, in addition, in the church at a Water Mass on May 25. Ritual near the fields makes use of non-Christian stone figurines, which are given offerings. Food is prepared by women, aided by any girls in the household. Meals are eaten twice a day, morning and evening. At noon a banana, often fried, or water with fruit or seeds in it suffices. A refreshing drink, made of ground cacao blended with cornmeal, cinnamon, sugar, and water, is frequently drunk in midmorning. Shrimp are eaten boiled or in a broth with salt and chile. Tortillas and beans form the bulk of the diet. The few vegetable supplements are mainly wild plants. Liquids include coffee, prepared by boiling with panela (cane sugar), tepache (fermented cane), and distilled cane, or aguardiente. The stalk of cane and corn is chewed for its juice. Coconuts provide liquid nourishment. Drinking to intoxication is common at fiestas but occurs occasionally at 8 Known also as the Rio Puente, because of the log-and-carrizo bridge spanning it, it separates the municipios of Xochistlahuaca and Tlacoachixtlahuaca. The Amuzgo word for the river translates as "Rio Grande."

AMUZGO

FIG. 2—AMUZGO HOUSES IN ZACUALPAN. (Photographed by Irmgard W. Johnson, 1958.)

night when men may gather to drink aguardiente at one of the Mestizo stores where it is sold. Tobacco is frequently smoked, rolled into cigars at home. Elotes are roasted and eaten in late August; tamales are made of elotes. Surplus can be expected from sugarcane; from it panela is produced for sale. Three kinds of corn are grown, distinguished by relative size or growing rate: cuarenteño, tecomache, and tepecente.9 Despite the variety and the two crops per year, choice and utility plus other factors create a disparity in wealth. Many people must buy corn, either because they lack land or because they prefer the potential money surplus from cane. SETTLEMENT PATTERNS

Compact and dispersed settlement patterns are found. The larger villages (Amuzgos, Tlacoachistlahuaca, and Xochistlahuaca)

are compact around a plaza, in a grid pattern. This is small in extent, however, and may lapse into irregularities, branching into a dispersed form when the planting areas are reached. The rolling terrain makes the 9 The cuarenteño is smaller and quicker than the other types, maturing in 48 days. It is also called, appropriately, conejo. The tecomache, smaller and quicker than tepecente, is planted about June 10 and matures in late August. Tepecente has the largest mazorca; ready in late September, it is harvested in early November after the rains. Corn with purple, large ears and short stalk is known as sapo or anate. Two weedings occur: one in midJuly, the second in early August. Where there is little underbrush and weeds, only one weeding is necessary. As with beans, squash is planted among the com. Two varieties predominate: colorada and pepiana. Beans include bianco and barra as well as negro. Rice depends on temporal; it is planted in May for December harvest. Sugarcane harvests occur throughout the year. One common dish is a mixture of bananas and beans. Bananas are plentiful, but they grow far out in the monte, nearly a four-hour round trip. Fields lie fallow, except when there is irrigation, from three to five years.

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grid pattern difficult to maintain with the given technology and so the form of subsistence and the distribution of plots favor the dispersed pattern. Political and religious centers are located within the nucleated community. People in the outskirts go into the center for purchases or for fiesta. Some maintain a town house, empty most of the year while the owners live in the field near their animals and crops. Villages are in small valleys or relatively flat areas, not exposed or high on hills. In the smaller villages few residences are visible from any vantage point; even in the larger ones, the houses tend to be hidden by hills and trees. Amuzgos is the most exposed town, situated along a slight rise. One section, where Mestizos live and stores are located, is built along the cobbled road; the other, containing most of the Indians, sprawls irregularly to the west. A field large enough for cargo planes lies to the north. The town straddles the important route between the Costa Jamiltepec, Pinotepa, Cacahuatepec, Ometepec, Acapulco area and the Mixteca Alta and Baja. Roads now under construction will link these areas to the highways leading to central Mexico and the east coast. Trucks have reached Amuzgos freely (during the dry season) since 1960 from the south and since 1962 from the TlaxiacoPutla region to the north, so that changes in indigenous culture may be expected. Xochistlahuaca and Cozoyoapan are built in a slight depression cut by shallow arroyos, one of which separates the two communities. Xochistlahuaca has a narrow, flat, tree-ringed strip of land around which are ranged the municipio, the school, a few stores and houses, commissariat of the ejido, and two churches at its southern extremity. Hilly terrain begins immediately outside this small plain and marks the dwelling areas. On the north rim of the plain a hill towers some 200 feet directly above the town.10 Tree and other plant growth is exuberant. Cozoyoapan is approximately 422

the same size, politically subordinate, more monolingual and culturally conservative. It has no flat plain to break the hillslopes but enjoys the shade of coconut palm and heavyleafed mangos. The depression is ringed on west, north, and east by low hills, and is somewhat open to the south but not enough to bring within view Ometepec or the sea, less than 40 miles to the southwest. West of Xochistlahuaca, at a steep halfhour descent, flows the San Pedro, where shrimp and small, gray fish (pote) are trapped. The river is one of several places for washing clothes and bathing; others, formed by springs or arroyos, can be reached without the climb. Fields are planted in corn, along the steep San Pedro banks and on the surrounding hills. Between the plain and the beginning of the descent to the river is a smaller flat area marked by irregularly spaced, unworked stones less than a foot high, indicating the burial ground. Occasional cows and goats graze here, somewhat higher than the center of the village, as they do on the short airstrip11 some 500 yards northeast of the center. 10 The hill is variously referred to in Spanish as Hill of the Cross or Hill of Flowers. In Amuzgo it translates as Hill of Flowers and, together with the plain spread out beneath it, gives the name to the town in Amuzgo: sul'ha (su 'flat, plain'; l'ha, 'flowers'), thus explaining the Nahautl Xochistlahuaca. The reference is to yellow flowers which blossom there at first rains. Observing Guadalupe on the twelfth of each month, a procession leads to the top of the hill, hence the "Cross." At one time Xochistlahuaca was a trade and political center for the coast, occupying a principal position on the road to Tlapa. At that time it was known as Cabecera Vieja, and the name Cabecera still designates it, in common usage, over a wide area. The Amuzgo terms for the language they speak is au ta or nyu da, both translating as palabra (mojada) de agua. 11 Built and used primarily by personnel of the Summer Institute of Linguistics since 1942. The ayuntamiento plans to lengthen the strip and build new residences for eight families whose homes lie in the planned extension. Also planned is a branch of the Acapulco-Putla road, to reach Xochistlahuaca from Ometepec. Hand tools have been provided by the governor of the state with which workers from this area will be expected to build a

AMUZGO

Narrow footpaths connect outlying houses with the fields and lead to more distant communities. The road to the most important market center, Ometepec, leads southwest across the San Pedro River, passing Zacualpan and Cochoapa, a six-hour foot or animal trip but only eight minutes by air. Other roads lead to Nahua, Mixtec, Tlapanec, and other Amuzgo communities; the foot trip east to Amuzgos, the most distant, requires 14 hours. East of Xochistlahuaca lies the Santa Catarina River, also abundant in shrimp. In Cozoyoapan is a similar open area (zocalo), around which are grouped the main public buildings. Church and agenda are separated by the house of the secretario and by the Xochistlahuaca road. In both towns danzas for ceremonial occasions are rehearsed on the zocalo. Xochistlahuaca lost its status as parroquia, the priest moving to Tlacoachistlahuaca and now serving the other two towns on occasion. Cozoyoapan maintains its own burial ground. A small structure houses a Protestant chapel in Xochistlahuaca, northeast of the center. Bathing places, which are springs, have a wooden or adobe low wall around them to keep out animals. Communication includes a telephone to road to meet the one from Ometepec. For this it is expected that each village, agenda, and cuadrilla in the municipio will provide laborers for one week. 12 The situation is not entirely clear because of factionalism, moiety, or some other, perhaps dual, division. Cozoyoapan has a slight difference in speech from Xochistlahuaca; also, there is no apparent tradition to give historical or other reality to their origin. That the two are "different" receives general agreement. The same situation appears to prevail elsewhere and requires investigation, which may well turn up an underlying social form. The Amuzgo terms for the Xochistlahuaca barrios do not appear to provide any clear clue; thus, viejo,kye may apply to anyone or anything; medio, škwe refers to middle position, not necessarily to a person; chiquito,èe indicates youngest of family, baby, for example. Cozoyoapan also has three barrios.

Ometepec, mail service, and a radio set for official state messages. Stores are owned by Mestizos; there is no market. There is no lighting, telegraph, modern medicine or doctors. Native practitioners are numerous. The residence consists of one or two structures, one for sleeping and storage, the other for food preparation. An extended family may have more than one sleeping structure. Storage may be in a troje, found outside many households. Households are seldom adjacent, nearly always separated by a patio, a fence, rocks, path, or trees. Internal divisions in the towns are barrios. Cozoyoapan and Xochistlahuaca have three each, Zacualpan may have two.12 They seem to have no internal organization; representatives of each serve in the ayuntamiento, acting as intermediaries and doing guard duty. The larger towns have bands, two each in Cozoyoapan and Xochistlahuaca, made up according to generation, apparently. Each town has its own fiestas and cofradías, but seems to make no distinction between barrios. TECHNOLOGY

Tools include machete, gancho, digging stick (nduyo), and plow. For hunting, the shotgun and rifle are used. In fishing, traps made of carrizo are commonly employed. The wooden press operated by animal power is used in the manufacture of panela, a cane sugar. Wooden spoons and clay cooking and storage vessels made by women are used in the kitchen. Meter-high jars contain shelled corn, beans, and rice. Clay comales (griddles) and clay molcajetes are universal, as are the mano and metate. The last is a slab without feet, and is supported by three stakes in the cookhouse floor. Gourds are mainly bule and jicara. The first serves as sembrador, in which a man carries corn seed when planting his field; the second, which grows in much of the area, ranges from scoop, container, measure, mold for panela, to headwear for women. Carrying 423

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FIG. 3 — A M U Z G O WOMEN WEAVING ON BACKSTRAP LOOMS IN COZOYOAPAN. (Photographed by Irmgard W. Johnson, 1958.)

nets are made locally. Baskets are imported, as are leather bags, formerly made by Amuzgo. Utilitarian clay vessels are locally produced. Pottery has little decoration, in contrast to woven materials. Rope of ixtle is produced, but the ixtle fiber is ordinarily imported. Wax for candles as well as candles themselves are brought in from Ometepec. Cigars are made by the individual smoker, the tobacco being available in stores or from anyone who grows some. Brooms made of tree branches bound together, 2 feet long and leaves removed, are made in each house. Textile materials are predominantly cotton—white, brown, and a white variety from a wild "cotton" tree. Dyes are purchased. Women weave, using a long warp, on a backstrap loom. Objects woven include clothing for both sexes. Notable are the huípiles, plain or highly decorated, of the 424

women. Smaller motifs decorate some men's shirts, as at Zacualpan. In this town hammocks are made for local use and for sale. Decorative elements range from geometric to animal and human stylizations; the huipil indicates a woman's home region, as does the design on the upper sleeve of a man's shirt. Differences in workmanship are recognized and appreciated. Men wear cotton shirt and pants, the shirt tied on the right, on the left, or in the middle, indicating local residence.13 Pants are worn to below the knee. Palm hats are worn; huaraches are optional but customary when traveling. A wool cotón is carried, often a small bag, and a machete. Women wear an unadorned, white underskirt to 13 Most men wear the shirt slightly open, tied in front, but Zacualpan males tie the shirt on the left side. Tlacoachistlahuaca men wear the shirt closed.

AMUZGO

below the knee, sometimes showing beneath the hem of the overgarment, or huipil.14 Children wear nothing until the age of about six, when clothing resembles adult styles. Women braid their hair across the front of the head between the temples. Many women have hair that is brown with reddish tints. Bathing is done several times weekly. Body ornamentation and dress adornments are lacking, other than earrings for women. Houses in the field may be permanent, like those in the village, or temporary. The latter, a kind of ramada, consists of four to six poles, 8-15 feet high, topped by a roof of cane shucks. Such structures occasionally appear in the village as an eating or resting place adjoining the permanent house. Recent Mestizo influences are seen in the adobe-walled, rectangular, tile-roofed house. Far more common, however, are the round houses. Doors in these are of otate, a carrizo-like material. Walls are of clay or vertical strips of otate. The clay walls have an inner and outer otate frame into which mud is poured to build up the walls, as with a mold, the mud adhering to the otate. 14 Wealth differences are evident in the white huipiles, which are either unadorned or adorned with white, lacking the colored thread. One of the common floral designs is that of the marigold ( z e m poalxochitl), widely used at Todos Santos. Local variations are apparent in the floral designs, those of Zacualpan and Cozoyoapan being smaller than those of Xochistlahuaca. The undergarment is long, fastening over the right shoulder. Although essentially plain, blue horizontal stripes often are discernible along the bottom. 15 Ramada (also Spanish, bajareque; Amuzgo, škyå?) roofs are two-way. The round structure has a conical roof. Ramadas can be sizable, measuring 15 feet long, 8 feet wide, 14 feet high. The conical structures stand approximately 16 feet high. When a new roof or new wall pole or other supports are needed, the entire roof can be lifted off as a unit by men using forked poles and attaching them to the horizontal base ring made of tightly woven otates to which are tied the bottoms of the 52 roof poles. The changes in house type during the past 20 years show that the round form has been retained more frequently for the cooking house than for the sleeping and living structure.

Each round house also has five or six poles, 4 inches in diameter, every 6 feet, to provide support. The otate-strip walls leave a 2-inch space between vertical sticks to allow greater air circulation. Storehouses (trojes) are similarly rounded; smaller than most houses, some are over 12 feet high; walls are always closed. Roofs are invariably of zacate, a grass growing in the monte. An overturned pot on the top keeps out rain.15 There are no windows. Furniture is sparse. For sleeping, a petate is common, a raised wooden frame bed is occasional. Tables with images and other objects constitute the household shrine. People have one or two chairs but more often sit on the dirt floor. Belongings hang from pegs along the walls. Large jars hold grain. The cooking area has a hearth formed by three stones and an assortment of pots, jars, other vessels, gourds, and spoons. Eating, like cooking, is done on the floor. Few people have animal transportation, rivers are not navigable, motor traffic is nonexistent, air travel is exorbitant for the Indians. Walking is the common mode of travel. Loads are carried on the back, by carrying net or tumpline. Travel is primarily for trade, secondarily for ceremonial or other purpose. Directions are given by known topographic features. Roads are maintained by local compulsory service (faena). Since travel can incur difficulties and dangers, divination is sought to aid travel plans. The calendar of days is also considered in the matter. Until about the age of one year, children are carried in arms; after that, astride the left hip. No ritual marks the changeover. Distances are measured in terms of geographic features. The metrical system also operates widely. Gourds (jicaras) are measures for foods. Maquila and fanega are grain measures. Money is in widespread use; the panela is an occasional currency. Cacao and coffee beans serve in barter. 425

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Counting is done in Amuzgo, but even monolinguals learn enough Spanish for counting. Time is reckoned loosely: day and night, light and dark, weeks, months, years, "a long time," "a short time." Events become time-markers. The wet and dry seasons are crucial. The cofradía and agricultural cycles are familiar to all. A four-day cycle of "days" seems known to most Amuzgo, and it is probably aboriginal. ECONOMY

Agricultural activities are performed primarily by men, women and children aiding in weeding and harvesting. Household affairs, except for house building, are the province of women; care of animals is left to them and children. Early in life children begin to assume role identities according to sex. Weaving and ceramics are associated with women. Although both are utilitarian, the woman's products, especially in weaving, are identifiable and acquire some degree of ranking in "quality." Aid to others in field work, house building, or fiesta is voluntary. Working for pay characterizes men who seasonally seek employment or do not have land of their own. Fewer women do paid work, some as servants. Full-time specialists are rare. Machete makers in Xochistlahuaca are an example, but activities such as fireworks makers, potters, and curers are not entirely full time. Differences in wealth are manifested in land, animals, or improvements, but class distinctions seem absent. Fiesta demands tend to prevent wealth accumulation. Wealth is measured not only in material goods but also in status, age, and knowledge. It is viewed as something which accrues eventually, its source resting primarily on social participation, in patterned ways. Although not considered negatively, opportunities for increase of wealth and capital reinvestment are not readily avail426

able, and motivation toward them is not high. Some land is privately owned, as are clothing, utensils, animals, artffacts, and house structures. Women are not barred from ownership, although land tends to belong to the men. Disposal of land is through choice, following patterned possibilities. Ayuntamiento authority handles disputes involving amounts up to 300 pesos; beyond that, extra-local authority is sought. Property disputes are frequent, within and without the kin group. Land may be collectively held, by the community or in combination with the ejido system.16 In either case, monte is open to all, for grazing or firewood, plant collecting, or hunting. Planting use is decided by ejido authorities (where present) or by civil authorities and principales; they also handle disputes arising over use and inheritance. Water is generally controlled communally. Inheritance favors children or male siblings, with individual choice. In ejido areas, land passes to the eldest son, with consent and review by the ejido authorities. Ideally, property is held for younger siblings by an older one, but many disputes result through failure to consider the arrangement binding. Needy kin are helped, but there is no strong sense of responsibility; individual merits and choice are the determining factors. The nuclear family is the basic production unit, but other elements are significant. Extended family, other kin, compadres, neighbors, friends, and hired labor are important in farming and house building, as well as in fiesta and other consumption activities. Marketing creates movement in and out of the region. Most trading occurs within a day's travel, except when a ritual or fiesta can be combined with marketing. 16 Emphasis on one or the other form varies with the community. The ejido has dominated in Xochistlahuaca since 1931, when its organization was requested by villagers.

AMUZGO

Processed and manufactured goods are made outside and find their way into the villages through large marketplaces, such as Ometepec, Cacahuatepec, and Amuzgos.17 Such items include metates, 18 axes, clothing and cloth, images, and ornaments. Items of native manufacture appear from Mixtec traders, a few from Nahua and Tlapanec, although Amuzgo who reach these two areas bring items on the return trip. Mixtec, making trips of two to eight days, bring fruit, petates, and other palm products, pottery vessels, and chiles from the Alta. Jamiltepec malacates, transshipped from Huaxpaltepec, have wide Amuzgo distribution. Tacuate Mixtec from Zacatepec travel as curanderos, distinguished as brujos by Amuzgo using their services. Many Tacuate men wear clothing woven by Amuzgo women. Even in the large markets, barter occurs, although money is the principal exchange medium. Panela is the principal cash source for Amuzgo, bringing buyers from one or two days' distance, and taking Amuzgo sellers, with loads on back or on burro, farther afield. For the most part, communities are selfsuflicient. Land is not available to all, or people choose or are compelled to look elsewhere for subsistence. Emigration has not yet affected population numbers. Some work for wages in Mestizo centers, doing unskilled or farm labor. A few search for a living in the national capital. SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

Corporate groupings seem absent. Emphasis is on bilateral organization in kin groups. Descent lines are weakly marked, names following neither line, although names are initially provided by the father; subsequent names are chosen by the individual and sel17 Many items are also carried for sale by the Mestizo-owned stores in some villages. 18 Manos are available from these sources, but stones found along riverbanks often substitute for a purchased mano (Xochistlahuaca).

dom relate to kin membership. Names are personal, closely relating to identity, and are rarely used in discourse, the sound being considered dangerous in the sense of "sacred," making the person ill at ease and fearful. Teknonymy is prevalent. Nicknames are frequent, for example "cockroach" for a short man. Matrilocal residence is frequent, although patrilocality is more common. Neolocality is is infrequent. Service to the woman's family involves some matripatrilocality, up to two years. Factors favoring matrilocality include the lone female child, wealth of the girl's father, and wishes of girl or her family. The extended family is an important unit. Formal authority rests with the men, but women are consulted in family decisions. Parental selection of mates is common, with the boy's father taking the initiative, employing a go-between. The selection may be made while the children are very young, accompanied by gifts of food, animals, liquor, or tobacco. If the contract is not fulfilled through the fault of the girl or her family, restitution in the same amount is expected. Marriage is tending to occur later, but the usual ages are around 12 to 15. A variant allows the betrothed girl to move into future husband's father's house when she is eight. Residence may be altered when formal marriage occurs, later, marked by the partaking of food and drink between families. Simple separation marks divorce, and it is frequent. Causes may be wifebeating, adultery by the wife (believed common), or incompatibility based on lack of choice in the selection of the mate. Compadres receive great respect and high status, the most important being those of baptism and marriage. Marriage padrinos may serve as padrinos for the first child, but new padrinos may be chosen instead. Ahijados bend the knee and raise the hat when meeting the padrino, crossing the arms to ask for a blessing (pedir el Santo), or placing the padrino's hand on one's own forehead (Zacualpan). Such a greeting also 427

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 4 — A M U Z G O C H I L D R E N IN ZACUALPAN. (Photographed by Irmgard W. Johnson, 1958.)

characterizes behavior toward principales, the other major focus of respect relations. The compadrazgo relates parents and grandparents of parents and padrinos but not always their siblings. Baptismal padrinos may or may not serve as wedding padrinos; the decision is left to the parents. Marriage is proscribed within the compadrazgo. Following baptism, as the father determines, a meal and gifts of corn and turkeys are sent to the compadre. Coin-throwing by 428

padrinos after baptism does not characterize the Amuzgo, only Mestizos. While the lavada de manos does not occur, one old man claims to remember it from his childhood.19 One should not grasp or squeeze a compadre's hand, an offensive gesture. Among desired padrinos are sabios, men who know how to pray, light candles, and control the saints. Social interaction, transactions, rights and responsibilities, relationships of affect and dispute occur primarily at the local level. Here it is that the individual finds his identities, locates the status relationships which will guide his actions along lines of expectations structured in Amuzgo terms. Formal groupings are not many. Play groups are not arranged along class or other differentiating lines. People are brought together by common interests of subsistence, in informal cooperative work units; these function also for house building and for other shared duties. They are recompensed activities in that at one or another time everyone shares in them. People are brought together also by periods of special social interest such as marriage, death, cofradía; this is done through the mechanism of fiesta. Required social action is satisfied by participation in the faena and ayuntamiento. Personal accomplishment and recognition of interdependence are achieved through the compadrazgo and principal systems. Recognition of special kinds of ability and knowledge rests with the positions of sabio and brujo. Distinction along sex-role lines is clear. Respect is emphasized in behavior, espe19 Hand-washing occurs in a Mixtec settlement two hours' walk to the north (Cerro Verde). At age eight, the ahijado is given a second new set of clothes by the padrino (Xochistlahuaca), reminiscent of one phase of the hand-washing. While the origin of this ritual is undetermined, it could represent a pre-Christian rite of passage, for which there is some evidence, or relate to early Christian baptism which once occurred at about puberty and later around the age of eight, before its present association with birth. A relationship with first communion is also possible.

AMUZGO

cially toward elders. Men and women smoke and drink; except on fiesta occasions, drinking should be controlled, always for women. In public, touching or emotional display between the sexes is not approved. Wife-beating is common, and frictions occur within the kin group and elsewhere, yet formality and respect predominate and are stressed. Ties with other localities depend on trade, markets, disputes, political relationships, religious pilgrimages, and affinity. The outside worlds are several: other Amuzgo localities; other Indians; the districts of Abasolo, Guerrero, or Putla, Oaxaca, and the vaguer outlines of the nation;20 and the Mestizo world, part of their own but alien. The principales are the people and the community, symbolically. Through age, experience, and skill they achieve the highest status, carrying with it great respect. During much of his adult life, a man performs servicio, serving alternately in political and religious roles, the former in the ayuntamiento, the latter as mayordomo. Having fulfilled satisfactorily the duties and passed through the status of presidente, one becomes principal, adviser to the officials and having final authority. These men often control ritual knowledge and may be sabios or curers. It is the principales who designate mayordomos and control the selection of civil officials, as well as of religious ones.21 RELIGION AND WORLD VIEW

People are subject to forces outside of man, which some men can control, to the detriment of others. The universe is animate, with many spirits in nature; these may harm man. Witchcraft ideas are prevalent. Rain and fertility require offerings by man. These are ceremonies of propitiation in the fields at planting and harvest, when animal offerings are made to Earth and Rain. Sometimes images of stone receive the offering. The rain spirit, which resides in caves in the hills, has a male aspect. The sea is female, as is corn. Practitioners include sabios and brujos.

Brujos may cure, and may also cause illness or trouble. The same word applies to people who can calculate the ritual calendar "days" for curing or other purposes. Sabios are skilled in securing the help of the saints, and know how to light candles and pray.22 One form of diagnosis is ver la sangre, made by touching the practitioner's right thumb to the pulse in the right wrist of the patient; this is called pulsear. A great many herbs are used in curing. Disputes within the community, at home, or among the authorities are said to be caused by witchcraft. Not all activities require the services of a practitioner. A person may go alone to a river or spring to ask for a favor, using a lighted candle; he may also pay a specialist to go for him. When two people are angry, one goes to the spring and asks that the other will lose his anger. Curing may also involve ingesting ololiuhqui as a divination technique. A 20 The Amuzgo term for Mexico City translates as "floating on water," apparently relating to an older historic knowledge. The few Amuzgo who have heard of "United States" (U.S.A.) place it somewhere in Mexico. Xochistlahuaca is municipio, also villa. Cozoyoapan classifies as comisario municipal. Both pertain to the district of Abasolo, state of Guerrero. Amuzgos, Oaxaca, pertains to Putla, and is municipio. Population figures are 3,362 for Cozoyoapan, 3,600 for Xochistlahuaca. 21 Personnel of the comisariado ejidal may serve civil or religious organizations, but the ejido system has not become incorporated into the series of graded statuses of servicio. Principales in Xochistlahuaca, where Indians do not like Mestizos to have land, rigorously control the comisario ejidal. Ejido organization includes 12 members, two parties of six each. The comisario has five assistants: secretary, treasurer, three others. The Consejo de Vigilancia, with a president and five members, serves as a check on the comisario. Religious organization includes eight fiscales, two mayores, one main cantor and five others, two diputados; mayordomos care for the saints' observances. Civil organization includes president, secretary, treasurer, síndicos ( t w o ) , juez, two sergeants, two commandants, two corporals, two mayores, 27 topiles. 22 The cantor of the church is considered a brujo; although he knows the skills of the sabio, he also knows witchcraft, as well as the use of the "days," considered to involve both witchcraft and religion. Amuzgo terms are tzan t'i, sabio, gente que sabe (curandero), tzan kalwa, gente 'brujo*.

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woman from Cochoapa administers it in various communities, including Cozoyoapan. Fever may indicate that one's tono (animal spirit companion) has died, in which case one may also sicken or die. The curer washes the patient with herbs and gives the patient some of the potion to drink. Amuzgo have tonos but do not know which is associated with one (Guerrero). In Amuzgos the child is exposed near a waterhole, and the parents witness the animal tono.23 Another animal reference deals with curing. "To be sick with . . . animal" means the sick person must "eat" that animal to recover. A brujo prescribes the correct animal, after taking the pulse at wrist, elbow, and shoulder. On the day of the cure, the family gathers around, and the meat is held before the patient, so that the odor from the cooked meat will get into him. Everyone then partakes. The animal prescribed may be domestic or wild, and specific parts are eaten for specific ills. This complex is given the Amuzgo term lejå or kålrå. Enfriar is a common curing technique. This will cut, freeze, or arrest the ill. When someone has done one harm or had one bewitched, one must procure a brujo who can cure. He goes to an arroyo or to the junction of two streams and burns one or more candles.24 He may leave the candle in the sand but more often places it on a banana leaf or on a stick into which holes have been cut for several candles, before sending it floating down the river. The person who caused the trouble will be nearby or pass the place and will be "cooled." Espanto occurs as seco or agua. To cure seco, earth from the corners of a cross traced in the ground is mixed with water and drunk by the patient, all but a small amount. This remainer is poured on the patient's back, which the curer beats with branches. Sand replaces the earth in the agua variety. The Amuzgo see illness not so much as a 430

punishment from the spirits because something was done incorrectly but as a result of witchcraft, that is, to malevolent acts of individuals who have the power or have it done for them. A close-knit structure exists relating administration, religion, and health through the principales, who control the power and knowledge necessary to all three, frequently serving as brujos. The idea of an afterlife is vague, as is the surmise of a journey which may occur on earth. Any animals met en route must be fed, so burial offerings include food. If of Catholic teaching, the soul which reaches Glory is asked by Mary and Jesus the identity of its saint, image, or idol. If the soul had sinned, one of these lead it to Hell. For most, there is no idea of Hell or Glory. Deceased who have married are buried with head to the west. The unmarried and children are placed with head to the east. Coming to earth and "sin" are tangibly related. A child who dies has little sin because he was on earth a short time, and he readily departs. Adults leave less willingly. Crying for the deceased creates more sin for him, as tears hold him on earth. Crying at death and burial are therefore stifled or soundless. Alma (espíritu) and sombra are distin23 Tono and nahual are used interchangeably; thus, esta enfermo de su nahual refers to what they call tono. In Xochistlahuaca it is said that Amuzgo know how to turn into the animal (tiger, serpent, and others) and that Costa Negroes leave children in the open to get tonos, 24 Candles are consumed in great quantities. Aside from their use in curing, they are "offered" in the church according to the prognostication of the calendar of "days." The candles are offered by individuals through a cantor, one reason for conceiving of him as a brujo since brujos use candles. Candles are also used in divination. The flame is watched: if it bends and tends to become circular, the patient will recover; if it darts to one side or flares up suddenly, the patient will worsen or will die. On other "days" candles are offered at the river and in the monte. Principales and the president offer candles in these ways to undo the work of those who work ill against the communities (Zacualpan, Cozoyoapan, Xochistlahuaca).

AMUZGO

guished. One alma is in the church, so that everyone can go to pray. It is one's own and everyone's, and it is the intermediary between man and God. One's personal alma leaves the body immediately at death. One's sombra leaves after nine days, accompanying the cross.25 Until burial, the deceased can hear, and he is told of the people who have come to visit and things they bring. If all kin have not given something to his household by the end of nine days, the sombra refuses to depart because the deceased has suffered an espanto. Burning candles, praying, and placing a new cross where he died will retrieve the sombra. Aside from food, burial offerings include objects personally associated with the individual. On the road to the burial ground, the procession, led by cantores, stops at a spring. Here the cantor tells the deceased to bid farewell to the water: "this is not a thing of man, so it must be like a god." He also asks permission of the water to cross, and he requests the sombra to pass over; it does not. At the entrance to the burial ground there is prayer, and the cantor requests the body to permit interment. Spirits of the deceased return for Todos Santos in late October. Dances take place to amuse them, feasting is enjoyed, and mayordomos for the coming year are designated at the end of the period, November 1 and 2. AESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL PATTERNS

Spare time means visiting, exchange of news and gossip. Visiting is not done as couples. 25 There are two crosses. One is placed by the cantor where the person died. It is made of sand gathered by a member of the household. The sand cross is placed in the grave, the casket put atop it. On a table where the body lay a wooden cross rests. Eight days after the burial the wooden cross is borne to the cemetery by the cantor and others to be placed, along with many flowers, at the head of the grave. Not everyone does this, however, most graves bearing a simple stone. This complex is known as levantar la sombra or levantar la cruz.

FIG. 5—AMUZGO FAMILY IN ZACUALPAN. (Photographed by Irmgard W. Johnson, 1958.)

Weaving and pottery making seem tasks which many women enjoy. Children play or observe or day-dream when not on assigned work. Considerable extramarital sex relations occur, frequently in the daytime when the husband is absent, in the fields or under trees. To some extent, virginity in females is enjoined by parents. Personal cleanliness dictates bathing and hairwashing several times weekly. People do not step into springs, but scoop out water to throw on the body. Soap is used but no towel. Houses are swept many times a day. Dancing and music are limited primarily to fiestas. Women who have been separated from their husbands appear to dance during a fiesta. Partners do not touch while dancing. 431

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Sundays, men visit with family, make repairs, or go hunting. Hunting requires a previous 24-hour sexual abstinence. Cosmetics are not used. Women's ornaments are earrings and necklace, usually plastic. Politeness, decorum, formality, and respect are desirable and observed, even when intoxicated. Dramatic forms characterize the speeches of go-betweens or of principales during ritual occasions. Ritual dances abound, rehearsed under the direction of a man who knows the text and dance form. Themes represent the Spanish conquest or animals, such as the Macho Mula. The dramatic dances last for six or eight hours and are enacted with pomp and dignity. During rehearsals, mayordomos must pay for feeding the participants. Some of the danzas are for humor, satirizing Lent, Mestizos, Negros, and priests, and people who move about with loaded burros. Of the longer, epic danzas some are: Doce Pares, Danza de la Conquista, Gachupines and Apaches, Moros y Cristianos. Of the others, the Charreos for Santiago, the Pan de Panela for increase, the Tigre mainly for amusement, and the satiric Macho Mula, Macho Blanco, and El Toro are the principal ones. All are apparently tied to the Catholic ritual calendar. Characteristic of Amuzgo are cuentos (stories) and adivinanzas. The stories are amusing, apocryphal, moralistic. Many deal with animal tales. A separate class deals with such things as origin of the sun and moon, in which two children, destined to be eaten by a serpent in return for providing the light of day, remove the eyes of the serpent. One eye becomes the sun (male), the other the moon (female). Adivinanzas are a form of riddle. Thus, "What does the wind do when it does not blow?" Answers are expected to be imaginative, although a few are standard. The use of drugs seems limited to divina432

tion. One recognized is Rivea corymbosa. Cigars are smoked by men and women but not as chain-smoking. Fiestas are frequent. They celebrate rites of passage such as death and marriage, and community observances for the saints. They are marked by food, drink, tobacco, fireworks, and music. LIFE CYCLE

At childbirth assistance for the woman comes from her husband and a comadrona or partera. The comadrona stands in front of the woman, who is seated on a bench. If birth is difficult, the woman pulls on ropes tied to the beams above. A concoction of ruda and aguardiente is given her by the partera to warm her and reduce the pain. Her abdomen is rubbed with rose oil. If birth continues difficult, the husband wraps his shirt around her to give her added (male) strength. If the child has trouble emerging, the implements of a man are placed to the woman's right, those of a woman to her left; the child is then told to come out, all is in readiness. The person behind pushes close against the woman, "so the child will not come out behind." Three days after birth, mother and child are washed in water in which orange-tree leaves had been boiled. After the birth, the woman dresses in her best huipil. Underneath, a white cotton cloth with no design is tied about her waist and abdomen for three months, to prevent bilis from rising and killing her.26 Afterbirth and umbilical cord are wrapped in a leaf or cloth and allowed to float away on the river, so that "the womb will cool off" and she will not soon again be pregnant. The afterbirth may be wrapped in a leaf and buried near the house; if not, the "line will be lost." If a child is born lacking a finger or toe, 26 This is also phrased to indicate protection for the heart from an infection coming from the womb and belly. After three months she is considered "clean."

AMUZGO

it is because the moon ate it (there was an eclipse), even though there was no eclipse.27 At baptism, the padrino brings the child its first clothes and establishes the first nonkin relationship. After a few years of play and learning, the child assumes near-adult responsibilities, early marriage, and work in the fields. Child-rearing is permissive, no attempt being made to provide experiences or knowledge different from others. Formal schooling is absent in many settlements, but it is increasingly available. Mandatory military training occurs once weekly for a year at age 18. Servicio commences about the same time. Death of adults is marked by music and food for the survivors and guests, marital status determining the type of music. When a child dies, dancing is added to the music. Since the child has little "sin," his trip is swift and Hell rapidly burns off the small amount. The adult road is longer; if he does not feed the animals en route, they will not let him pass. ANNUAL CYCLE

Aside from the activities necessary for subsistence, important times are marked by ceremonies. The civil officials assume office anew each year, the comisariado ejidal every three years. Cofradía installation is annual. Observance of the saints requires a con-

tinuing outlay of energy, money, and participation. This is conducted by mayordomos, ranked according to the importance of the cofradía they undertake, since there are major and minor ones. For the important ones, more than one mayordomo is chosen, and the wealth expended is considerable (Xochistlahuaca). There, for the mayordomía grande of San Miguel (September 29) are two mayordomos; each spends 2000 pesos, nearly two years' wage work. Small ones require half that amount. For a man to comply with the expectations of servicio, he must observe at least two small and two large mayordomías. In Amuzgos the major mayordomia is San Pedro; in Cozoyoapan, San Sebastian, Santiago, and Guadalupe. Others in Xochistlahuaca, although minor, are many: Santa Ana, Virgen del Rosario, Las Animas, San Jose, Dolores, Santa Cruz, El Divino Rostro, La Preciosa Sangre. Aside from the religious calendar, the calendar of "days" times activities. Some days are propitious for travel and some are not; others are good for planting. Some days are considered dangerous, some are best for lighting candles, some are essentially neutral. 27 An eclipse of the moon or sun brings a medley of beating on drums and pots. This is an attempt to help the sun or moon in its fight against the earth.

REFERENCES Cowan, G. M., 1947 Inst. Nacional Indigenista (Mexico), 1950 Orozco y Berra, 1880 Reyes, A. de los, 1593

433

21. The Cuícatec

ROBERTO J,

o

the land of the Cuicatec falls away abruptly to the boundary-marking Rio Santo Domingo. To the east the mountainous region of "Seven Peaks" separates it from the Chinantec region (see fig. 1). Small tributaries that start in the mountain range divide the sierra by deep natural canyons. In the central part rise the highest hills: the Cerro de las Brujas, the sacred Cerro Cheve, the Volcan Negro (which is not a volcano), and the highest, the Cerro Amarillo, with an altitude of about 3,785 m. The climate of the region is determined by its altitude and geographical position, between the Pacific slope and the Gulf. Conditions here are similar to those in the Chinantec region of Yolox, which is also situated in the semiarid part of the southern slope of the mountains, as are the Cuicatec villages of Concepcion, Santa Maria, etc. Toward the Gulf slope, the climate is more humid, though less so than in the neighboring Chinantec villages. Cold air currents from the Gulf here meet warm humid winds, producing abundant rainfall. From Cuicatlan upward cacti grow luxuN THREE SIDES

434

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riantly to an elevation of 1390 m., which marks the beginning of pine and evergreen oaks. At the summit, 2280 m., this forest receives the rainfall condensed from the clouds of the humid valley of Rio Santo Domingo and promotes evergreen oaks covered with vines, moss, and orchids. Little is known of the ancient history of the Cuicatec. Only Elfego Adán (1922) describes the conditions of Cuicatlan, already dominated by the Aztec. It is almost certain that even at the time of the Conquest, this group extended to the south and outside the bend of the Rio Santo Domingo. Frederick Starr, who saw only the village of Concepcion Papalo, tells us very little as he found the people uninteresting and not very amiable. I recently visited the region and obtained data which constitute the basis of the present article. Linguistic studies have been made by Belmar, Mechling, Jaime de Angulo and L. S. Freeland, Doris Needham, and Marjorie Davis. The name of the Cuicatec is undoubtedly derived from the Nahuatl word Cuicatlan ('place of song'). According to the census of 1950, there

FIG. 1 — G E O G R A P H I C A L DISTRIBUTION OF THE CUICATEC. Cuicatec place names are in capital letters.

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 2 — C U I C A T E C MAIN, Starr, 1899b, pl. 136.)

PAPALO.

(From

were 8,771 Cuicatec-speaking people. Although the Cuicatec region is well defined topographically, it is not linguistically uniform. There are real linguistic islands, such as the Mazatec of Chiquihuitlan; the Mixtec in five villages and hamlets, among them Santa Ana, Cuyamecalco, Buenos Aires, and San Miguel Santa Flor; and the Chinantec of Zautla, Sochiapan, and Quetzalapa. Physically the Cuicatec resemble the Mazatec rather than the Chinantec, who are shorter (fig. 2). SUBSISTENCE PATTERNS AND FOOD HABITS

The staple crops of the region are corn, beans, and squash, supplemented with chiles. Tubers such as sweetpotatoes are secondary. Potatoes are planted only in two Papalos villages. Terracing and irrigation are practiced in Concepcion, San Andres Papalo, and Teponaxtla. 436

For storage, ears of corn are strung together and put away in the tapanco of the house. Some villages build granaries {cuezcomates) in the cornfields. Gathering is limited to tepeplotes, quintoniles, and medicinal herbs. Nuts are harvested in Santa Maria Papalo. The dry lands abound in maguey which is exploited for pulque. Bananas are scarce, and there is no tobacco. San Pedro Coyultepec is the only village where wheat is grown. A second harvest (tonamil, 'winter') is usual wherever climate and soil permit. In Teponaxtla, before planting, the owner (on the ritualist's advice) makes a hole in any part of the field and drops in some tepache (a drink made of pulque, water, pineapple, and cloves), and turkey blood. Afterwards, all participants eat at the owner's house. On the day of planting, tepache and turkey blood are sprinkled on the prepared seed, and offerings of flor de muerto are left. The owner returns to the highest part of the cornfield to sprinkle more tepache and turkey blood. In Santa Maria Papalo on the day of planting the Indians eat chicken or turkey in the cornfield and bury the bones in the center of the field. On September 14, at the fiesta of green corn, they leave on the church altar some 15 ears of green corn and twin ears with their leaves. It is said that a raven brought corn to the world. At one time there was a famine in the village, and for food the Indians took grains of corn tied with ixtle and dropped them down their throats to "deceive the stomach." In San Andres Teotilalpan they say that twin ears of corn have "power." The priest blesses them. When there is drought, San Antonio is taken out to the fields to make rain; if he fails, he is punished. In Tlalixtac a wooden cross decorated with flowers is placed in the cornfield. The Indians ask permission of Señor del Cerro Cheve to cut the ears of green com. Throughout the region the staple food is corn, in the form of tortillas, totopos, tama-

FIG. 3 — C U I C A T E C HOUSE GROUP, PAPALO. (From Starr, 1899b, pl. 133.)

les with meat of fowl, tamalitos with beans, atole, chile-atole, sour atole, and pozole. Sometimes a banana-dough is mixed for tortillas. Boiled beans, coffee, and sometimes bread supplement the two or three daily meals. Foods eaten mainly at fiestas or seasonally include beef, pork, poultry, fish, snails, shrimp, black mole (Holy Week) or white mole (at wakes), rice, bread, manioc, and tepejilotes. Old food patterns are revealed in the consumption of locusts (Concepción), worms and toasted ants, tobacco ashes (Papalos). The people of San Andres occasionally eat river snails, large white worms found in oak wood, and caldo de playa. The division of foods into "hot" and "cold" categories is not a uniformly held therapeutic concept. In some villages puma

and jaguar meat are eaten to obtain strength. Besides the modern fireplace, the classic three stones are used for the comal, except in Santa Maria, where a thick log replaces one of the stones. The tortillas are slapped with the open hand or formed over green leaves. In unacculturated families the woman kneels on the floor and grinds on the three-legged metate. Nonalcoholic beverages include coffee, chocolate, and the atoles previously mentioned. It is strange that there is no popo, foaming chocolate, as seen in neighboring regions. Tepache made from sugarcane is the most common of the fermented drinks. At fiestas in Concepcion, it is brought in goat-hides and poured into a large jar; from there it is 437

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ladled into bowls and served to guests in small gourd cups. Tepache of bee-honey is made in San Andres; sometimes sharp seasoning and salt are added, or bark of palo timbre, which makes it highly intoxicating. Pulque, with or without tepache, is confined to the high country. Excessive consumption of rum is never lacking on any festive occasion. SETTLEMENT PATTERNS

FIG. 4 — P L O W AND OXEN, SANTA MARIA PÁPALO

Most settlements are situated on hillsides, sometimes on a narrow ridge, seldom in a valley (fig. 3). The location of Cuicatec villages appears to have been established some time ago. The predominant pattern is the semicongregated village, fluctuating between the almost-congregated type (Tlalixtac) and the semicongregated kind with small vegetable gardens and cornfields within the area. The number of satellite hamlets is relatively small, and so is the number of barrios. San Andres has three barrios; Chiquihuitlan was formed by merging a Cuicatec barrio with Mazatecan barrios. Only Concepcion and Reyes Papalo are divided into barrios. In contrast with other groups, their politicalreligious function is of little importance. TECHNOLOGY

FIG. 5—WEEDING TOOLS, a, Hand b, Hoe. c, Billhook.

438

spade.

The planting stick, with or without a metal point, is the universal farming implement. Where the terrain permits, plow and oxen turn the soil (fig. 4), less often the shovel. Weeding is done by hand spade (tarpala), hoe (huataca), and the billhook (fig. 5). House construction differs little from that of the Mazatec; they are smaller and lack the projecting roof ridge characteristic of Huautla houses (fig. 6). The roofs, almost all with four slopes, are made of thatch, cane leaf, and less frequently of palm. Tile is used for one slope only (Reyes), and exceptionally shingles (San Lorenzo). Walls are of sticks or of reed grass, but occasionally are two rows of poles tied to horizontal sticks inside and outside, leaving a space

CUICATEC

between the vertical poles (fig. 7). This space is filled with stone slabs the size of a hand. Adobe plaster is applied inside and outside. The rural people sleep on mats, although now beds, chairs, and stools are appearing (fig. 8). Cradles woven of reed (fig. 9) or made from wooden boxes with mecate bottoms are often seen. A wheel made of poles hangs from the roof. The kitchen is usually inside the house. In the past, the Indians used to light the fire with a cotton wick, flint stone, and an iron bar. Sometimes they use ocote splinters for lighting the house. Granaries (cuezcomates) built on stakes and roofed with palm are very characteristic. Pigpens are roofed with bark; chicken coops are in the shape of tapesco on forked poles. The sweat bath is not found in the region. The only industry of any importance is pottery making. In San Lorenzo, San Andres, and especially Reyes Papalo, 70 per cent of the families do this work, producing pots, pans, pitchers, and comales which are sold regionally. The technique of kneading the bottom and coiling the rest of the shape is done by women only (fig. 10). In Concepcion and San Lorenzo people make split baskets, ropes and nets of ixtle, mats and especially tumplines. The textile industry had already deteriorated 25 years ago. At that time they still made napkins and belts of silk. In Concepcion and San Lorenzo they spun cotton, whipping it over a hide-skin cushion and forming it in a ball. They had mulberry worms for producing silk. Manufacture of woolen sarapes is still important in Santa Maria, where they formerly spun with wooden spindle whorls; now they use a cylindrical oak spindle whorl. The breeding of cochineal was common during the colonial period in Concepcion and Tlalixtac. Leaves are still used to dye belts and rebozos. In Teotilalpan they make beautiful nap-

FIG. 6—CUICATEC HOUSE, SANTA MARIA PÁPALO

kins which are much in demand in the region. In Santa Maria Papalo the women wear woolen petticoats of brilliant colors and sashes instead of the huipil. Here they weave sarapes on looms like those for weaving huipiles (fig. 11), but larger. The huipil, almost universal among the Mazatec and Chinantec, is now confined to the villages of Tlalixtac (here without decoration), Santa Cruz Teutila, and San Andres Teotilalpan where a few women wear white huipiles, with scanty red decoration woven in, over the "Chiapaneco" petticoats. At present most women's clothes are made of purchased material. The rebozo is universal. The cotton used in the making of huipiles is imported from Usila. The decorative designs, mainly geometric, are similar to those of the Chinantec villages (but not to Mazatec ), differing only in the design around the neck, which is in the shape of a star, with petal-like projections on the points of the star (fig. 13). Men's clothing (fig. 12) is made of cotton in the rural areas. Sometimes red silk belts are worn. The use of citified suits is increasing. 439

FIG. 7 — H O U S E FRAMING, SAN ANDRES TEOTILALPAN. T, Primary A-frames. P, Wind braces.

CUICATEC

Huaraches are generally worn. In the past the huaraches in Concepcion were of untanned hide, the hair still on the sole and on the thongs. The women of Reyes Papalo wear necklaces made of red seed from the plant called colorín. ECONOMY

Apart from farming for local consumption, market production of coffee is important in the region of San Andres and the Teutilas, sugarcane in Chiquihuitlan. Livestock breeding is limited mainly to pigs, and to some cattle (including mules) for their use in agricultural work. There is plenty of poultry, especially turkeys. In Concepcion and San Lorenzo Papalo there are Cattle of the Saint. In one of the hamlets of the second village silk and cotton industry flourished. Hunting has lost much of its importance, and now exists only in dense forests. The blowgun and the bow and arrow are now only toys. Ropes and snares are used mostly for taking dangerous animals, guns and dogs for hunting. Sometimes (Concepcion Papalo) there is a communal hunt by five or six people, who divide the game into equal shares. Belief in the effectiveness of the bezoar stone persists, along with belief in marking bullets with a cross for animals which have an "owner." Folklore marks unlucky and forbidden places where it is impossible to kill animals. When a man kills a fox or a sparrow hawk, he carries the dead animal through the village hanging from a stick, and asks for alms. In the past in Santa Maria Papalo, it was customary for a hunter who had killed an animal to climb a hill and offer a gift to the "Señor del Cerro." At home, he would throw a glass of aguardiente in the direction of the hill. Fishing (mostly for crustaceans) in the distant rivers is of little value. There are no roads for motor vehicles in the Cuicatec region. The only way to reach

FIG. 8 — L O W WOODEN SEAT

FIG. 9 — R A T T A N CRADLE

the mountain villages is by mule trails, which are relatively passable. To cross rivers during the rainy season, the Indians still use (between Chiquihuitlan and Quetzalapa) suspension bridges, called hamacas (hammocks), made of sticks and vines. They support people but not pack animals. People often go to the administrative center of Cuicatlan and to the important markets of Chiquihuitlan, Cuyamecalco, and Teutila. Cuicatlan has railroad links with 441

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Oaxaca, Tehuacan, and the capital. There is also air service between Tehuacan and Chiquihuitlan-Teutila. Much of the coffee is shipped this way. A permanent market (tianguis) is held only in Chiquihuitlan (Mazatec) and in Cuyamecalco (Mixtec). In the former village one market day operates on a barter basis, the next day on a money basis. Sometimes firewood or coffee is exchanged for corn or other goods. Men use the tumpline for transport, strapping it across the forehead or chest; women strap it only on the forehead. SOCIO-POLITICAL ORGANIZATION

FIG. 10—PREPARING THE CLAY FOR POTTERY, REYES PAPALO

All the villages are under the control of an ayuntamiento. The influence of the village elders is strong in such conservative villages as Tlatixtac and Tlacoatzintepec. The new officials receive their staffs of office in Cuicatlan. These staffs, which have a cross, are also used at weddings and lawsuits. Upon returning, the new officials call the elders and build an arbor. They carry baskets with flowers that have three leaves

FIG. 1 1 — W E A V I N G A HUIPIL, SAN ANDRES TEOTILALPAN

442

CUICATEC

sewed to a twig; in the center of this bunch they put an aromatic flower (orchid) to show respect for the new officials. They leave flowers in the church, for God and for the coming year. Below are some of the rites of aseguramiento ("assurance"), which occur when someone assumes a new oSice. In Teponaxtla, the soothsayers tell the fortunes of the elected oflicials again and again until they are sure that no official is going to have difliculties or is going to die during the term of his office (cargo). Related to this ceremony is the rite of assuring the health of the officials and of the purity of water by offerings to the supernaturals. All the ceremonies include offerings and rites in prominent places around the village. The Sunday of Carnaval the elders are called for a meeting. Then the officials prepare tepache with cacao and chile, and carry it to the hilltops so that the officials will not become sick. The tepache is carried in small tubes of reed grass; the remainder is poured in seven drops followed by another seven drops. Before the tepache is carried to the hills, there is a ceremony in the alcalde's house. A mat is spread on the ground, and on it each official's fortune is forecast in turn, under the guidance of the elders. The divination consists in throwing the following objects in pairs against a row of stones and idols: shells, glass, macaw feathers, ravens, roadrunners, and quail. The largest idol of the row is "he who commands." Each elder has his own circle or row of idols. The elders ask who is going to die in the coming year and about the luck of everyone from the alcalde to the last policeman (topil). To avert death and to aid those whose forecast was bad, they take offerings to various places (this is called "paying the places"). First they give to the waterhole and pray that there should be no lack of water ("sending to pay the waterhole"). For this they use a turkey egg

FIG. 12—NATIVE DRESS, SANTA MARIA PAPALO

and tepache; they leave a live turkey in a cave or a stone on top of the waterhole. On the other two waterholes, they also leave an egg and five or six reed tubes filled with tepache; after adding a flower (cempoalxochitl), they burn copal incense over all. Neither the authorities nor the elders go to these ceremonies, only the policemen (topiles). After this ceremony everyone gets drunk. Another ceremony consists of taking zacatón (tall fodder grass) and a prickly plant, wetting them with water, and throwing them into a well near a cave. They also throw in the rubbish that has been "swept from their houses." In Sochiapan the assumption of office sometimes requires sexual continence. Barrios rotate in selecting officials. In Tlacoatzintepec one is required to give up a mayordomía before occupying any important position in the ayuntamiento. In Teponaxtla the law requires that offenders be punished with 12 lashes (arrobas de azotes, as they call them). When a policeman does not report for duty, the other policemen are punished. Women may also receive from a quarter to one arroba de azotes and may be put in stocks. 443

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FIG. 1 3 — C U I C A T E C HUIPIL DECORATIONS

Division of Labor Cooperative work or "giving a hand" among relatives and friends is customary for the construction of houses, planting, and clearing. It implies reciprocal obligation. The work of women is limited to harvesting of maize and to carrying food to the fields. Communal labor (tequio) exists in all the conservative villages. Shouts, songs, drum, flute, and ringing of bells, separately or together, summon individuals for this kind of work. In most villages private property exists side by side with communal property. In Teotilalpan whoever uses communal land must mark its four corners in order to acquire the right to plant the land. Teutilâ also has a powerful ejido organization, which now owns the formerly extensive coffee plantations. Social Structure Everyone has bilateral descent, and almost all reside patrilocally. Exceptions exist in San Andres. Marriage is generally monogamous but sometimes polygynous. Some cases of sororal polygyny are known in San Andres Teotilalpan and Tlacoatzintepec. In Teponaxtla it is forbidden to marry relatives up to fourth or fifth degree of kinship. A Pérez may marry a Pérez if the two are not of the same lineage. In Concepcion Papalo and Teponaxtla, and in Chiquihuitlan (Mazatec), Eskimotype terms for cousins have been noted. The 444

kinship terminology in San Andres suggests the possibility of the existence of Iroquois terms for cousins; the rest have a cousin terminology of the Hawaiian type. The terms for aunt are lineal among the Cuicatec. The Cuicatec and the village of Chiquihuitlan have a kinship system of the Eskimo type. The more typical system in the OtoMangue group is the Hawaiian. Exogamy between barrios exists in Sochiapan and Quetzalapa. Inheritance The oldest son and daughter may inherit, but the father usually leaves his property to his best behaved sons and daughters. RELIGION

The institution of mayordomía is disappearing from villages in the process of acculturation. Where mayordomos still exist, they are appointed by the local authorities, the council of elders, or the people of the village. In the mayordomías of San Andres the institution of the old "mothers" is very important. There are two groups of women who dance alone. The custom of washing the hands of a compadre is strongest in the Cuicatecan region, including the Mixtec village of Cuyamecalco and San Miguel Santa Flor. The profusion of gifts bears a certain resemblance to the potlatch of the northwest coast. Most superstitions and beliefs focus on the mystical figure called Señor del Cerro (Lord of the Hill) or sá iko, who dwells in the mythical Cerro Cheve above Tlalixtac. In Teotilalpan there are many accounts of sacred caves in the hills where the shamans take their offerings of eggs, food, and otate cane filled with aguardiente, but Tlalixtac seems to be the principal center for witchcraft. The only supernatural being that comes

CUICATEC

close to being a specific deity is the Señor del Cerro Cheve, who dominates the entire Cuicatecan region. The sun, moon, and the heavenly bodies have little importance as propitious objects. Elves (chaneques) and goblins (duendes) —the small gods—live in hills and caves, and feed on tepejilotes. They are a general theme in the folklore in the Gulf lowlands. The spirits of natural forces are related to lightning and thunder, which are favorable for the harvest as carriers or producers of rain, and to the wind and whirlwind, which bring harm. Lightning is often thought to be a weapon of witches, capable of causing destruction from a great distance. The water serpent has quite a distinct role in this constellation of forces, for even though not allied with natural phenomena, he is thought to be the cause of floods as well as an "owner" of animals. The "owners" of animals are less important here than among the Chinantec. Another but less specific Señor del Cerro seems to be the chief of the "owners." The animals' life and health depend on the protection that the "owners" or shepherds give them. Pagan rites are generally led by men (brujos, hechiceros, curanderos) whose power is inborn or is acquired by apprenticeship to others, or, in the case of some Cuicatec, who receive their vocation from the Cerro Cheve. There are small differences in the ritual objects. They consist of a magic or curing bundle. The Cuicatec prefer to use small tubes with drinks. All ceremonies include the sacrifice of fowl; eggs, cacao, feathers, beverages, and copal are used as offerings. Both the Cuicatec and Mazatec make wide use of the pídete (wild tobacco). The caves, summits of hills (Cheve), and sources of water are the preferred sites for the ritual. Usually the ceremonies are accompanied by supplications or prayers (often in a special idiom of the officials) to the supernaturais.

All these beliefs, pagan rites, and magic practices in healing are an integral part of the greater complex of Mesoamerican cultures; its main characteristics are intercession and invocation of the supernaturais by special officials, whose ritual objects and practices differ according to the culture of each region. The concepts of tonalismo and nahualismo appear in all the Cuicatec villages, although in more secretive form. Folklore is the main means of direct allusion to this theme. RECREATIONAL PATTERNS

We note the use of flutes, chirimías de carrizo, small drums, and masks of wood, cardboard, and animal skins (Concepcion). In San Andres a type of zither (salterio) is played. At the carnival in Santa Maria Papalo, the devil wears a jacket, black pants, and a mask with down-curving deer horns. Concepcion has huehuetones who dress like women. Children play with wood puppets and the rezumbador. LIFE CYCLE

In the less conservative villages curers or midwives assist at a birth. In Sochiapan and Teotilalpan it is believed that the midwife alone knows the secret of the "destiny" of the newborn infant, a belief probably related to tonalismo. The umbilical cord is deposited in a high place. In almost all the villages, the request for a bride requires the service of a petitioner (huehuetlaco). In Teotilalpan it is very important that the parents of the groom or the mother of the bride initiate negotiations. The service of the groom exists in Reyes Papalo and Tlalixtac. It is almost universal custom to hold a wake and celebrate a novena for adults, a devotion of six or fewer days for young children. There are marked differences in burial offerings. In Tlalixtac these include 445

ETHNOLOGY

various grains, seven in number. In Papalos clothing and work tools are buried. When curers die in Tlalixtac, their souls go to Cerro Cheve. Offerings in the tomb include a pouch with seven corn seeds, seven beans, seven grains of cacao, and a little chía in a small bowl. This pouch is hung around the neck of a man, or put in a little basket beside a woman. The tombs face the west (Cerro Cheve). Toys are also put in the grave. In Santa Cruz Teutila the tools for digging the grave are purified. Occasionally we find the myth of the spirit or soul journeying into another world on a dog across a river or sea. In many Cuicatec villages there is an exceedingly mournful ceremony called "carrying the cross of the dead." After burial, a few friends (sometimes called "compadres of the Cross") make a cross of sand on the ground where the body lay. Over this they draw delicate figures in various colors, using carbon dust, lime, and red-brick powder. They also bring flowers and a certain number of candles. The last day of the novena the compadres "lift the cross," blow out the candles, and pray. They carry the flowers, colors, and sand at dawn to the cemetery, laying it on the tomb and erecting a permanent cross of wood. This colorful composition is similar to the famous sand paintings of the American Indians of Southwestern United States. Concepts about the causes and origins of illness vary little from village to village. Sickness is usually attributed to such causes as (1) the intrusion of various objects such as stones or animals; (2) the action of bad air, or of air contaminated by contact with dead people; (3) the loss of the soul due to a fright, a fall to the ground, or ghosts seen on the road or near a waterhole—the god of the earth or the water keeps the soul of the sick person; (4) witchcraft of a malevolent witch. 446

Methods of diagnosis vary from region to region; the only common practice is taking the pulse. Throwing grains of corn is done in most villages. In the Cuicatecan region shells are thrown toward a row of stones, pieces of glass, and idols. Drugs which produce hallucinations figure in the diagnosis of illness in northern Oaxaca. The Chinantec use several types of mushrooms; the Cuicatec, different seeds: quiebraplato, piule, or Semilla de la Virgen. Therapeutic methods include the extraction of objects by sucking, exorcism, magic rites, and the use of clothing of the sick person. Beverages, fowl, and especially piciete are most commonly used among the Cuicatec. Recapturing the spirit and invoking the god of the earth or of the water complete the ceremony. For snakebite professional culebreros give the victim herb infusions to drink or expose the wound over hot stones to the steam of herbs and water. This is preceded by sucking. As an example of healing procedure, in San Andres Papalo, the curer uses a rock crystal with a cut where seven colors may be seen; it is called the "Crystal of the Rainbow." He brings an herb called sauco that has seven shoots, moistens it with water, and prepares a kind of aspergillum. He strikes the crystal with the leaves of the sauco and probably uses it to give a cleansing, or purification. He always carries the crystal with him, and says that the Lord of the Rainbow is on the hill. He also uses the idol called Señor San Jerónomo and another called Santa Maria y Pascuala; all these supernatural beings live in the hill of San Andres. With his seven leaves, he prays to the Señor del Cerro for the seven sick ones, the seven of this world, and the seven and 14 drinks so that he may heal the sick. In San Andres it is believed that each person has 14 souls, which are identified with birds, crabs, butterflies, pumas, etc. They live in different parts of the body.

CUICATEC

They may be lost in a fright because the goblins grab them. It is not dangerous to lose the first soul, but danger is grave when only the last one remains. Dreams of butterflies or aquatic animals are really dreams of souls. The spirit is located in the chest. When a person dies his spirit goes to

heaven; his souls, on the other hand, remain to collect his footsteps—however many he has made—and after a time they disappear. That is why butterflies and birds appear when someone dies, and if one kills one of these creatures the soul is lost.

REFERENCES Adán, 1922 Belmar, 1892, 1905c Cerda Silva, 1942 Starr, F., 1899b, 1900-02 Weitlaner, 1961

447

22. The Mixe, Zoque, Popoluca

GEORGE

C

ONTEMPORARY Mixc, Zoque, and Popoluca Indians live in eastern Oaxaca, western Chiapas, and southern Veracruz respectively (fig. 1). Earlier they almost certainly formed a solid geographical block centering on the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, but today they come together at no point. Most Mixe towns and villages (fig. 2) lie in 17 municipios in the Distrito Mixe, created in 1938 by drawing together communities formerly in Villa Alta, Yautepec, Tehuantepec and Juchitan districts. The large town of San Juan Guichicovi, with its satellite "agencies" (smaller dependent settlements) remained in Juchitan District, and by 1956 the San Juan Juquila Mixe had returned to Yautepec District. In addition, in 1961 there were three small Mixe "agencies" in Tehuantepec District, one in Villa Alta District, and four in Yautepec District, Collectively the Mixe communities form a solid block stretching east from just beyond Mitla to the trans-Tehuantepec railway (W. S. Miller, 1961). Beals (1936, p. 7) estimated Mixe population at under 40,000; the 1950 Mexican federal census, 448

M.

FOSTER

obviously incomplete (e.g., Guichicovi is omitted), lists slightly over 40,000; and W. S. Miller (1956, p. 9) believes the figure to be in the 50,000-60,000 range. A figure of 50,000, therefore, is probably not far off. There are at least two, and probably more, nonmutually intelligible Mixe languages, "Western" and "Eastern," but dialect differences have not been worked out. The Mixe territory forms a continuous unit: it harbors no enclaves of speakers of other Indian languages, few Mestizos live within its boundaries, and a surprisingly large percentage of both children and adults still are monolingual. The Mixe country is beautiful but inhospitable. Villages lie at elevations of 13002500 m.; mountain peaks rise over 3000 m. Precipitous gorges separate neighboring communities, making travel time-consuming and dangerous. The major OaxacaTehuantepec colonial highway ran well to the south of the area, as does the modern highway; the rough going and meager resources of this land do not encourage penetration by travelers. Mountainous country severely limits agricultural land, thus con-

FIG. 1 — M I X E - Z O Q U E - P O P O L U C A DISTRIBUTION. Popoluca towns: 1, Sayula. 2, Oluta. 3, Texistepec. Zoque towns; 4, Santa Maria Chimalapa. 5, San Miguel Chimalapa.

tributing to Mixe poverty; even sufficient level ground for small villages is difficult to find. Much of the area is clothed with oak rain or cloud forest, a function of almost continuous heavy clouds and dense fogs. Beals (1945b, p. 6) estimates rainfall at 150-300 cm., depending on location, and even during the Μ arch-April "dry" spell two- and three-day rains are common. Frost is common, snow falls at the higher elevations, dampness is continuous, and the Mixe suffer greatly from exposure. The traditional Zoque area (fig. 3) stretches north from Tuxtla Gutierrez, forming a solid block in northwestern Chiapas which overlaps into a small pocket of Tabasco. Modern settlements, according to the 1950 Mexican federal census, lie in about 26 Chiapas municipios. In addition, Zoque is spoken in the Oaxaca towns of

San Miguel Chimalapa and Santa Maria Chimalapa, east of the trans-Tehuantepec railway, and geographically separated from the other Zoque communities. Zoque population is difficult to estimate because the language, even in the heart of the traditional area, is eroding at a rapid rate. Wonderly (1947a, p. 125) summarizing and interpreting 1930 Mexican federal census figures, found about 15,200 Zoque in Chiapas, 5100 in Oaxaca, and 300 in Tabasco, a total of 20,600. The number probably is lower today. Recent Summer Institute of Linguistics data give the following distributional picture. In the core area of Ocotepec, Tapalapa, and Magdalena (now called Francisco Leon) and adjacent hamlets, Zoque is spoken almost universally, although most men also speak Spanish. The towns of Chapultepec, Copainala, Tapilula, 449

FIG. 2—MIXE TOWNS. Nos. 13, 14 are Zoque towns; 15-19, non-Mixe towns; 48-50, Popoluca towns. 1. San Juan Guichicovi

2. Juquila

3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20.

450

Quetzaltepec Puxmetacan Atitlan Lachixila Metaltepec Nizaviguiti Totontepec Ayutla Tepuxtepec Chichicastepec Santa Maria Chimalapa San Miguel Chimalapa Oaxaca Mitla Yalalag Tehuantepec Villa Alta Mogoñe

21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. 39. 40.

Tutla Mazatlan Acatlan Grande Coatlan Chimaltepec Malacatepec Ixcuintepec Santa Maria Huitepec Camotlan San Pedro Ocotepec Narro Acatlancito Cacalotepec Alotepec Ayacaxtepec Moctum Jayacaxtepec Ocotepec Amatepec Tonaguia

41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59.

Tepitongo Chinantequilla Cotzocon Ozolotepec San Jose de las Flores Jaltepec La Estrella Texistepec Oluta Sayula Tepantlali Tamazulapam Tlahuitoltepec Mixistlan Yocoche Huitepec Tiltepec Jareta Metepec

FIG. 3 — Z O Q U E T O W N S

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13.

Tuxtla Gutierrez Ocotepec Tapalapa Magdalena Chapultenango Copainala Tapilula Tecpatan Ostuacan Nicapa Chicoasen Pantepec San Bartolome

14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26.

27. Solosuchiapa Ocozocuautla 28. Amatan Juarez 29. Ixhuatan Teapa San Cristobal de las Casas 30. Coapilla 31. Pueblo Nuevo Puxcatan 32. Quechula Tapijulapa 33. Jitotol Oxolotan 34. Usumacinta Sunuapa 35. San Fernando Tectuapan 36. Berriozabal Ixtapangajoya 37. Copoya Ixtacomitan Pichucalco Sayula

451

ETHNOLOGY

and Tecpatan form a rough ring around the core area; speech here is largely Spanish, but they are surrounded by smaller settlements still predominantly Zoque. Beyond this ring the towns of Ostuacan, Nicapa, and Chicoasen are predominantly Spanish, but contain considerable numbers of Zoque speakers (communicated in 1961 by Benjamin F. Elson). Wonderly (1949a, p. 1) recognizes five Zoque languages: Central (Copainala), North (Magdalena), Northeast (subdivided into the dialects of Tapalapa, Ocotepec, Pantepec, San Bartolome, and Chapultepec), South (Tuxtla and Ocozocuautla dialects), and West (San Miguel Chimalapa). Santa Maria Chimalapa differs significantly from San Miguel, and probably should be classified separately. Wonderly does not classify the Tabasco communities, which perhaps constitute still another division. Unlike the Mixe, the Zoque gradually are transforming themselves into Mestizos by abandoning their language and adopting the norms of Chiapas non-Indian culture. Zoque territory is less lofty and broken, and hence more accessible than Mixe land. The climate is warmer, often hot, and living conditions are much more attractive. Agricultural land is abundant, towns and villages occupy relatively level areas, and communication between settlements and with the outside world is not difficult. The Pan American Highway, from Ocozocuautla to Tuxtla, cuts through the south edge of traditional Zoque territory, and other roads are beginning to penetrate the entire area. The Popoluca are divided into four linguistic, cultural, and geographic units in southern Veracruz: the villages collectively known as Sierra Popoluca, and the single towns of Oluta, Sayula, and Texistepec. The Sierra Popoluca live in about 25 settlements on the southern and western slopes of the 1500-m.-high extinct volcano San Martin Pajapan, and to the southeast of Lake Catemaco, at elevations of 100-800 m. Soteapan is the largest and best known of 452

these villages. Oluta and Sayula are near Acayucan, several kilometers northwest of the trans-Tehuantepec railway, and Texistepec lies 10 km. to the southeast, on the other side of the railway. In 1941 I estimated Sierra Popoluca population at 10,000 (Foster, 1943, p. 535); in 1961 Elson estimated the figure at 15,000 (communicated). The Mexican federal census of 1950 gave Oluta a population of 2400, of whom relatively few still speak Popoluca; Sayula had 3,234, of whom perhaps half speak Popoluca; and Texistepec had 2,814, a majority of whom probably speak the language. Most Sierra Popoluca women, and many men, are essentially monolingual; almost all Popoluca-speakers in the three lowland towns are bilingual. The four languages are very different. That of Texistepec, for example, is closer to Zoque than to that of Oluta, less than two hours' walk away, which in turn is closer to Mixe. The Sierra Popoluca country is lush and green, the climate is temperate to hot, soils are rich, and water is abundant. Oak and pine forests grow at the higher elevations; savanna land, perhaps man-made from burning, occurs at lower levels. Many villages stand roughly at the point where savanna gives way to forest. Rains fall throughout the year, but during the MarchMay "dry" season they are less frequent, and daytime temperatures in Soteapan, at 500 m., rise above 30°C. Winter northers (nortes) blowing off the nearby Gulf of Mexico bring damp, disagreeable weather with night temperatures as low as 5°C. Oluta, Sayula, and Texistepec are at near sea level, hot the year around, lacking in adequate water, dusty in the spring dry season, surrounded by open savanna country, and much less attractive both to Popoluca and to ethnologists. The Mixe-Zoque-Popoluca family also includes Tapachulteca (probably now extinct) near Tapachula, Chiapas, on the Guatemala border (W. Lehmann, 1920, 2: 780-87; C. Sapper, 1927; González Casa-

FIG. 4 - M I X E WOMEN, COATLAN. (From F. Starr, 1899b, pl. 95.)

nova, 1927). References to this language as Tapachulteca I and Tapachulteca II are misleading; only one language is involved. Radin's classification of Huave with Mixe (Radin, 1916) was accepted uncritically for many years. On the basis of present knowledge, this presumed relationship is not substantiated. The original homeland of the MixeZoque-Popoluca is uncertain, but they have been in their approximate locations for many centuries (Jiménez Moreno, 1942a, pp. 121). Although it is tempting to associate their ancestors with Olmec culture, it is unlikely that such a hypothesis ever can be verified. In preconquest times the three peoples probably formed a solid block of

related languages and culture (Mendizábal and Jiménez Moreno, 1937). Popoluca continuity was broken by Nahua-speaking invaders, and the Zapotec separated Mixe from Zoque except, perhaps, for the few kilometers' distance between Guichicovi and the Chimalapas. The final breaking of contacts was in part the result of the conquest. The Oaxaca Zoque Chimalapas, for example, today are well isolated from the Chiapas Zoque, but as late as 1586 a string of Oaxaca Zoque towns near the Pacific coast—Ixhuatan, Tapantepec, Zanatepec, and Niltepec—brought them close to the main body of Zoque-speakers, which at that time extended west to Cintalapa, Chiapas (Ciudad Real, 1875, 1: 290-92; 482-91, 453

FIG. 5 — Z O Q U E INDIAN OF TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, CHIAPAS. (Photographed by Donald Cordry, 1940.)

summarized in Roys, 1932). In the same year a Zoquean tongue, apparently somewhat Mayanized, was reported in a string of towns in the province of Soconusco, stretching along the Chiapas Pacific coast from Oaxaca into Guatemala (ibid., pp. 292-303). Perhaps the Tapachulteca idioms (above) are remnants of this language. Similarly, as late as 1599, towns in the Ahualulcos, the Gulf coast region east of the Rio Coatzacoalcos, beyond the Tonala River, are reported as having bilingual Mexicano-Popoluca men and monolingual Popoluca women (Solis, 1945). The principal towns, in which inhabitants of smaller villages were to be "congregated," were Mecatepeque and Tecuaminuacan. At the end of the 17th century or the beginning of the 18th, because of attacks by English pirates, these towns were relocated inland near the Chiapas border, contiguous with the Zoque area (Orozco y Berra, 1864, p. 165). The variant of Popoluca spoken is 454

unknown, but the evidence makes clear that the Zoque and Popoluca have been geographically closer in historic times than at present. Perhaps the aboriginal MixePopoluca homes were lower and closer to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec than at present, and hence closer to their Zoque cousins. Reals (1945b, pp. 8, 125) believes Mixe culture, which he feels is ill adapted to its present cold environment, was evolved in the lowland humid tropics north and east of present location, which would put them in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. And there are hints that the Sierra Popoluca formerly lived at lower elevations. For example, they believe that a cacao tree stands at the entrance to the afterworld and that a departed soul can pass only if the survivors drink a chocolate toast (Foster, 1945, p. 186). Yet cacao grows only at elevations lower than those of most modern settlements, suggesting the possibility that current death beliefs and practices may survive

M I X E , ZOQUE, AND POPOLUCA

from a period when the Popoluca lived where cacao trees were common. Postconquest history is known fairly well for the Mixe-Zoque but scarcely at all for the Popoluca. The first two groups have had significant contact with Spanish-Mexican culture almost from the time of the conquest, whereas the most important contacts of the latter group date only from the early years of the 20th century. The Zoque are by far the most acculturated of the three peoples, to the point where many are losing their indigenous identity; the Mixe represent an intermediate stage of acculturation; the Popoluca, except for the three towns near the highway and railway, are nearest the aboriginal level. The Mixe territory, in spite of its forbidding nature, early attracted the Spaniards, particularly priests seeking souls. By the end of the 16th century the Dominican Province of Oaxaca included four vicarías in the region, in Totontepec, Juquila, Quetzaltepec, and Tepuxtepec, in addition to which the curate of Tamazulapan was administered directly from Mexico City (Gillow, 1889, App., 2, p. 23). By 1748 there were one or more priests in Puxmecatan, Atitlan, Ayutla, Chichicastepec, and Guichicovi, and outlying towns were visited more or less regularly in addition (VillaSeñor, 1746-48, 2: 186, 199-201). In 1813 Atitlan, Ayutla, Chichicastepec, Metaltepec, and Juquila had priests (Navarro y Noriega, 1943, pp. 29-32). In spite of this continuous contact, the area of Mixe speech has remained remarkably constant. The best sources for the location of Mixe towns during the past century are Orozco y Berra (1864, pp. 176-77), Belmar (1902a, pp. xvxvi), Bauer-Thoma (1916), Beals (1945b, pp. 130-31), and the 1950 Mexico federal census. The Zoque, lying on the main overland route between Mexico and Guatemala, were reduced to submission less than 10 years after the conquest of Mexico. Their country was less lofty and broken than that

of the Mixe and it was more attractive to Europeans for living and exploitation. Moreover, the Zoque impressed the Spaniards as more rational and less brutish than the Mixe. Conversion was early undertaken by the Dominicans, whose main center was Tecpatan (Wonderly, 1951-52, p. 1), and later they built churches and convents in other towns, including Tuxtla, where Jesuits already had erected the main church (Cordry and Cordry, 1941, p. 14). The principal sources on Zoque population distributions during the past century are E. Pineda (1845, pp. 62-78), Orozco y Berra (1864, pp. 163, 170-71), F. Pimentel (1875, pp. 23-31) for the Tabasco towns, Paniagua (1876, pp. 54-92), Rabasa (1895, pp. 14-18, 49-50), and the subsequent Mexican censuses. (Since this article was written, Norman D. Thomas has completed a year of research in Rayon. His doctoral dissertation [Thomas, 1967] adds greatly to our knowledge of Zoque social, religious, and ceremonial organization.) In contrast to the Mixe and Zoque, well known from the 16th century, the Popoluca are perhaps the most overlooked of all Mexican Indians. The language was noted but not localized in 1580 in a report that mentioned the major Popoluca towns: Xoteapa (Soteapan), Otutla (Oluta), Zayoltepeque (Zayula), and Texistepeque (Cangas y Quiñones, 1928, app. p. 177); Solis (1945) speaks of the Ahualulcos Popoluca in 1599 but does not mention the modern groups: Villa-Señor (1746-48, 1: 366-367) mentions Soteapan (as Xocoteapa), the chief Sierra Popoluca town, but does not identify it as such. Navarro y Noriega (1943, p. 32) lists Soteapan as a curacy in 1813, so sometime previous to this date the existence of the Sierra Popoluca was known to the Archbishopric of Oaxaca. An account of 1831 speaks of a curate "provisionally administered" through Jaltipan in the isthmus, a primary school, and an ayuntamiento constitucional in Soteapan, whose population was given as 1,665, so the rudiments of 455

FIG. 6 — Z O Q U E GIRL, FOURTEEN YEARS OLD, FROM TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, CHIAPAS. (Photographed by Donald Cordry, 1940.)

civilization were penetrating the mountains (J. M. Iglesias, 1831, p. 31). The same source gives a population of 2,132 to Tejistepeque (p. 24), of 1,206 to San Andres Sayultepeque (Sayula) (p. 24), and of 659 to Oluta (p. 27). Andrés Iglesias' account (1856, 3: 433-38) tells many interesting things, including the fact that although Soteapan had a church, the priest was rarely in residence; he mentions no school. He also briefly and correctly notes Popoluca in Oluta and Texistepec. Barnard (1852, p. 219) recorded Popoluca speech in Texistepec, and reported that in villages in the vicinity of the seacoast near San Martin volcano a language different from those of the isthmus (i.e., Popoluca) was spoken. Curiously, although the work in which Andrés Iglesias' articles appeared was edited by Orozco y Berra, the latter completely disregarded the information, and 456

in his great Geografía of 1864 made no mention whatsoever of the Popoluca and showed the entire north end of the isthmus as Aztec-speaking. Not until the beginning of the 20th century, with the dislocations resulting from the Mexican Revolution, was there significant Sierra Popoluca contact with adjacent non-Popoluca areas; in some ways even this produced counter-acculturative trends, e.g., bows and arrows returned to general use because guns no longer could be obtained. Except for Zoque and Popoluca linguistics, the Mixe-Zoque-Popoluca are relatively poorly described. Wonderly's annotated bibliography (1951-52, pp. 4-9), although incomplete, is a useful starting point for research. The sequence of anthropological investigations in the three groups is as follows: Mixe. Starr, in the late 19th century, was

MIXE, ZOQUE, AND POPOLUCA

the first ethnographer to visit the area (1900, pp. 52-63; 1908, pp. 22-38, 142-68), but his data are sketchy. Earlier Bishop Gillow (1889, pp. 209-12) recorded interesting data on pagan sacrifices. Belmar (1920a, pp. iii-xvi), although interested primarily in language, gives a little ethnographic information. Radin worked with Mixe informants in the second decade of this century, and in addition to linguistic work he published (with Espinosa, 1917) 31 stories; later Radin published post-Christian kinship terms taken from old confessionals (1931). Schmieder (1930b) briefly visited some of the western Mixe in 1929, but the first major modern ethnographic work is that of Reals (1936, 1941, 1945b), who spent three months with the western Mixe in 1933. W. S. Miller has lived among the Mixe by far the longest of any scholar, a total of 32 months between 1936 and 1951. Subsequently he has worked annually with Mixe informants in Mitla. Although he is interested particularly in linguistics, his splendid folklore volume (1956), with an introduction by Villa Rojas (most but not all of which is based on Reals), contains much purely ethnographic data. The publications of Cerda Silva (1940a,b) and Rasauri (1940a, pp. 403-32) may also be noted. Zoque. Starr was also the first ethnographer to write on the Zoque (1902b, pp. 61-66; 1908, pp. 351-59). Wonderly's work, although primarily linguistic, includes ethnographic data, particularly texts of tales (1946; 1947b; 1949b; 1951-52, pp. 189202). The Cordrys' paper (1941) on costume and weaving is the closest approach to a Zoque monograph. The briefer contributions of Cerda Silva (1940a,b), Rasauri (1940b, pp. 387-402), Harrison (1952), and J. Pimentel (1954, 1957) offer limited data. Popoluca. The first fragmentary Popoluca vocabulary, probably from Oluta, was published by Rerendt (1873). Calderón (1908) much later published word lists definitely

FIG. 7 — O L D ZOQUE WEAVER IN HER HOUSE, TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, CHIAPAS. (Photographed by Donald Cordry, 1940.)

establishing the differences between Oluta, Sayula, and Texistepec; W. Lehmann (1928) worked with the same groups for three weeks in 1926, after first publishing on the basis of documentary work and travel between 1907 and 1909 in Mexico and Central America (1920, 2: 769-80). Blom and LaFarge spent a short time among the Sierra Popoluca in 1925 (192627, pp. 29-65), Foster surveyed part of the area during two weeks in 1940 (1940) and returned to Soteapan for three months the following year (1942a, 1942b, 1943, 1945, 1949, 1951). Elson began linguistic work in Ocotal Chico a couple of years later, and his researches over a period of years have resulted in valuable ethnographic and 457

FIG. 8—POPOLUCA MILPA. Leaving logs in the field is typical of slash-and-burn agriculture. (Photographed in 1941.)

folkloric data (e.g., 1947, 1948). Except for Guiteras Holmes' study of Sayula (1952), based on about three months' work from 1949 to 1952, isthmus Popoluca cultures are unknown. To summarize, substantial amounts of modern linguistic work have been done on all three groups (but not on all languages within groups), folklore collections are among the best in all Mexico, the postconquest and modern geographical distributions are quite well known, basic economy and material culture are reasonably well described (except for the Zoque), and the native religious beliefs and practices have been outlined (again except for the Zoque). No modern social anthropological research has been done, and our knowledge of social structure, beyond the most general outlines, is woefully inadequate. The Mixe and Popoluca are about equally well 458

known; the Zoque are much less well described. In this article, all data are from published sources listed in the references; no significant work appears to have been done among any of the three groups during the past decade. The Cultures as a Whole The Mixe and Popoluca represent a cultural stratum less developed than that of the Zapotec and Aztec to the north and west, and less developed than that of Mayan-speaking peoples to the east. Beals (1945b, pp. 6-7) describes the Mixe as "one of several peculiar enclaves of peoples of simple culture in the midst of the higher civilizations of Mexico," and repeatedly speaks of their cultural crudity and poverty. Mixe culture is "makeshift," he says, lacking standards of quality and feeling for "style" (ibid., pp. 8-9). Popoluca culture

FIG. 9 — P O P O L U C A BIRD TRAP, SOTEAPAN. (Photographed in 1941.)

also is relatively crude, without style or elegance, although it is better adapted to its environment than is that of the Mixe. Elements in folklore and religious practices suggest an archaic quality, and it is easy to hypothesize that the Sierra group was pushed into its present location when Nahua-speaking people first invaded the isthmus. Neither Mixe nor Popoluca appear to have left significant archaeological remains. Both groups are much alike in personality: reserved, suspicious of outsiders, inhospitable—not to say hostile—to strangers, preferring a minimum of contact with people they do not know. Both groups are regarded as "crude" by their more sophisticated Indian and Mestizo neighbors. Neither trades extensively; traditional and modern products reach them by Zapotec and other traders who understand the outside world. The Zoque obviously were more advanced at the time of the conquest, a lead which they have maintained to this day and which doubtless explains why they are being absorbed more easily into the surrounding Mestizo population. The Cordrys (1941, pp. 11-12) describe Zoque archaeo-

logical sites that are much more elaborate than any recorded in Mixe-Popoluca areas, further suggesting greater indigenous cultural attainments. The Zoque have adapted to Spanish control and culture with minimum resistance, and they have none of the suspicious and wary temperament of the modern Mixe-Popoluca. Nevertheless, the three groups clearly comprise a major historical cultural unit: basic subsistence patterns, house types, weaving and women's dress, and folklore and religious beliefs reveal a considerable degree of underlying homogeneity which set them off from other Indian groups. SUBSISTENCE SYSTEMS AND FOOD PATTERNS

The Mixe, Zoque, and Popoluca were and are farmers. The Middle American trio— maize, beans, squash—provides the staples; other common indigenous crops (depending on local environment) are the chayote, camote, sweet manioc, tomato, jícama, achiote, pineapple, papaya, and other Central American fruits. European imports are grown only to a limited extent, except for coffee, which was introduced in the latter 459

FIG. 10—ZOQUE INDIAN VILLAGE OF COPAINALA, CHIAPAS. (Photographed by Donald Cordry, 1940.)

half of the 19th century. Among nearly all Popoluca, in Mixe country to elevations of 1800 m., and to some extent among the Zoque, coffee has become the main export crop. Agriculture follows the Middle American milpa pattern. Fields are cleaned and burned in the brief dry season (fig. 8), and planted with a digging stick. Before harvest time stalks are "doubled" and ears are 460

turned down, presumably to facilitate maturation and prevent rain damage. In Veracruz the main crop is the temporal (tonamil in other parts of Mexico); a secondary fall planting is called tapachol. Mixe fields are rested after every planting, whereas the Sierra Popoluca repeat crops up to seven years, a most unusual length of time for swidden farmers. Among the Popo-

FIG. 11—POPOLUCA STREETS, SOTEAPAN. (Photographed in 1941.)

FIG. 12—MIXE HOUSE COMPOUND, IXCUINTEPEC. (From F. Starr, 1899b, pl. 94.)

luca the plow has made few inroads; it is used in some Mixe towns and is quite common among the Zoque. Fishing, hunting, and gathering are of limited importance among the three groups. Popoluca men hunt deer, rabbits, jabalí (wild boar), and game birds such as the chachalaca with iron-tipped featherless arrows nearly twice as long as their stubby bows. They take crayfish from rivers, and a few make and use the European atarraya conical throw net. Both Popoluca and Zoque use plants generically called harbasco to stupify fish in sluggish streams. The Popoluca cut trees containing hives of the native American stingless bee, and hang them under the eaves of their houses (Foster, 1942b). W. S. Miller (1961) reports the same for San Juan Juquila Mixe. 462

The tortilla—which the Popoluca, in the common Veracruz fashion, mold on a leaf rather than pat out—is the staple food, with beans and squash and small amounts of meat from chickens, turkeys, pigs, and game animals. Pozole, of ground parched corn to be mixed with water, is taken to milpas and on trips because of ease of preservation and transportation. SETTLEMENT PATTERNS

Most Mixe-Zoque-Popoluca towns presumably represent the results of the Spaniards' efforts to "congregate" Indians into settlements larger than indigenous units, to aid in religious conversion and in political control. Solis (1945) describes how the problem was viewed and policy ordered in the Ahualulcos region. Even today in Veracruz

M I X E , ZOQUE, AND POPOLUCA

a congregación is a large village directly subject to the cabecera or head of the municipio to which it belongs. Beals (1945b, p. 14) believes that the Mixe town is primarily if not wholly a Spanish institution which replaced earlier kinship-based isolated hamlets. The Zoque, on the other hand, as less rude people, appear to have had more and larger towns and villages. In spite of Spanish congregations, neither Mixe nor Popoluca towns show the grid pattern characteristic of most of Hispanic America. Geography militated against imposition of this Spanish feature. The houses of Popoluca towns usually sprawl on both sides of a hogback ridge that separates two deep arroyos to which women go for water and washing. A trail down the top of the ridge forms the only "street." Mixe villages cling to mountainsides; houses are often built on artificial platforms to obtain a level site, or they perch Popoluca-fashion on ridgetops. In neither case is a systematic street pattern possible. Zoque towns, on the other hand, more often reveal the classic grid pattern of colonial days. Census data on town sizes suggest that a population range of 500-1000 is best adapted to environments in which most of the men go daily to their milpas. If towns were larger, the men would have to spend excessive time in travel. Among the Mixe, however, the "open center" town is common. Here a majority of the inhabitants of a town live some distance away near their fields, with only the well-to-do families maintaining a town house. When Beals lived in Ayutla in 1933, for example, he found only 90 homes, most of which were unoccupied, although the town population was 2500; the bulk of the population lived in more remote isolated clusters, which he thinks are not very different from preconquest patterns (Beals, 1945b, p. 14). TECHNOLOGY

Reflecting the basic simplicity of MixePopoluca culture, tools are few and not

elaborate. Beals (1945b, p. 102 and pl. 8,b) pictures primitive agricultural and brush tools, including an adaptation of the preconquest coa and the common Mexican Spanish colonial plow. The Popoluca use a fire-hardened digging stick (espeque) to plant, a metal-bladed trowel-like chahuaste to cultivate (Foster, 1940, fig. 1), and steel machetes to fell brush. Zoque tools, other than those used for weaving and pottery making, are undescribed. The Zoque have a tradition as craftsmen, particularly as weavers (Cordry and Cordry, 1941, p. 100), but Mixe and Popoluca production is among the crudest of Mexican tribes. Beals (1945b, pp. 122, 116) says that except for housebuilding, weaving, and pottery making, none of the more complex techniques are native and that "almost nowhere will one encounter a people so lacking in handicraft as the Mixe." Relatively little pottery is made in the three areas, quality is not high, and major demands are met by trade (Popoluca and Zoque: Foster, 1955, pp. 3, 25-26; Mixe: Beals, 1945b, pp. 118-20). Wickerwork basketry of split cane is strong and serviceable but undecorative and unimaginative (Popoluca: vol. 6, Art. 6, fig. 10,b-e). Women in all three groups spin with a whorl with a pottery weight, spun in a gourd, and weave on the native backstrap loom. Cotton, including a highly prized natural brown color, is the principal material. Zoque weaving is outstanding, particularly in Tuxtla Gutierrez and Ocozocuautla (Cordry and Cordry, 1941, pp. 73-127), but the multicolored cotton refajos (skirts) woven in Texistepec and other Popoluca towns have much artistic merit. A good grade of ixtle is cultivated near the two Chimalapas in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and hammocks, bags, nets, ropes, and similar items are manufactured for sale (ibid, p. 40). In Copainala, gourd carving is a minor industry (ibid, p. 42). The aboriginal Mixe-Zoque-Popoluca house is an oblong room covered by a steep 463

FIG. 1 4 - P O P O L U C A HOUSES, OCOZOTEPEC, IN 1940

four-shed, hipped-gable, grass thatch roof supported independently of the walls on four or six heavy forked posts. The windowless walls consist of a light structure of vertical sticks which does little to shut out wind and rain, but which admits light. Most Popoluca houses (fig. 14) are like this prototype. Apart from the flimsiness of walls, the structure is sound and durable, and made entirely without nails or other modern aids. The zacate grass thatch is skillfully tied to a roof frame in bundles, and provides a watertight cover lasting up to 25 years. A few of the better Popoluca houses have wattle-and-daub walls, consisting of adobe mixed with grass smeared over a wall frame to a thickness of 15 cm. A tapanco loft, formed by laying cane splints at the level of roof eaves, is used for maize storage, surplus household items, and by children for sleeping. Cooking is done on the floor, or on a simple elevated

earth hearth supported on four posts (Foster, 1940, pp. 7-8, figs. 3, 5, 9, 21, 25; 1942a, pp. 30-34, pl. 2). The basic Mixe house as described by Beals (1945b, pp. 109-13) is similar, except that one wall on the long side is drawn back so that roof forms a veranda, at one end of which there is often an oven. Temascales (sweat houses) are found in a number of Mixe towns; sometimes they are part of the house itself, sometimes a separate construction. This trait appears to be lacking among the Zoque and Popoluca. European-type log cabins, of uncertain origin, are found in Ayutla, and adobe-tile-roofed houses occur in the most acculturated towns. The Mixe often have separate storehouses, the Popoluca usually do not. A higher proportion of Zoque houses are of adobe, with tile roofs, and some have unglazed tile floors, in contrast to MixePopoluca dirt floors. In towns such as Oco-

FIG. 13—POPOLUCA AND ZOQUE CRAFTS, a, Zoque man of Tuxtla Gutierrez, Chiapas, makes a ramajete, fashioned of bamboo, flowers, leaves, and colored paper, for the fiesta of San Roque, August 23-25, 1940. (Photographed by Donald Cordry.) b, Popoluca basket weaver, Soteapan. c, Popoluca weaver, 1940. d, Zoque woman beginning to weave one half of old-style skirt (tecsi) of "anil" dyed cotton, Tuxtla Gutierrez. (Photographed by Donald Cordry, 1941.)

465

FIG. 15—STAGES IN POPOLUCA HOUSE CONSTRUCTION, SOTEAPAN, IN 1941

zocuautla tiled roof ridges often are surmounted by amusing pottery animal figures (Cordry and Cordry, 1941, pp. 28-35). Starr (1902, p. 62) noted the Mixe-type veranda in Tuxtla. Zoque houses often have a separate kitchen, frequently with a small oven. House furnishings are simple. All three groups use notched-log ladders to climb to the storage loft, and all three make curious "benches," 15 cm. high, carved from a log of wood whose underside is hollow. A crude animal head on one end and a tail on the other serve as handles. The Popoluca identify these benches with armadillos. Hollow, canoe-shaped logs frequently are used for storage and for feeding animals (Foster, 1940, fig. 20). In all three groups the hammock, when found, serves largely for daytime lounging; cane splint beds permanently fixed against walls are usual for sleeping. 466

The basic aboriginal female garment was an oblong wraparound skirt formed by sewing together two narrow strips woven on backstrap looms. The Mixe-Popoluca support this skirt, where it is still worn, with a woven belt. The ends of the Zoque garment are sewn to make a tubular skirt which wraps around the waist to form a convenient carrying pocket, and which does not require a belt. Popoluca women appear never to have had a huipil, going bare from the waist up (fig. 16), as is still the custom in Aztec isthmus towns such as Oteapa. As late as 1940 Zoque women also frequently wore no huipil inside their homes, but a large and a small huipil were used outdoors. Beals (1945b, p. 114) thinks most or all Mixe women's clothing, particularly the modern costume, has been taken over from the Zapotec, as part of a general cultural borrowing from that group. In all three areas cheap cotton dresses have made

FIG. 1 6 — P O P O L U C A COUPLE, 1940

serious inroads on earlier costumes. However, in the Mixe settlements of Mazatlan, Acatlan Grande, Cotzocon, and Quetzaltepec a few women still weave and wear the aboriginal huipil (W. S. Miller, 1961). Men's traditional postconquest costume has consisted of unbleached muslin pants and shirts, similar to those found all over Mexico. Trade clothing has largely replaced these garments in recent years. Straw hats have a very high crown compared with central Mexican models, probably representing a survival from 19th-century fashions. Transportation is by the human back and, where trails permit, by pack animal. Neither

Mixe nor Popoluca use oxcarts. Burdens characteristically are carried in a net supported by a forehead tumpline; women also roll a cloth to make a head ring for carrying water jars and other burdens. "Hammock" suspension bridges woven of vines (fig. 19), are fairly common among the Mixe and Popoluca (Starr, 1900, p. 53; Foster, 1940, figs. 27-28; W. S. Miller, 1961). Miller (1961) reports that San Jose Paraiso (Mixe) makes one each year to get to its airstrip! Aboriginal weights and measures are little known. Among the Popoluca land area is calculated by the amount of seed used. A mano ("hand") is any unit of five, 467

FIG. 1 7 — Z O Q U E W O M E N , TUXTLA GUTIERREZ, CHIAPAS, a, Wears handwoven head covering folded for everyday use. b, Two sisters in costume as worn for church. (Photographed by Donald Gordry, 1940.)

468

FIG. 1 8 — Z O Q U E WOMAN, GOPAINALA, GHIAPAS. She wears a handwoven skirt of Guatemalan material, decorated with resist dyeing (ikat technique). (Photographed by Donald Gordry, 1940.)

FIG. 1 9 — P O P O L U C A VINE SUSPENSION BRIDGE, 1940

and a mano of milpa is the area that can be sown by the grains from five ears of maize. Yield is calculated by the Aztec zontle of 400 ears. Thus, a farmer measures by saying "I planted 15 manos of maize and harvested 28 zontles," meaning that his field was of a size needing seed from 75 ears and that in return he got 11,200 ears (proportions are not necessarily correct). The ancient Mesoamerican calendar of 18 months of 20 days each is still remembered and used in some Mixe villages (Carrasco, Miller, and Weitlaner, 1959; Mann and Chadwick, 1960). It has not been reported among the Zoque or Popoluca, although it is logical to assume its former presence.

ECONOMY

Division of labor and craft specialization are little developed among the Mixe-ZoquePopoluca. Men till fields, build houses, and hunt and fish. Among the Popoluca, at least, they are also the basket makers. If women lack husbands, they may farm; otherwise they take care of the home, cook, tend small domestic animals and, where such is done, weave and make pottery. In Soteapan in 1941 every man, regardless of minor craft skills, tilled his own milpa. Village craft and commercial specialization are less developed than in other Mexican areas. There is no specialization among the Popoluca, and very little among the 469

ETHNOLOGY

Mixe. In 1933 the three conservative western Mixe villages of Tamazulapan, Yacoche, and Mixistlan still had weavers (Beals, 1945b, p. 116), baskets were made only at Tepantlali and Zacatepec (ibid, p. 118), and pottery was made only at Tamazulapan and Mixistlan (ibid, p. 118). In the Zoque area pottery is made, among other places, in San Fernando, Ocozocuautla, Ocuilapa, and Beriosabal. Aboriginal ownership concepts certainly were based on communal ownership of agricultural land. This is still true, in theory, for the Sierra Popoluca, where all land is owned collectively by the community. Much land is available for the taking, and informants insist they plant milpas on any unused plots. In fact, previous use of a field, or previous use by one's father or grandfather, gives a farmer an extra claim, but he must be tough enough to make this claim stick. Trees, on the other hand, are recognized as private property, but not the land under them. This posed no problems until coffee planting became common. Following tradition, coffee trees are private property, but since they are planted close together, and produce over a period of years, they effectively prevent others from utilizing the land on which they stand. In this way, an appreciation of private ownership of land is developing among the Popoluca. Recently some Popoluca have speeded the transformation by fencing particularly desirable lands near their villages (Foster, 1942a, pp. 77-84). Among the Mixe land-tenure forms are varied. In Ayutla, Tepuxtepec, Totontepec, and other villages, all land is held by individual title, and in order to farm a man must inherit, rent, or buy fields. In other towns, such as Metaltepec, Yacoche, and Tamazulapan, land is owned by the community but fields are controlled by a single individual as long as he utilizes them. Since these Mixe fields are not abandoned when lying fallow, this may mean for a lifetime (Beals, 1945b, p. 101). In Camotlan and 470

Quetzaltepec and communities to the north and east, aboriginal patterns of land tenure prevail: a farmer clears a milpa for a maize crop, perhaps plants chile or beans the following year, and then abandons the land, to clear fresh milpa. Subsequently any other farmer may reclear and plant this land (W. S. Miller, 1961). Zoque land tenure is undescribed, but private ownership is probably the custom. In all three groups the bilateral nuclear family, sometimes polygynous among the Popoluca, is the basic productive and consumptive unit. This applies not only to farming but to arts and crafts as well. Periodic markets of the central Mexican variety are relatively rare in these areas. The Popoluca have no markets at all, and exchange is effected by non-Popoluca ambulant vendors with small stocks of lime, pots, baskets, comal griddles, sandals, eggs, bread, and the like, and from the resident Zapotec trader who lives in the larger towns, who imports cloth, candles, and other goods from a commercial world. Popoluca "stores" are primarily bars selling aguardiente and beer, but occasionally they stock soap, matches, and a few other household necessities. Money usually changes hands in these transactions, but barter continues, and in some exchanges the items are not converted into monetary equivalents. For example, pot vendors from Oteapa on the isthmus are long accustomed to travel to Sierra Popoluca villages, where they exchange a pot for the amount of beans it will hold, regardless of immediate monetary price fluctuations. This is advantageous to both, since each partner has a constant expectation of return from his work. Ayutla is the most important western Mixe trade center, and people from other villages come to its Sunday market. Most major traders are Zapotees from Mitla and Yalalag (Beals, 1945b, pp. 122-23). Quetzaltepec and Juquila also have important Sunday markets; Cacalotepec and Tlahuitoltepec have midweek markets for the

FIG. 20—MIXE WOMEN OF MIXISTLAN, OAXACA, VISITING ON MARKET DAY IN YALALAG, OAXACA. (Photographed by Donald Cordry, 1938.)

exchange of foodstuffs and pottery (W. S. Miller, 1961). Although precise data are lacking, the plaza market appears to be common among the Zoque. In all three groups, surplus wealth, such as it is, is drawn off into the annual reli-

gious fiesta cycle. But the economies of the three groups are of limited productivity, and after meeting basic needs of food, shelter, and clothing, little is left over. Popoluca fiestas are somber by most Mexican standards, and comparatively little is spent on 471

ETHNOLOGY

them. Mixe-Zoque fiestas are more elaborate, and those of the Zoque particularly compare well with other Mexican festivities. SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

Kinship and family forms have been modified significantly by 450 years of Spanish and Mexican influence. Beals (1945b, p. 38) believes that the preconquest Mixe small communities were localized kinship groups which were, in effect, patrilineal clans or lineages. The geographer Schmieder (1930b, p. 62) suggests the same, and Villa Rojas (1956, pp. 25-28) appears to consider it at least a possibility. Foster (1949) discusses the evidence for similar Popoluca forms found in comparative and historical kinship terminologies, and Elson's (1948) discovery that many Spanish surnames used by the Popoluca have indigenous equivalents, some identifiable as such things as a species of tree, a star, a turtle, and a horn, seems to lend further, if uncertain, support. Hoogshagen and Merrifield (1961) describe the unusual emphasis on relative age as a criterion for kinship terminology differentiation among the Coatlan Mixe, a feature consistent with the agegrade system of the Mixe. Although age grades appear not to characterize the Zoque and Popoluca, their kinship terminology is similar to that of the Mixe (Foster, 1949, Table 1). Whatever aboriginal kinship forms were, bilateral descent today is the rule, and no distinction is made in kinship terminologies between father's and mother's lines. The nuclear family is usual, but both in Sayula and among the Sierra Popoluca polygyny is fairly frequent. All three groups participate in the Catholic godparenthood system, but good accounts of local variations are lacking. Beals (1945b, p. 40) reports the standard compadrazgo for baptism, confirmation, and marriage among the Mixe. Modern political and territorial units of all three groups conform to the Mexican division into county or township-like mu472

nicipios, with a head village, or cabecera, where the elected mayor {presidente municipal ) and his assistants hold office. There is little evidence of a feeling of group loyalty with other speakers of the same language; a person's basic identification is first with his family and second with his community. Any appearance of municipio unity is deceptive, for it is an administrative device imposed from without, and it has little or no meaning to the Indians. Only for the Mixe do we have a reasonably good account of political and religious organization. It is the familiar south Mexican linked church-state type, in which a man progresses through church and government offices in turn,· rising higher with age until, having served in most of the positions, he retires as a respected principal (Beals, 1945b, pp. 21-37; Hoogshagen, 1960). The system, of course, serves as much for achieving status as for actual government, for, as Beals points out, the organization is enormously complex for a small community's political requirements. Hoogshagen recently has described age grades in Coatlan and Totontepec which underlie this church-state "ladder" (Weitlaner and Hoogshagen, 1960). Some Zoque and Popoluca villages are divided into two barrios. This division is a part of the Spanish legacy, and in all probability does not reflect any earlier indigenous moiety grouping. Among the Popoluca these divisions appear to have no major function. Among the Mixe, Miller has heard of barrios only in Cacalotepec. Careful studies of the political organization of communities in all three groups are badly needed. RELIGION AND WORLD VIEW

The Mixe-Zoque-Popoluca share in a substratum of belief and practice common also to the Aztec, Zapotec, and Maya; parallels with the Popol Vuh are particularly striking. Mythologies explain the origin of the world, the role of the maize deity, and

MIXE, ZOQUE, AND POPOLUCA

his struggles with the beneficial but dangerous hurricane god (Jurukán of the Popol Vuh), who, through his assistant deities, lightning and thunderbolts (rayos), wreaks damage in milpas. Homshuk, the Sierra Popoluca maize god, hatched from an egg (a Maya theme), grew rapidly, killed his "grandparents," engaged in a series of trickster episodes, and finally bested Huricane, who agreed to water man's milpas gently so he would have maize to eat. Homshuk is visualized as a three-foot dwarf, with cornsilk hair. When maize ears are small he is young, with golden hair, and as the crop matures he likewise becomes old, finishing the agricultural year as a wizened old man with dry, brown hair (Foster, 1945, pp. 191-98). The Mixe Kondoy likewise hatched from an egg, grew rapidly, traveled to far places, engaged in battle with Moctezuma's soldiers, arranged much of the world in its form, and finally settled on the highest Mixe peak, Zempoaltepetl, where he still lives (W. S. Miller, 1956, pp. 105-09). The Zoque have dual Mother-of-Maize and Father-ofMaize deities who went to live with the Chamulas when they thought their own people did not esteem them; they were brought back, but subsequently were taken away again, and that is why the Zoque are poor (Cordry and Cordry, 1941, p. 61). Chalucas, the Zoque trickster and culture hero, partially parallels Homshuk; it was he who talked to Lightning to make it rain, and who knew the Wayucu who keep maize in a mountain cave (ibid., p. 64). Mixe-Popoluca mythology tells of a twin boy and girl who became sun and moon, but who now take no direct part in man's affairs (Carrasco, 1952a, pp. 168-69; W. S. Miller, 1956, pp. 79-99; Foster, 1945, p. 217). Other stories are explanatory, telling why the alligator has no tongue, how the armadillo took his form, and why the turkey cannot defend himself as in former times. Next to the maize deities, and Hurricane

and his minions, the most important spirits are dwarf guardians of animals, called chanekos by the Popoluca, who live in huge mountain caves where they tend game, particularly deer, as men keep cattle (Foster, 1945, p. 181; Guiteras Holmes, 1952, p. 130; J. Pimentel, 1954, pp. 13-16). The chanekos let game out from time to time for man to hunt; man, in return, must kill only for his needs, and must be careful not to let wounded animals escape. Tales relate how a careless hunter finds himself inside a mountain, where he is chastised by chanekos in the presence of animals he has wounded and allowed to escape. Other spirits include sirens that lure men to their death, horned water serpents, that live under waterfalls and in rivers, mountain "giants," and other less clearly described beings. The nagual is a witch, with supernatural powers to transform himself into animal or other form, to cause illness, and to make mischief in general. Some naguals are identified with the supernatural rayos, who wreck milpas, and others are simply human witches. At the other extreme the nagual becomes the animal familiar possessed by every individual, a belief usually called tonal in Mexico. Non-Catholic rites in all three groups are individual rather than collective, and consist of propitiatory offerings to the several mountain spirits and deities. Caves are very important, and for the Mixe there are good descriptions of the sacrifice of turkeys and the offering of such things as tamales, copal incense, tepache beer, and candles for a variety of purposes including good crops, luck, acquisition of money, and the curing of the ill (Beals, 1945b, pp. 84-94). The Popoluca have complex agricultural and hunting observances. Before planting maize a man is continent for seven nights, and on the morning of work he passes his seed through copal smoke, prays to Homshuk, and walks through his milpa with a copal brazier after the seed is in. The milpa is 473

ETHNOLOGY

again incensed when stalks are knee high, and when they tassel out. Before roasting ears can be eaten, a man and his wife visit the milpa before dawn, incense the stalks, cut seven ears, return home and make tamales, and eat them ceremonially at midnight. Only then can the maize crop be utilized (Foster, 1942a, p. 42). Beals (1945b, p. 93) also reports first-fruits maize harvest ceremonies. Before hunting or fishing a Popoluca incenses his bow or fishnet, and prays to the chanekos for success. Young hunters do not eat their first kill of each species, and deer heads and skull are particularly revered and saved. Among all three groups, object-intrusion and soul-loss are believed to be the principal causes of illness, Naguals and other witches place insects or inanimate objects in the victim's body; good curanderos try to remove them by rubbing the patient's body with herbs, giving infusions, or sucking out the objects. A soul is lost either through fright, which jars it loose from the body, or through robbery by a supernatural being such as a chaneko; in either case the cure requires return of the soul. Among the Popoluca and Zoque, at least, the soul is identified with the pulse, so a weak pulse indicates loss of soul. Curanderos of the three groups diagnose soul-loss by feeling the pulse. Popoluca and Zoque curanderos attract the soul to the body by sucking at the points where the pulse can be felt, a curious transfer of the technique normally associated with object-intrusion. Popoluca curanderos also diagnose illness by reading the pattern of seven copal incense balls dropped into water. Mixe diviners cast maize to foretell the future but not, apparently, to divine the cause of illness; their medical divination sometimes is accomplished by the curandero's or patient's eating narcotic mushrooms, morning-glory seeds, or toloache (a datura) (Foster, 1940, p. 24; F. Starr, 1902b, p. 64; Beals, 1945b, pp. 96-97; W. S. Miller, 1961). 474

Beals (1945b, p. 95) says that among the Mixe he knew, temascal bathing is the sovereign remedy for everything, but Miller (1961) believes this is far from universal among all Mixe. AESTHETIC PATTERNS

Mixe-Zoque-Popoluca aesthetic and recreational activities are less well developed than those of many Mexican groups. The Popoluca appear to have had no indigenous music or dance forms, and in the Sierra group there is not even a native word for "music." The Sierra Popoluca's only rhythmic diversion is a crude Veracruz huapango danced on a portable wooden floor, a tarima; unlike Veracruz groups to the north, they do not sing huapangos. In my experience, death feasts offer the Sierra Popoluca their greatest source of recreational satisfaction. Mixe and Zoque singing and dancing are associated with Catholic rites; masked dancers, such as the Negritos described by Beals (1945b, p. 74), and the seven separate dances listed by the Cordrys (1941, p. 60), testify to a slightly more advanced aesthetic development than characterizes the Popoluca. Nevertheless, W. S. Miller (1961) has encountered no clearly indigenous Mixe music or song. Stimulants are used in varying degree by the Mixe-Zoque-Popoluca. In 1940-41 the Popoluca were abstemious, drinking very little, a trait also characterizing the Sayula Popoluca (Guiteras Holmes, 1952, p. 23). The Mixe, on the other hand, have a reputation for drunkenness, although Miller (1961) feels that, except in Tlamazulpam and Tlahuitoltepec, this is undeserved and that except during fiestas, most Mixe are reasonably abstemious. Only among the Mixe is the use of narcotic vision-inducing mushrooms reported, the teonanacatl, or "divine mushroom" (Villa Rojas, 1956, pp. 37-47; W. S. Miller, 1956, pp. 219-20; Hoogshagen, 1959). Fiesta patterns in all three groups follow the Catholic ceremonial calendar; they ap-

MIXE, ZOQUE, AND POPOLUCA

pear most weakly developed among the Popoluca, who, at their incredibly sad and dull fiestas, stand around looking as if they would like to enjoy themselves but don't know how. Both Beals (1945b, pp. 64-83) and the Cordrys (1941, pp. 50-60) give accounts of the fiesta cycle for the Mixe and Zoque respectively. LIFE CYCLE

Prenatal restrictions for the women of all three groups are few. The Mixe woman bathes once in the temascal when pregnancy is recognized (Beals, 1945b, p. 51), but otherwise she works normally until confinement. Beals (1945b, p. 52) and Guiteras Holmes (1952, p. 151) report a kneeling position for delivery for the Mixe and Sayula Popoluca respectively; Sierra Popoluca informants said parturients sat on the end of a low bench. In Soteapan the placenta is wrapped in leaves and kept in the house for a couple of weeks before being placed under a stone under water in a nearby arroyo; this is believed to prevent excessive perspiration when the grown child works in the hot sun (Foster, 1940, p. 16). In Mixe and Zoque communities, and in Sayula, the placenta simply is buried. Mixe women bathe daily in the temascal until postpartum bleeding ceases. Today given names are Spanish, although at least among the Mixe native names were used until recently. Mixe surnames apparently are also recent; the traditional pattern has been to give individuals two first names. In ancient times the native priest utilized a "calendar" to cast the horoscope and name each newborn child, and in Camotlan Miller reports this is still done (1956, pp. 196-97). The infant's tonal, or animal familiar, was also determined by the horoscope. In later years among both Mixe and Popoluca the tonal (or tona) was discovered by spreading ashes around the resting place of the newborn child; these were examined the following morning for animal footprints which gave the clue to the tonal

of the child (Cerda Silva, 1940a, p. 97; A. Iglesias, 1856, p. 435). A hanging cradle, a box among the Mixe and a net suspended from a ring among the Popoluca (Foster, 1940, fig. 7), is a child's first home. Infancy and childhood are marked by no special ceremonies, and few games or diversions are recorded. Both Popoluca and Zoque children (Cordry and Cordry, 1941, p. 38) have crude wooden dolls, surprisingly similar in appearance. Among all three groups, childhood is described as a period of learning appropriate sex roles for adult life. No adolescence ceremonies of any type are reported. Marriage in all three groups appears, in practice, to be casual and brittle, with little or no ceremony. Courting practices are little known, but the Popoluca share the ancient Mexican belief that if a girl can be made to ingest a bit of powdered hummingbird, the man who plans the magic will prove irresistible to her (Foster, 1945, p. 187). In spite of the informality of most unions, all three groups recognize a "right" way to get married. This involves the use of a go-between (sometimes the youth's father or godfather) who makes three or more ceremonial visits to the girl's home, carrying aguardiente and cigarettes; customarily the first overtures are rejected. If accepted, the youth begins a period of bride service, bringing presents of food, firewood, and drink to the girl's father, and sometimes putting in long hours of work in his milpa. A wedding feast validates the union, and then the couple settles down for a year or so in the home of either the bride's or the groom's parents before setting up an independent household. Guiteras Holmes (1952, p. 174) reports that in Sayula residence during the first year was matrilocal, and that the groom continued working for his father-in-law, but in the other towns a patrilocal tendency is the rule. Church weddings are very rare. Not infrequently this ceremony takes place long 475

FIG. 2 1 — P O P O L U C A FUNERAL FOR FIFTEEN-YEAR-OLD GIRL, SOTEAPAN, 1941

after a union has been established, at which time it serves to validate the economic status of the couple rather than as a device to set up a new household. Death ceremonies, except for the baile del angelito reported among Popoluca and Mixe, are largely indigenous. It is believed that the soul undertakes a dangerous journey of considerable length before arriving at its final resting place, and provision must be made to ensure safe arrival. In Soteapan a whip is woven of seven cotton strands and placed in the corpse' hand, to drive dangerous animals from the path. Burial takes place in a shroud; food, water, clothing, and a coin are placed in the grave, the coin serving to "pay" the entry to the hereafter. Pigs are slaughtered, tamales are made, and a major fiesta is prepared by the family of the deceased. Chocolate is served, since, as was mentioned earlier, a cacao 476

tree stands at the entrance to the afterworld, and the soul can pass only if the survivors drink a toast of this beverage. Before the dawn following the interment the survivors and the property of the deceased which is to be used again undergo ritual purification in which the people, seven tamales, the snout and brains of the slaughtered hogs, and the property are passed through copal incense smoke seven times. Novena prayer meetings occur on the nine following nights. Beals' Mixe descriptions (1945b, pp. 5863) suggest somewhat more Catholic influence, but he records the ancient Mexican belief that black dogs help souls of the deceased across a body of water. The MixePopoluca baile del angelito is an ancient Spanish custom early introduced into America, which lingers on only in remote places.

MIXE, ZOQUE, AND POPOLUCA REFERENCES Barnard, 1852 Basauri, 1940a, 1940b Bauer-Thoma, 1916 Beals, 1936, 1941, 1945b Becerra, 1924 Belmar, 1902a Berendt, 1873 Blom and LaFarge, 1926-27 Calderón, 1908 Cangas y Quiñones, 1928 Carrasco, 1952a , Miller, and Weitlaner, 1959 Cerda Silva, 1940a, 1940b Ciudad Real, 1873 Cordry and Cordry, 1941 Elson, 1947, 1948 Foster, 1940, 1942a, 1942b, 1943, 1945, 1949, 1951, 1955 Gillow, 1889 González Casanova, 1927 Culteras Holmes, 1952 Harrison, 1952 Hoogshagen, 1959, 1960 and Merrifield, 1961 Iglesias, Α., 1856 Iglesias, J. Μ., 1831

Jiménez Moreno, 1942a Lehmann, W., 1920, 1928 Mann and Chadwick, 1960 Mendizábal and Jiménez Moreno, 1937 Miller, W. S., 1956, 1961 Navarro y Noriega, 1943 Orozco y Berra, 1864 Paniagua, 1876 Pimentel, F., 1875 Pimentel S., J., 1954, 1957 Pineda, E., 1845 Rabasa, 1895 Radin, 1916, 1917, 1931 Roys, 1932, 1943 Sapper, C., 1927 Schmieder, 1930b Scholes and Roys, 1948 Solis, 1945 Starr, F., 1899, 1900-02, 1908 Thomas, Ν. D., 1967 Villa Rojas, 1956 Villa-Señor y Sanchez, 1746-48 Weitlaner and Hoogshagen, 1960 Wonderly, 1946, 1947a, 1947b, 1949a, 1949b, 1951-52

477

23. The Huave

A. RICHARD

P

EOPLE CALLED HuAVE (also Written Huavi, Wabi) are an Indian-speaking peasantry who live in five communities on or near the salt-water lagoons of the Pacific coast of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec (marked by triangles in fig. 1). The Huave population does not exceed 8000: the largest community is San Mateo, with about 3000 inhabitants; the other villages are much smaller.1 The five villages, and the score of hamlets scattered nearby, share many cultural characteristics with the adjacent littoral areas to the west and east, but in language they constitute a fairly distinct group. The Huave language is composed of as many dialects as central communities; divergence 1 Since the original preparation of this article in December, 1960, I have published a long descriptive analysis of the social organization of one of the Huave villages, San Mateo (see Diebold, 1966); this recent study includes supplements and corrects many of the data in the present text. Other relevant sociological and ethnographic data appear in a socio-linguistic analysis of bilingualism and biculturalism in San Mateo (see Diebold, 1961).

478

DIEBOLD

JR,

is marked, but the dialects are mutually intelligible. The dialects have been variably receptive to linguistic interference from contact with Spanish, but the total impact of Spanish on Huave is great; interference from Zapotec is minimal. Bilingualism varies from one community to the next, but Huave remains the language first acquired in childhood. The Huave language has only recently been adequately described. Its precise genetic pedigree remains in doubt, assertions about its close relationship to Mixe-Zoque (proposed by Paul Radin) appearing tenuous. Current classifications by Swadesh (1959b) show Huave to be clearly related to other Middle American Indian languages, specifically within Macro-Mixtecan, but as constituting a single subgroup without any very closely related kindred; it forms an isolate in the area its speakers occupy. The application of the term "Indian" to the Huave is poor, except as a linguistic index. A number of cultural differences obtain between Huave-speakers and the other

FIG. 1 - G E 0 G R A P H I C A L DISTRIBUTION OF THE HUAVE

peoples of the isthmus; the Huave are ultraconservative and, in terms of culture content, retain a number of Indian traits which other groups have lost. But structurally defined, the Huave are part of a large rural peasantry, since it is difficult in the Tehuantepec area to distinguish between separate Indian and Mestizo elements of a plural society. The Huave are well integrated in the over-all social structure, having in particular strong ties of economic dependency with the larger towns to which their villages are satellite, such as Juchitan, Salina Cruz, Tehuantepec. Huave ethnohistory is conjectural. Of their postcontact period it is known only

that they have been successively pushed back from an earlier, more extensive territory which they once inhabited, into their current restricted one. The expansion of land-hungry Zapotec farmers has accounted for much of this encroachment, and the earlier illegal seizure of Huave territory has been ratified since the Revolution. The founding of nearby Salina Cruz as a free port and its subsequent growth have hastened shrinkage of the Huave area. Completion of the Jalapa Dam and irrigation of the Tehuantepec district will without doubt incur land speculation and increased pressure on the Huave. The principal events of postcontact Huave history, then, are the re479

FIG. 2 — H U A V E MEN, SAN MATEO. (From F. Starr, 1899b, pl. 112.)

FIG. 3—HUAVE WOMEN, SAN MATEO. (From F. Starr, 1899b, pl. 117.)

FIG. 4—OXCARTS, SAN MATEO. (Photographed by A. R. Diebold, 1960.) lations of the villagers to the non-Huavespeaking world which surrounds them. The Huave community, after the conquest, experienced two events which maimed its ability to remain an encapsulated Indian village, cut off from the outside world. First, although not subject to the demands of encomienda or hacienda, the western villages underwent ecclesiastic occupation from the early 17th into the 18th century (evidenced by local church documents) and the construction of a large church in San Mateo, together with a town grid system typical of Church city-planning of the early 17th century. Second, the Huave were incorporated into and exploited within the well-developed Zapotec and Spanish market system. This nexus was first established in the 17th century or earlier by trade relations in which the market sought Hauve marine produce, and has

subsequently bound the Huave village into a dependency which is the most striking feature of their economic organization today. Primary ethnographic sources on the Huave are conspicuous by their absence. There are no contact-era accounts, save the most fleeting references. Frederick Starr's (1899b, 1900-02) are the first good primary materials; Cook and Leonard's (1949) and Rohrsheim's (1928) accounts of their respective visits to the Huave area are very useful. More extensive descriptions exist in manuscript, by Paul Radin, Arturo Monzón, and myself. There are four principal secondary sources: León's (1901, 1904) are the most significant works on the Huave in print; Cerda Silva's (1941) and Basauri's (1940c) reviews are only fair. The area on the map constitutes a single dry savanna region which hugs the Pacific 481

FIG. 5—VILLAGE STREET, SAN MATEO. (Photographed by A. R. Diebold, 1960.)

coast of the isthmus and contrasts with the more moist adjacent interior. Within this region are three constituent ecological zones, which profoundly affect Huave demography and economy: (1) a large discontinuous area of thorn forest (monte bajo), which, uncleared, supports hunting activities and offers some forage; (2) a savanna area proper (savanetas), in which wetter grassy zones alternate with descicated ones studded with palms and sand dunes, both of which are used for pasture and agriculture; (3) the mangrove swamps on the lagoon margins, with extensive inlets and salt flats, and enclosed or nearly occluded bodies of brackish water where fishing is carried on. The thorn forest supports a fauna richer in quantity than variety, of which deer, iguanas, and rabbits are hunted. Thorn 482

forest soils are rich although thin and, having no sod, are tilled after the natural growth has been cleared. These plots vary: some are permanent and are plowed with oxen, constituting private landholdings which form the nuclei of innumerable ranches surrounding the larger villages; others are temporary, are tended by hoe and machete, and generally belong to the community. Growing importance of agriculture is evidenced in ever greater conversion of the thorn forest into arable land. The principal crop in San Mateo is the sweetpotato; subsidiary crops are maize, cotton, beans, and peanuts. The Huave do not raise enough vegetable starches to meet consumption, but depend on outside markets. Kitchen gardens yield chiefly chile peppers. Fruit trees are occasionally maintained, and wild coconut-palms and calabash trees are

HUAVE

often privately owned. The sod-mantled savannas are principally community-owned pasture; occasional permanent field-plots are privately owned. The Huave keep large flocks of sheep and goats (which yield both wool and meat), horses, oxen, and some burros. These too are put into the community pasture; some of the animals belong to the village church. Pigs, chickens, and turkeys are confined within the house lot; chicken eggs are an important trade item. Fishing is the major subsistence system of the Huave, although fishing is of less account today than it was at the time of Starr's (1899b, 1900-02) visits. In terms of time and personnel, it now appears to be no more important than agriculture and minor artisanry combined. However, it supplies the Huave with their one main salable surplus and a considerable element in their diet. Fish are netted, and preserved by sun-drying, either split or whole. Various offshore school-fish are taken; sea perch, mullet, and shrimp are important salable species. There are two methods of fishing. The first is by dragnets from poled canoes; several canoe-crews form a voluntary association in which a leader is chosen to coordinate operations and supervise division of the catch. The second is by individual effort with a throw net from shore. Turtle eggs are also important items of marine produce. It is noteworthy that Huave fishing methods fail to use several simple techniques (such as the hook, gig, and trap) which would greatly increase the take, and that their equipment and its management evince a peculiar underdevelopment in fishing skill. Morever, many of the Huave words for fish species and for associated cultural items are borrowings from Spanish. Altogether, these facts do not argue well either for the great antiquity of Huave fishing or for its earlier pre-eminence as a means of subsistence. The diet centers around maize, which is made into tortillas and atole, less frequently into tamales or totopos. Beans and sweet-

FIG. 6—PLAN OF A SAN MATEO HOUSE LOT. 1, Main house. 2, Enramada. 3, Fish-drying racks. 4, Ground oven (mezcomal). 5, Exterior kitchen. 6, Net-drying poles. 7, Well. 8, Animal pens. 9, Kitchen garden. 10, Benches.

potatoes are distinctly secondary. Chile accompanies all foods. Fish, eaten dried or stewed, is important daily fare; meat and eggs are chiefly festive dishes. Fruit is consumed in season. The Huave villages (fig. 5) form an endogamous unit, the principal divisions of which are satellite ranching communities and the barrios of the villages themselves (to which the various ranches also belong). The villages are compact and of grid form; the barrios are clearly delineated. The minimal constituent is the household, which in San Mateo has an average of eight members. Households consist in one or two central living houses, along with lesser structures, in a sizable yard which is tightly enclosed by a stake or thatch fence (fig. 6). The typical house is a large one-roomed, thatch-over-withe construction supported by poles and beams (figs. 7, 8). There are no windows. Alongside the thatched hut in the house lot are the thatch-roofed but 483

FIG. 7—HUAVE HOUSE, SAN MATEO. (From F. Starr, 1899b, pl. 111.)

open-sided enramada (fig. 9) and smaller shelters for the animals. There is usually an indoor and an outdoor kitchen. Furniture is minimal. Both hammock and sleepingmat are in use. Benches are omnipresent; small tables are luxury items. Houses are erected as a barrio-sponsored communal activity, but maintenance is a family responsibility. Many metal tools such as spades and machetes are bought ready-made in the market. Nonmetallic tools are often produced in the village, although ingredient materials may be purchased from outside. Clay pots and comales are made locally, and purchased too; metates are imported. Calabashes are extensively used as containers. Fishnets are an important local manufacture although the Huave rely on the outside for much of the necessary cotton thread; net-making and repairing is the 484

principal off-time occupation of all fishermen. Women weave on a backstrap loom: fishing jackets, festive huípiles (fig. 10), rebozos, and multipurpose clothes (see vol. 6, Art. 8, fig. 5) are the principal products. Other items of dress are made from purchased cloth. Boys wear little clothing until about age six, then, like the men, they wear cotton shirts, long serge trousers, and straw hats; sandals are disfavored. Shorts and, rarely nowadays, G-strings are worn while fishing. Girls and women wear the older-style enredo skirt or the more modern enaguas; blouses are worn outside the privacy of the houselot, often with a shawllike rebozo, worn turban-fashion. Most women sport bead necklaces; their hair is braided and intertwined with ribbon in the Tehuana style. Little other personal adornment is evident.

HUAVE

Dugout canoes (fig. 11) and carts (fig. 4) are imported. The former are used for fishing and trading trips; the latter for overland trips to ranches or to nearby towns. Basketry is an important local industry, involving some full-time male artisans. The chief product is a large storage and carrying basket with attached tumpline. Native rope made of palm fiber is also important. Certain men are skilled in particular manufactures such as religious paraphernalia, musical instruments, hafting, featherwork, leatherwork, but these are rarely full-time" occupations. Besides doing all household work and rearing children, women manufacture pottery, weave, and engage in limited marketing activities. Men are occupied in one of three full-time pursuits: fishing, farming, or manufacturing. In addition, they build houses, make tools of their trade, perform appreciable communal labor, and engage in limited trading. Full-time merchants are generally from outside the Huave community. Men occasionally leave the community for short periods of salaried work, but labor export is negligible. Communal services demand much time of the individual, and within the barrio or ranch, labor exchange is in-

FIG. 8—HOUSE FRAMING

stitutionalized for house-building, fieldclearing, and certain festivals. The Huave village usually has a small market (fig. 12), but the important economic ties are to the larger towns nearby. The Huave are dependent on the markets of these for most manufactured goods and even the staple starch food, maize. The Huave deal in these markets as individual agents, either selling or bartering marine produce, eggs, etc., for goods or money. They use the standard Mexican units of weight and measure.

FIG. 9 — L A R G E ENRAMADA, SAN MATEO. (Photographed by A. R. Diebold, 1960.)

485

FIG. 10—HUAVE WOMAN, SAN MATEO. She wears old handwoven huípil with shell-dyed purple stripes and brocaded figures. (Photographed by Donald Cordry, 1963.)

FIG. 1 1 — D U G O U T CANOE, SAN MATEO. (Photographed by A. R. Diebold, 1958.)

It is with respect to their internal economic structure that the Huave are most "Indian" culturally. The Huave still participate in a subsistence system in which there is no capital accumulation. Any accumulation is distributed by participation in the mayordomía, which is obligatory, and has the effect of leveling significant differences in wealth in the community. The important unit of consumption and production is the extended patrilocal family, which constitutes the household nu-

cleus. Property is both individual and communal. Land tenure is discussed above. Property associated with the private household is largely private, and inherited patrilineally or bilaterally. The basic residential unit is a patrilocal extended family of the types Murdock (1957) calls "stem" and "lineal"; this is generally congruent with a household. There is strict prohibition of marriage between members of the same household. The next higher residential unit is the agamous

486

HUAVE

barrio, and then the endogamous village. The basic kin group is a bilateral kindred; this, defined in terms of any one individual, will normally include lineais back to the grandparent generation and all descendants of these kinsmen who reside in the same barrio. The incest taboo is minimally within the kindred with kinsmen closer than second degree collaterality and/or with kinsmen of disparate generations. The kinship terminology system is essentially bilateral. (See note 1.) Fictive kin-ties are recognized in the compadrazgo; the important relationship obtains between the god-sibs. Although the god-sib bond may be established spontaneously, one's god-sib usually assumes this role by standing as godparent to one's child at its birth and/or baptism, or at its marriage. The internal political organization of the Huave village is built on the familiar escalafón, in which every male member of the community must pass through a series of township offices whose tenure requires various community services and for which there is no reimbursement. The offices include a number with more purely religious

functions and the mayordomía is, or has been until recently, very important in the village. Political status is early age-graded and ascribed; later in life, in the more important and less numerous oSices, it is largely achieved. Bonds between other Huave communities are weak and, with respect to boundary recognition, often quite hostile. The important ties, both economic and political, are to the nearest Spanish market towns; beyond these towns the Huave have few connections with the outside world. Earlier pilgrimages to coastal Chiapas and Guatemala have ceased. Besides the mayordomo and the religious posts associated with the escalafón, there are a number of less well defined religious practices and practitioners. The latter are mainly curers and witches, both of whom have important roles at times of crisis (birth, marriage, death). Curers function in an elaborate system of folk medicine; witches, only as agents provocateurs. Both are specialists whose skills are partly learned in apprenticeship, partly ascribed by predisposition of personality. Witches are often paid for destructive sorcery and

FIG. 12—MARKET IN SAN MATEO. (Photographed by A. R. Diebold, 1960.) 487

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 13—FIESTA DRUMS AND SACRED BELLS, SAN MATEO. (Photographed by A. R. Diebold, 1960.)

counterattack. Certain religious practices are directed by the household head; his role is particularly significant in the supernatural contacts which households maintain with deceased members. Each household has a home altar. Moreover, each barrio has one or several small chapels, which are tended by barrio members.

REFERENCES Basauri, 1940c Cerda Silva, 1941 Cook and Leonard, 1949 Diebold, 1961, 1966 León, 1901, 1904 Murdock, 1957 Rohrsheim, 1928 Starr, F., 1899b, 1900-02 Swadesh, 1959b

488

The villages are visited by Catholic priests and are currently experiencing Baptist evangelization; the priests and missionaries are outsiders. The Huave pantheon and its associated systems of ritual are demonstrably eclectic, having many Catholic elements alongside deified personifications of the physical world, such as wind, lightning, sea, and rain. Propitiatory and supplicatory rites are performed for both the anthropomorphic saints and the spirits of the natural world. The Huave supernatural environment is lavishly peopled with an assortment of naguales and tonas, concerning whose behavior there is a rich lore. Cosmogony, cosmology, and folk history are more private bodies of knowledge and are vested in codified form to the successive holders of the higher religious offices of the escalafón. Dancers and musicians form societies whose members perform at various festivals. Dancers are gaily costumed with ribbons and feathers; a chief dance is a variety of the Malinche. The musical instruments are the drum (fig. 13) and reed flute.

24. The Popoloca

WALTER A. HOPPE, ANDRES MEDINA, and ROBERTO J, WEITLANER

S

PEAKERS OF Popolocan are found in southern Puebla. Three nuclei can be distinguished (see fig. 2), which are virtually encircled by Mixtec and Nahua. The intensity of acculturation in this zone ranges between 80 per cent indigenous monolingualism and total loss of the native language. The area lies between 97° and 98°30' west longtitude and 18° and 19° north latitude. The vegetation is semidesert (mainly xerophytic). Trees (fruit trees) grow along the banks of rivers and creeks that cross an almost flat plain. Toward the southern part are mountains which form part of the Mixteca Alta of the state of Oaxaca. The soil is good enough for agriculture but the lack of water (650 mm.) causes frequent loss of crops. The group has been little studied. In 1908 Nicolás León visited some of the towns, made linguistic studies, and attempted to establish the zone's limits. Ann F. Williams has been doing linguistic re-

search in the area since 1942. Carmen Cook de Leonard traveled through almost the entire region. Andrés Medina and Jorge Sepúlveda visited almost all the towns registered as Popoloca. In 1960 Walter Hoppe completed the actual geographic delimitation of the Popoloca area. SUBSISTENCE PATTERNS AND FOOD HABITS

The basis of subsistence is maize and black beans, supplemented by other grains and fruits such as avocado, orange, lemon, and papaya, which are produced in the region, in addition to those grown in Tierra Caliente and brought in by merchants. The greens, vegetables, and herbs (both cultivated and wild) are practically the same as those found among the Chocho and the Ichcatec (see Articles 25 and 26). Two meals a day are customary: one at midmorning, the other in the afternoon. Alcoholic beverages include pulque, mescal, aguardiente, amargo (weakened alcohol flavored with rue and fruit rinds). In 489

FIG. 1 — P O P O L O C A REGION AT SPANISH CONQUEST. (After Nicolas León.)

490

FIG. 2—POPOLOCA TOWNS. Popoloca-speaking towns are underlined. Broken underline indicates a limited amount of Popoloca spoken. TABLE 1—POPOLOCA

POPULATION

MUNICIPIO

LOCALITY

1930

1940

1950

Ahuatempan Atexcal Caltepec Caltepec Caltepec Coyotepec Coyotepec Coyotepec Cuayuca Cuayuca Ixcaquixtla San Gabriel Chilac San Jose Mihuatlan Tepanco de Lopez Tepanco de Lopez Tepexi Tepexi Tlacotepec Zacapala Zapotitlan

Santa Ines Ahuatempan Santa Catarina Tehuixtla Caltepec Acatepec Coatepec San Vicente Coyotepec Nativitas Cuautempan San Mateo Zoyamazalco San Pedro Cuayuca Cerro Gordo San Juan Ixcaquixtla San Juan Atzingo San Pedro Tetitlan San Luis Temalacayuca Tepanco de Lopez Todos Santos Almolonga San Felipe Otlaltepec San Marcos Tlacoyalco San Mateo Mimiapan Los Reyes Metzontla

536 393 260 183 1,617 928 607 1,108 192 2,440 831 325 959 1,325 839 718 1,963 365 473

630 365 227 200 1,674 905 682 1,362 209 2,716 777 393 782 971 884 839 1,945 519 661

2,465 639 445 188 246 1,524 1,079 570 1,212 364 2,466 733 479 1,013 794 978 910 1,835 450 762

Note the small increase, even decline, in the population, possibly caused by the poor economic conditions resulting from unfavorable conditions for agriculture.

FIG. 3—POPOLOCA COUNTRYSIDE

FIG. 4—POPOLOCA SCENES, a, House, San Felipe Otlaltepec. b, House with oreja popoloca, San Martin Atexcal. c. Goatherds, San Juan Atzingo. d, Cuezcomate granary, Mimiapan.

POPOLOCA

Los Reyes Metzontla they concoct a beverage called tolonche, whose prime ingredients are piru seeds and water. Coffee and tobacco are the only stimulants. SETTLEMENT

PATTERNS

Settlements are generally semicongregated. At the center lies a square surrounded by public buildings. Here the market takes place (in towns where it is traditional) and fiestas are held. The types of buildings denote a marked stage of acculturation. The typically indigenous house is built with a grass- or palmthatched roof in whose peak is the oreja popoloca (fig. 4,b), a projection of the roof ridge. Under this a small hole is left for ventilation. The roof is supported by sotol or guaje trunks and with walls quiote or otate; other houses are built from blocks of hardpan (tepetate) and have tile roofs. The dimensions average 4.5 m. wide, 6 m. long, and 3.5 high.

FIG. 5 — P O T T E R Y , LOS REYES METZONTLA

TECHNOLOGY

As agriculture is the most important activity the principal tools are those associated with it: Egyptian plow (although the moldboard type is much used), spade, and iron hoe bought in the markets. Among the characteristic crafts is pottery in Los Reyes Metzontla (men carry the materials and sell the goods; women mold the ceramics). On the pre-Hispanic loom women weave bands. The number of masons, shoemakers, and the like varies in each town. Palm weaving is the most general craft. It is restricted to women; men merely procure the raw materials. Besides the common sleeping mats and baskets (tenates) they make baskets for sifting, color sleeping mats for ornament, and make hanging cribs for children. In the marginal towns are cuezcomates,

granaries made of mud and straw in the shape of a radish (fig. 4,d). The furniture (fig. 6) is limited. People sleep on otate (aboriginal Mexican bamboo) beds or, when this is lacking, on mats. Seats are two or three chairs made from wood and tule, benches made from forked poles or from quiote trunks (the tall flower stalks of the maguey plant). A table and an altar complete the furniture. Clothing is hung from the ceiling by a maguey rope. The kitchen is inside the hut, although some prefer to have it in another building. Its equipment is the hearth of three stones, cantaros, clay comais, pots, three-legged metates, and some iron pots. The native wearing apparel has almost disappeared and is replaced by cotton clothing of commercial manufacture. Some con493

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 6—PLAN OF HOUSE INTERIOR, OCOTLAN

servative old men still wear calzones bound with a belt, a shirt made from coarse cotton cloth and ornamented with figures embroidered with red thread, palm hat, and pata de gallo sandals. The women used to wear a skirt made from a long narrow strip of coarse cotton cloth wound around the body and held by a belt, a blouse with short sleeves and a square neckline ornamented with figures embroidered with red thread, and the indispensable rebozo. Their native ornaments have entirely given place to plastic trinkets and other common articles. The zone is interconnected by side roads on which a quite regular truck service runs. Dirt roads take travelers through the rest of the towns on pack animals or on foot. The system of weights and measures is in a state of transition. The liter, maquila, cajon, carga, and kilogram are in use; for distances, the league and the kilometre. Agricultural produce is measured in cargas; woven palm products, by the dozen and the gross. 494

ECONOMY

Men are in charge of agricultural chores; women, care of the home and the abovenoted crafts. Children help their parents according to their sex and age (boys, their father; girls, their mother). Owing to lack of evolution of their economy, there are no full-time specialized occupations. Trades and crafts serve only to supplement the family economy. Land tenure has changed to private and ejidal property. Only lands that are not economically productive persist as communal. The market of San Juan Ixcaquixtla is the most important in the zone. In Ahuatempan there is a smaller market. Near Rosario Xochitiopan, on Tuesdays, a conventional cattle market is set up which is known as the portezuelo, where cattlemen from the entire region congregate to buy or sell. In small communities, shops augment the commercial supply. Temporary migrations to the sugar mills

POPOLOCA

in the state of Veracruz are common. Permanent emigration to important industrial and urban centers (Puebla, Orizaba, Cordoba and the Federal District) is evident. Wealth is directly related to status within the communities' social patterns. The distinctive mark of wealth is the ownership of land for agricultural exploitation. SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

The nucleus of social organization is the monogamous and patrilineal family, with a tendency toward the extended family. Kinship terminology follows the Spanish forms adopted throughout Mexico. Some of the terms in the Popoloca kinship system are borrowed from Spanish, except that they have been adapted to the phonetics of the native language. An important institution among these people is the compadrazgo, which takes various forms. The most important is the one which results from the baptism of a child. Some of the communities are divided into barrios which have no clearly established function. In some cases, the barrios separate the inhabitants by ethnic groups (Nahua, Popoloca, or Mixtec) or by type of land tenure {ejidatarios and small landowners ). Municipal authorities (seven regidores in office and seven substitute regidores, of whom one is elected president) are elected by popular vote. These designate the men who will assume the remaining posts and appoint the religious officials (sacristans, fiscales, and topiles). Civil offices are for three years, religious offices only one. In the towns where there are barrios a fiscal is appointed for each barrio. In some towns mayordomos are assisted by diputados, who collaborate economically in the celebration of the fiestas of the town's patron saint. The Popoloca have only a vague idea of their location with respect to the republic.

Their awareness goes no farther than Mexico City, Tehuacan, and Puebla. RELIGION

One does not find nahualismo, tonalismo, or aboriginal supernatural beings. The belief is held that man is made up of three entities: body, heart (which goes to heaven, to hell, or to purgatory when he dies), and feeling (which flies through the air when he dies). Propitiatory practices have recently declined. Today only incense is burned and fowl are sacrificed to insure a good crop, under the direction of the hechiceros. In the past the entire town went to the sacred places to make offerings to the land, sacrificing goats and many turkeys. Witchcraft is so firmly rooted that there is hardly anyone who has not had, at some time, connection with witchcraft. The folklore contains a great many stories and fables related to the creation of the sun and episodes among animals. The most common illnesses are those related to the digestive tract and respiratory system. The people resort to curers, who gather medicinal herbs from the countryside. Recourse to modern doctors occurs only in extremity, when the patient can no longer be saved by the curers. Doctors (one or two at the most) practice in the important towns. "Bad air" is the most common "suffering" in the region. There are also "soul-loss" and "fright." RECREATIONAL PATTERNS

Recreation is found in making elaborate palm-leaf toys and ornamental sleeping mats, making fireworks and piñatas for "las posadas." Almost every town has a band (fig. 7) to entertain at fiestas and dances, which are popular among the villagers. Hardly any of the old dances, music, and dramas survive, but in San Felipe Otaltepec, during 495

FIG. 7—BAND, SAN FELIPE OTLALTEPEC

carnival, a parody (spoken in Popolocan) is performed on the most salient events which have recently taken place in the town. In the fiestas for the patron saint gaiety overflows and gives the town the appearance of a picnic. At night castillos and toritos (fireworks) are set off, cockfights are held, lotteries are played, merchants from the environs arrive, and alcoholic beverages are sold. During the afternoon, "bullfights" are staged in the improvised bullring made from planks; these are rather reminiscent of Texan rodeos. LIFE CYCLE

During pregnancy few taboos are observed by the future mother. At delivery the midwife aids the parturient, while the husband 496

holds her with the rebozo when she lacks strength to help by pushing. The woman gives birth in a crouching position. Four days afterward she is bathed in a tamascal improvised with sleeping mats inside the house (fig. 9). The child is baptized within six days. A godfather of good economic position is sought, for it is he who pays for the church expenses, the music, and the fireworks. The child's father gives a party in his own house for the occasion. The mother is responsible for educating the child during the early stages of socialization. Children are treated with great care and addressed by diminutives and a soft voice. In the sixth or seventh year boys learn local trades from their father, and girls are initiated in domestic chores. In

POPOLOCA

FIG. 9—TEMASCAL (SWEAT BATH) INSIDE HOUSE some towns disobedient children are severely punished. They may be exposed to asphyxiating smoke from burned chiles or strung up by their thumbs. Between the fourteenth and sixteenth year marriage—the most important ritual in Popolocan life—is celebrated. After a brief engagement period the groom's parents name a representative to begin talks (two or three) with the bride's parents regarding the wedding. On these visits the go-between takes gifts and beverages. When agreement is reached, the presents are accepted, which is a way of paying a bride price. Sometimes money, sometimes food and domestic animals are paid. The night before the wedding the bride's peinadura (a ritual in which the godmother combs the bride's hair) is held in the padrinos' house, with music and aguardiente.

The day of the wedding food is sent to the bride's house, and a great party is held in the groom's house. On that day the groom is obliged to feed anyone who visits him. The newlyweds take up residence at the groom's house until their first child is born, then they build their own home. When an adult dies, a cross of ashes is laid in front of the house altar. A band is taken to the vigil, intoxicating beverages are served, and cigarettes abound. On the way to the cemetery, they pass by the church, where they pray for the eternal rest of the dead person's soul. Music accompanies the funeral party. On return, food is served to the participants, and a novena is begun during the night. At the end of the novena the "compadre of the raising of the cross" takes the ash cross for burial at the place where the corpse was buried. 497

ETHNOLOGY

REFERENCES Basauri, 1928a, 1940c Belmar, 1905a Cook de Leonard, 1953 González Casanova, 1925 Hoppe, 1960 Lehmann, 1920 León, 1902a, 1905

498

Medina, 1960 Mendizábal and Jiménez Moreno, 1936 Starr, F., 1899b, 1900-02 Vivó, 1941 Weitlaner, 1960 Williams, A. F., 1946

25. The Ichcatec

WALTER A. HOPPE and ROBERTO 7. WEITLANER

S

PEAKERS OF IcHCATEC (also commonly called Ixcatec) have dwindled to a single town, Santa Maria Ichcatlan, enclaved in the easternmost part of the Mixteca Alta, northern Oaxaca (see map, Art. 26, fig. 1). The natural environment does not differ much from that of the Chocho and Mixtec. Post-Hispanic historical data on the group are almost nil. Cook (1958, pp. 12-14) points out that probably seven towns disappeared, possibly owing to lack of water. In the Revolutionary era a typhoid epidemic, compounded by lack of food, caused great mortality. The population in pre-Hispanic times is estimated at some 10,000, but now it reaches only 1000, a figure that has remained unchanged owing to emigration and infantile mortality. The region was visited by Cook and Weitlaner in 1939; in 1956 Borah accompanied Cook. Walter Hoppe collected field data in 1961. Maria Teresa Fernández de

Miranda visited Ichcatlan for linguistic study. SUBSISTENCE PATTERNS AND FOOD HABITS

Subsistence is based on maize, supplemented by beans and alberjon. Food plants not used by the Chocho but eaten by the Ichcatec are laurel, tempesquistle, chía, and huautli, as well as squash, maguey, and nopal flowers. Meat consumption is the same as that of the entire region, but madrona worms and honey from imported Spanish bees and from native bees are added. Narcotics and stimulants include peyote and toloache (although usage was not observed), coffee, and tobacco. Alcoholic beverages are mescal, aguardiente, fruit wines, and pulque. TABLE 1—ICHCATEC Municipio

Locality

Santa Maria Ichcatlan

Santa Maria Ichcatlan

POPULATION 1930

1940

1950

978

994

1058

499

FIG. 1—1870 MAP OF SANTA MARIA IXCATLAN

FIG. 2—YEAR CYCLE

FIG. 3—IXCATLAN. á. Center of town, b, Thatch-roofed houses, c. Tile-roofed house with oven for baking bread. d, Hearth.

There are two meals each day, one in the morning and another one in the afternoon, which consist of tortillas, beans, and chile. SETTLEMENT PATTERNS

Settlement is of the congregated type. A great central square for fiestas is surrounded by public buildings (fig. 3,a). Cultural transition is apparent in the type of buildings: everything from houses built from solid materials with tile roofs (fig. 3,c), to huts with palm-thatched roofs (fig. 3,b). Dimensions of huts vary from 4.50 to 6 m. The furniture consists of plank benches, a

table, an altar, a hearth of three stones (fig. 3,d), and sleeping mats. Relations between the towns are not cordial, owing to difficulties regarding boundaries. TECHNOLOGY

Agricultural implements include the Egyptian plow, hoe, and iron shovel. Economically, the main craft is weaving palm for hats, its importance being due to the insufiiciency of agriculture. A type of hat called "ichcateco" has been created, selling for 50 centavos. Three a day are 501

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 4 — F A M I L Y WEAVING, IXCATLAN

woven; sometimes they are exported to other towns of the region. Palm comes from a place where it is abundant called El Palmar. Working palm requires a certain amount of humidity so the fronds are kept in caves outside the house, as in Chocho towns. The native dress has disappeared completely. Now the typical clothing of the Mexican peasant is worn: drill pants and cotton shirts. The women wear cotton dresses and aprons. Transportation is by way of the dirt road which leads to Tecomavaca and connects with the railroad from Mexico City to Oaxaca. Locally beasts of burden carry the produce. The system of weights and measures is in a state of transition, for the decimal system is used concurrently with the old measures, such as ounce, arroba, carga, and league. ECONOMY

As throughout the region, the man is in charge of agricultural chores, the woman takes care of the household and children. 502

The entire family works at weaving palm

(fig· 4). Trades and crafts, such as carpentry, butchery, masonry, or hairdressing, do not contribute much to the family economy. Land tenure is both private and communal. Private land is represented by the house plots (solares), which offer little chance of growing anything. Communal lands are on the mountain slopes, which provide only cattle pasture and firewood. Necessities are supplied by the established merchants, in whose shops one can get everything from maize to "medicines." Patrilocal extended families are characteristic of the Ichcatec. The compadrazgo is firmly rooted, with very strict norms of mutual respect. POLITICAL

ORGANIZATION

Two barrios exist, San Jose and San Antonio, but they have no socio-political function. The authorities, elected every three years by popular vote, consist of the president, a síndico, and three regidores, who then appoint the civil and religious officials.

ICHCATEC

Among the latter, the fiscales and sacristans serve one year. Among the mayordomías the most important is that of the El Señor de las Tres Caídas, whose fiesta is celebrated on May 7 and which draws pilgrims from places as remote as Huautla (where Mazateco is spoken). The town's most important fiesta, however, is Cuarto Viernes. RELIGION

Among the myths, the "dios de la lluvia" who lives in the Cañada de la Palma Blanca, is salient. In the past, offerings of food, fowl, flowers, and incense would be left and later buried. Next day it would rain, and a white cloud would appear at dawn. Goblins and the "owners" of the place are well known. On the roadsides there are numerous cairns. There are also crosses which are venerated with branches and fresh flowers; walkers then strike their feet with these branches so that the tiredness will disappear. The curers are specialists in the cure of "fright" and "air," using herbs, eggs, alcohol, and wax. The most common illnesses are those of the respiratory system and the digestive tract; they are treated with local medicinal herbs. AESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL PATTERNS

Among the few artistic manifestations are baskets (tenates), which are beautifully woven with vivid colored figures, and in which they carry candles to the cemetery on the Day of the Dead. The dance which takes place on September 8, called Los Santiaguitos, is accompanied by reed whistle and a drum made from leather and brass. During Carnival, the dance of Los Huehuetonas is held. The town also has a brass band. LIFE CYCLE

During pregnancy, a woman does not hold

FIG. 5 — I R O N WORKER, IXCATLAN

to any special diet. Certain taboos are kept by women who are breast feeding, for there is the fear that they might cause the evil eye. To facilitate delivery, a common cress, chocolate, and altamiso flower beverage is given. The woman gives birth in a crouching position. The midwife receives the child, ties the umbilical cord with a candlewick, and leaves about 12 cm. of it to fall off by itself. They tie the mother's head with a handkerchief and girdle her stomach. Immediately she is given macho sauce, dried beef, and some very strong coffee. The child is dressed and is taken to a woman who is nursing to breast-feed him until the mother is able to do it. On the second day the mother is taken to the temascal (fig. 6), but before going inside she is bathed with 503

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 6—TEMASCAL (SWEAT BATH), SANTA MARIA IXCATLAN

leaves of laurel, pericón, and octavio. Once in the sweat bath, she is struck with a bunch of red oak or zapote and is given three consecutive baths; she is given six or seven baths in all. The milk starts flowing during the first bath, and the midwife massages her with angeles leaves to soften the breasts. On the eighth day the remaining umbilical cord falls off and is burned along with some clothing. It is mixed with grease and made into a poultice which is applied to the navel with a sash so that "the air will not enter." The rest of the cord is kept to cure infections in the child's eyes. When the navel has closed, the poultice is removed, tied along with the placenta in a clean rag, placed in a basket and hung from a tree, so 504

that the child will not be afraid to climb trees. It may also be buried outside the house. For the baptism, the parents select a couple through an envoy. Once the priest has baptized the child, the sacada de misa (see Article 26) is performed. The degree of illteracy is very great owing to the irregular operation of the rural school because teachers are lacking. Marriage takes place between 18 and 20 years of age. The father of the girl is notified through a go-between. During the three visits of the petition to find out her parents' answer the boy's father assumes charge and takes a bottle of liquor each time. Once the request has been accepted, the marriage contract {cerrada de palabra)

ICHCATEC

is effected, and the date of the wedding is fixed. The groom arranges the banquet and takes gifts to the bride. On the night before the wedding, the peinadura (a ritual in which the godmother combs the hair of the bride) is carried out in the padrinos' home; drinking and dancing go on all night. After the religious ceremony, the newlyweds give a banquet in both houses. The first night they sleep in the padrinos' home. Next day, the sponsors find a man with experience to give advice to the newlyweds. They go to live at the groom's parents' home. At death the corpse is laid on a lime cross drawn on the floor in front of the house altar. It is dressed in its best clothes, and shoes woven from "blessed palm" are put on the feet so that he will not injure his feet when going to heaven. A stone is placed as headrest, a crucifix laid on the

chest and a rosary on the neck, the head tied with a handkerchief. A representative notifies the authorities, relatives, and friends. Aguardiente, mescal, and coffee are consumed at the wake, and sometimes music plays throughout the night. On the way to the cemetery, the procession goes by the church, where a rosary is said for the "blessed souls." The novena begins during the night, led by a rezador. When the novena is finished, on the nearest Saturday or Monday, the "raising of the cross" is carried out. A rezador is found who prays at the church and leaves a basin with flowers. Then a dinner is served in the dead person's home, after which the basin and the headrest are taken to the cemetery where they are buried in the grave. Finally a cross or monument is erected.

REFERENCES Cook, 1958 Fernández de Miranda, 1959 González Casanova, 1925 Hoppe, 1961 León, Í., 1902a, 1903a Peña, 1950

Starr, F., 1899a, 1900-02 Weitlaner, 1940b

505

26. The Chocho l

WALTER A, HOPPE and ROBERTO J. WEITLANER

C

HOCHO MAKE their home in the Mixteca Alta in northern Oaxaca (fig. 1). The area lies between 17°36' and 17°57' north latitude and 97°9' and 97°36' west longitude. It includes the municipalities of the ex-district of Coixtlahuaca and La Trinidad Vista Hermosa, San Antonio Acutla, Teotongo, and Tamazulapan, in the district of Teposcolula. The last town was divided into two barrios: one belonging to the Chocho and the other to the Mixtec. The extremely broken terrain is traversed by eroded mountain chains, which show here and there the gray limestone and the white hardpan (tepetate) underlying the humus in most of the Chocho habitat. Rains are infrequent but torrential. The temperature is extreme, lowered in winter by freezing winds. The flora and fauna are impoverished. One of the few items of historical infor-

506

mation on the Chocho, and perhaps the most important, was the second catechization by Padre Abrego, the first one having failed. P. Antonio Gay reports that Fray Geronimo Abrego, by a show of goodwill, persuaded the Indians to point out to him the place where they practiced their idolatries. This was a cave which one could enter by various passageways. By destroying the stalactite they regarded as a deity he accomplished the definitive evangelization of the Chocho. During the Mexican Revolution, there was such scarcity that people ate the barrel cactus. Frederick Starr visited the area at the beginning of the century. Roberto J. Weitlaner (1948c) carried out linguistic and ethnographic studies at Teotongo and Tamazulapan. Seaford (1953, 1955) published on the economy and funeral rites. Leonardo Manrique (1959), visited Tulancingo, Nativitas, and Ocotlan. Saloman

FIG. 1—MAP OF CHOCHO AND ICHCATEC AREAS, OAXACA

FIG. 2 — A G R I C U L T U R A L CALENDAR

507

ETHNOLOGY TABLE 1—CHOCHO POPULATION

Municipio Concepcion Buenavista Magdalena Jicotlan San Antonio Acutla San Cristobal Suchixtlahuaca San Francisco Teopna San Juan Bautista Coixtlahuaca Santa Maria Nativitas San Mateo Tlapiltepec San Miguel Tequixtepec Santiago Ihuitlan Plumas Santiago Teotongo Tamazulapan Tepelmeme de Morelos Tepetlapa Tlacotepec Plumas La Trinidad Vista Hermosa

1930

1940

1950

1,674 504 616 767 542 4,821 1,790 1,040 1,663 561 1,269 1,889 1,876 460 1,075 541

1,609 425 658 642 746 6,336 2,074 1,000 1,685 703 2,099 2,172 1,845 528 1,034 619

1,105 346 635 577 621 5,314 2,235 834 1,522 1,226 2,912 2,041 1,834 545 879 641

The figures decrease because of considerable emigration to industrial centers. This emigration is due to the small opportunity of the Chocho's raising crops and to their exploitation by the buyers of palm hats.

Nahmad and Lorraine Beville (1959) made ethnographic studies in Ocotlan. Walter A. Hoppe (1960) visited all the towns recognized as Chocho; his data are the basis of this article. SUBSISTENCE PATTERNS AND FOOD HABITS

Maize is the principal item of the Chocho diet. Herbs and vegetables (cultivated and wild) include tomato, radish, onion, lettuce, chile, coriander, mint, pigweed, potato, and nopal. Fruits are peach, apple, quince, capulin, fig, tuna, orange, lemon, lime, plantain, white zapote, and blackberry. Goat is the meat oftenest eaten, because of its relative abundance. At fiestas, chicken and turkey are preferred. At the two daily meals, one at 11 in the morning, the other at 5 in the afternoon, tortillas with chiles, sometimes accompanied by beans, alherjones, and pulque, are eaten. Barbecued goat meat appears only on Sundays. There is no special place or furniture for having meals. The Chocho eat on 508

the floor and observe no hygienic procedure beforehand. After the meal, it is customary to say a prayer and give thanks to the entire family. The men take five or six tortillas with salt to the fields as midday nourishment. SETTLEMENT PATTERNS

Settlements are congregated, with the exception of Ocotlan, which is completely dispersed, and Teotongo, which is semicongregated. Relations between towns are, in general, good. Such problems as arise are due to the establishment of municipal boundaries. The questions are settled by the state agrarian authorities. TECHNOLOGY

The Egyptian plow in agriculture is almost universal, but recently the moldboard plow is being used. Additional implements are the shovel and the iron hoe. Irrigation is coming into use. For the home, pots, plates, pitchers, and

CHOCHO

comais are brought from Los Reyes Mezontla, Puebla (Popoloca-speaking), from Santo Domingo Tonaltepec Yucunshi (Mixteco-speaking), and from Ciudad de Oaxaca. Wooden spoons, metates without legs, milling stones (methpiles) (fig. 3), stone or earthen mortars for pounding {chirimoleras), blowing fans, small brushes and palm-leaf brooms, and reed baskets are acquired at the market. Crafts are very scarce. Palm weavers are the basis of the Chocho economy. In the past wool weaving was important, but today it is carried out only in Tulancingo, Ocotlan, Suchixtlahuaca, and Teotongo. Those who continue this craft weave the famous lanillas (white woolen shawls).

FIG. 3 — M I L L I N G STONES, SANTA CRUZ CALPULALPAN. Metate with short mano (metlapil).

FIG. 4 — C H O C H O DOMESTIC STRUCTURES. a, Hut, outside kitchen, and corral for goats, Coixtlahuaca. b, Thatched roof with oreja popoloca, Tulancingo. c, Entrance to cave for weaving, Tepetlapa. d, Temascal (sweat bath), San Antonio Acutla.

509

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 5 — H O U S E FRAMING, OCOTLAN

Other common trades and crafts are those of carpenter, mason, butcher, hairdresser, baker, shopkeeper, curer, musician, singer, prayermaker. Houses are built from various materials; some have quiote walls and some have sotol. Roofs are of palm and maguey leaves (figs. 4,b; 5 ) . In some towns the roofs have the oreja popoloca, a small projection from the ridge (fig. 4,b). The maguey roof lasts from two to four years; that of sotol and palm leaves, between six and 10 years. Buildings are about 8 or 10 m. long, 3 or 4 m. wide. Windows, if any, are far up and 3 or 4 m. high. Huts are 3 m. wide, 4.5 m. long, and 3-5 m. high. The doorway is the only source of light. Ventilation is obtained by the roof's parteaguas, with a small uncovered angle. The kitchen may be inside or annexed to the hut (fig. 4,a). 510

Maguey logs serve as seats, table and altar. Clothing hangs in a corner. Sleeping mats are usual but now the Chocho are beginning to use beds made from boards or from otate branches. To keep the palm moist for weaving hats, caves 2 m. deep have been built in the backyards (fig. 4,c). The roof is concave. One descends into its interior by four or five steps (fig. 7 ) . The family spends most of the time here weaving hats. The men wear trousers made from drill cloth, a shirt, a palm hat, and sandals; chamarras of drill and lanillas are worn in the winter. The woman wears a dress of coarse cotton cloth, a white blouse, and an apron of the same material. In the past women wore a coarse cotton shirt, slip and petticoat with vertical blue bands, a rebozo or mantilla, and a large triangular shawl covering the back and the chest. Transportation is by animal or on foot; for longer trips, by truck. The system of weights and measures is in transition. Liter, kilogram, ounce, maquila (of 5, 7, and 8 liters), fanega (22 maquilas), meter, and league are in use. Areas are traditionally measured by the quantity of maize planted. ECONOMY

Agriculture is the responsibility of men; women are in charge of domestic chores, education, and maintaining family equilibrium. Private property predominates. All families own their houses; renting is infrequent. The small cultivated plots are individually owned; only lands which are very infertile, where goats are pastured, are communal. Commercial supply is met by shops that sell maize, intoxicating beverages, and even cloth. This form of trade has largely replaced the market. The empleadores operate a twofold business, selling economic goods and buying the palm hats, which they resell in Tehuacan. The hat serves as

FIG. 6 — I N T E R I O R OF HUT. 1, Spindle whorl and wool. 2, Wooden stool. 3, Large pottery jars not in use. 4, Maguey leaf to hold masa. 5, Mano (hand milling stone). 6, Metate. 7, Three-stone hearth. 8, Fourth hearth stone.

FIG. 7—CAVE FOR WEAVING, OCOTLAN

511

ETHNOLOGY

currency; everything from foodstuffs to fines is paid in "hats." In the past there were two important markets: Coixtlahuaca and Ihuitlan Plumas. Today traveling salesmen reach, by truck, almost all the settlements. Today emigration is frequent to Mexico, Cordoba, Orizaba, Veracruz, Tehuacan, and Puebla. Emigration to the United States is not usual. Wealth is a symbol of social prestige. Status is directly related to personal wealth, and for this reason the most important public posts are filled by persons who are well off. The patrilocal extended family is characteristic of the Chocho. Mutual respect between members of the family is zealously observed, especially by women. Those who do not conform to the established mores are criticized harshly (see kinship chart, fig. 8). Compadrazgo reaffirms friendship ties and ties of respect between a child's father and godfather. This is apparent in the way they greet each other; they kiss on the shoulders and on the hands, and they perform mutual reverences. POLITICAL ORGANIZATION

The territorial units are: municipal center, municipal agency, police agency, ranchería, and ranchito. Each center is divided into barrios which have names of saints or of distinctive geographic features. In Coixtlahuaca there seem to be vestiges of a possibly religious function of the barrios, by virtue of which only the residents of a barrio can belong to the cofradía of the barrio's patron saint. Another barrio has a chief, who carries out the functions of municipal representative. The people elect the president, síndico, three regidores, and alcalde, who then designate the other officials (treasurer, comandante, topiles, etc.). They also name the church officials (fiscal, sacristans, etc.). The change of mayordo512

mos in the religious cofradías is under the care of the civil authorities. The cofradías keep the saint's image; his fiesta is organized by his mayordomo (fig. 9), The post of mayordomo was in the past compulsory, then voluntary; now (in some towns) the municipal authorities organize the fiesta with the economic cooperation of the townspeople. At present a mayordomía entails an expenditure of 5000 pesos. The officials assign communal service (tequio) on public works. They also check on school attendance, making the heads of families responsible for this; the latter very often evade this responsibility by sending their children out of the town, causing grave hindrance to formal education. RELIGION

Starr points out the effect of the moon on agricultural activities, and on rains and winds. In the folklore are references to the encantamiento, dueño del lugar, señor del cerro, del catrín, and the ojos de agua. The most common illnesses are those of the digestive tract and respiratory system. Curers use wild plants, liquids, and items such as eggs, rags, or images. The most common cures are the levantadas del pulso in which, in addition to the items just mentioned, candles and incense are also used. In the curada del lugar the spirit is returned to the sick person, from whom it had been taken by the "owner" of the place, who is compensated with an offering for returning the soul. The use of the temascal (figs. 4,d; 11) is common, especially for women who have recently given birth and for convalescents. AESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL PATTERNS

The artistic sense is expressed in the manufacture of hats, especially in Nativitas, where real masterpieces of art are made. The adornment of the altar is the pride of the family. There is nothing left of indigenous music.

CHOCHO

dancing, or drama. At present, popular music is played. Each town has its own band, which often goes out to compete with the musicians of the neighboring towns. The pelota mixteca is the favorite game, as well as basketball. At fiestas broncobusting and country dances are the popular entertainments. LIFE CYCLE

At the first labor pains, the woman takes a walk, and a cup of chocolate with sunflower herbs is given to her so that "the pains may quicken." She delivers in a kneeling position. The midwife receives the baby, cleans him with rags, cuts the umbilical cord, and sears the wound with candle grease until it is well cauterized. The mother is girdled and given a little mescal; both she and the child are given oil and sweet almonds. Next day the midwife washes the placenta with the umbilical cord and buries it at the foot of a maguey tree. Three days later the child is bathed with herbs in warm water. The mother is taken

FIG. 9 — S H E L T E R WHERE PATRON SAINT PROCESSION HALTS, COIXTLAHUACA

to the temascal for her "first bath," where the midwife bathes her with aromatic leaves and beats her with tender oak leaves. After six months the child is given cooked food; it is weaned at about 15 months. At

FIG. 10—PRINCIPAL RELIGIOUS FIESTAS

513

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. ll—TEMASCAL (SWEAT BATH)

the eighth or ninth month the mother teaches the child to walk and to learn the first words. When teaching a child the language, he should not be punished because he will lose the faculty of speech. In the sixth year, both boys and girls are initiated into the chores of palm weaving; in the eleventh or twelfth year they learn their obligations as adults. The parents choose a couple with whom they wish to establish compadrazgo relationships for the baptism of the child. They name their representative (tonishano), who communicates the parents' wishes to the future godparents. After baptism, the sacada de misa is carried out, which consists in taking the godchild to Mass accompanied by its mother. Marriage takes place between the ages of 18 and 20. The parents come to an agreement through the tonishanos. The baptism godparents serve as best man and woman; in case of their death others are chosen who should be a couple and have some kinship relationship. The night before the wedding, in the godparents' house, the bride's peinadura is carried out with dances and aguardiente. The peinadura is a prenuptial ceremony in which the godmother combs the hair of the bride. After the wedding, the

514

newlyweds go to live in the groom's parents' house until they have their own house. At death the corpse is dressed in its best clothes and laid over a lime cross placed on the floor in front of the altar. A blue river stone is placed under the head. The corpse is watched over the entire night. Mourners attend, taking beverages or money to meet expenses. The following day the authorities are notified, and obituaries (on black, handwritten paper) are handed out. The second night, when many more people attend, the band plays music, a lot of mescal, aguardiente, coffee, and bread are consumed, and cigarettes are plentiful. In the morning the musicians return, and the funeral procession departs in the midst of funeral melodies and ringing of the bells. The corpse is carried in a wooden box or in a sleeping mat. It is buried with all its clothes and personal effects so that "his or her belongings should not wander about." On the way to the cemetery they pass by the church where una vigilia is prayed. Nine days after, the lime cross is lifted and taken to the cemetery, where it is buried in the grave. A compadre of the "raising of the cross" is appointed, through the intervention of the tonishano.

CHOCHO

REFERENCES Basauri, 1928a, 1940c Belmar, 1901, 1905a, 1905b Escalante, 1958 García Granados, 1938 Gay, 1881 González Casanova, 1925 Hoppe, 1960 Lehmann, 1920 León, N., 1902a, 1903a

Manrique, 1959 Mendizábal and Jiménez Moreno, 1936 Nahmad and Beville, 1959 Peña, 1950 Seaford, 1953, 1955 Starr, P., 1899a, 1900-02 Vivó, 1941 Weitlaner, 1948c

515

27. The Mazatec

ROBERTO J. WEITLANER and WALTER A. HOPPE

w

EDGED BETWEEN t h e

States

of

Puebla and Veracruz, the Mazatec region lies in northern Oaxaca, between 18° and 18°30' north latitude and 96° and 97°45' west longitude (fig. 1). The topography varies from plains almost at sea level to mountains reaching up to 2500 m. The Mazatec region is mainly in the mountains and their small valleys. The irregular topography causes such diversity of climate and of flora and fauna that one cannot describe a uniform habitat for this group. The arrival of the Spaniards started a considerable decline in the aboriginal population through excessive exploitation of native labor and endemic diseases (measles, smallpox, and typhus) brought in by the conquerors. The catechization of the Mazatec is attributed to Fray Martin de Valencia, one of the first Franciscans, who established the seat of his mission first in Teotitlan and later in Villa Alta, where the Dominicans also set up headquarters. Catechization was 516

not complete, however, and the Indians continued to practice their idolatries in caves and at springs. There are today remnants of the old beliefs, such as the calendar of 18 months of 20 days each, still used in the agricultural cycle. There are few noteworthy happenings until the end of the last century, when cultivation of coffee was introduced and the number of haciendas was increased. Early in this century the economy was apparently prosperous, a condition that lasted until 1948, when the work of the Comisión del Papaloapan began. The building of roads and dams exposed the conservative Mazatec world, especially the lower segment, to the impact of "progress" in moving some 22,000 Indians, who are now in an upheaved state of acculturation. The Mazatec have been one of the Oaxaca groups most studied by anthropologists, sociologists, and linguists, some of whose reports are listed in the references at the end of this article. The total Mazatec population (1950 census) was 89,703, including

FIG. 1—MAZATEC AREA

more than 60,000 monolinguals (Villa Rojas, 1955). The Mazatec language reveals close connections with the Chocho, Popoloca, and Ichcatec, which form the MazatecPopoloca family. SUBSISTENCE PATTERNS AND FOOD HABITS

The Mazatec depend mainly on maize, beans, chile, and squash. Protein foods such as meat and eggs are considered a luxury, to be consumed only during important fiestas. Maize is used in many forms: tortillas— made by spreading the dough on plantain leaves (in the lowlands) or by patting the

dough between the hands (in the highlands)—tamales, totopos, pozole, and atole, A maize-base beverage, similar to the popo of the Chinantec, is concocted from a froth made with cacao and the root of the cocol· mecatl (Dioscorea remotiftora?). Meals are eaten three times a day. At 6 in the morning breakfast consists of coffee sweetened with panela, totopos, and squash or cooked manioc (Manihot esculenta). Midday lunch is beans, tortillas, chile sauce with garlic and tomato; sometimes only tortillas with chile. This menu is repeated for dinner, adding a little coffee. The diet is supplemented sometimes with wild plants. 517

ETHNOLOGY

At harvest time the fare is better, and during fiestas and banquets beef, chicken, and turkey are eaten to excess. SETTLEMENT PATTERNS

In general, settlements are congregated. Relations between the Mazatec towns are relatively cordial, and there are few rivalries among them. TECHNOLOGY

Agricultural implements in the highlands are the hoe, huingaro or curved machete, and the planting stick with a hardened tip. Some Indians plow with oxen. In the lowlands animals are not used, only the axe, machete, and planting stick. In both regions one finds pouches made from armadillo shell for carrying seed to the field. The crop is gathered in baskets and kept in granaries erected on stakes near the house. The most common trades and crafts are those of shopkeepers, bakers, seamstresses, tailors, cattlemen, marimba players, carpenters, masons, sawyers, and net weavers. These activities only supplement the family economy. Houses in the highlands are characterized by the oreja, a small projection in the roof ridge; this detail is not found in the lowlands. The orejas appear in almost all the auxiliary buildings. Leaves of sugarcane and, in the lowlands, grass or palm serve for roofing. Recently, waterproofed cardboard or tin is being adopted, a practice which is not very aesthetic but which confers prestige on the users. The irregularity of the terrain in the north necessitates that floors of buildings be on different levels. When houses are being built, friends and relatives are called upon to help out. At noon, a banquet is given to them with abundant food and aguardiente. This practice substitutes for paid labor. In some towns it is still common to sacrifice a chicken and to sprinkle its blood in the floor, before moving into a new house. In Huautla a few 518

cacao beans, eggs, and a small chicken are buried where the hearth is to be. The furniture is limited to small stools of hollowed trunks, small chairs, tables, an easy chair or curved leather seat (in the lowlands). The Mazatec sleep on mats or on otate or reed beds; in the lowlands they sleep in a hammock. In the kitchen there are three-legged metates, comais, cántaros, pots, plates, and earthen or pewter cups. Metates are gradually being replaced by hand grinders. The hearth usually consists of three stones, but recently the Mazatec have taken to placing the stones over an adobe bench or box containing earth and upheld by four stones. The kitchen very often occupies a special building. Wearing apparel does not differ much, except for local varieties. Women wear a petticoat and a full huipil, lavishly adorned with multicolored embroidery (fig. 2). When outdoors they wear a rebozo. Necklaces and earrings with blue and red beads are their jewelry. Feminine clothing is being rapidly replaced by commercial cotton cloth; this saves money, but is deplorable from a cultural point of view. Men wear calzones, shirt, straw hat, and sandals. Beasts of burden and trucks transport people and goods along the few roads which the Comisión del Papaloapan has built. Weights and measures are the traditional ones (maquila, carga, etc.), along with the metric system. ECONOMY

The foundation of the economy is agriculture. Maize, beans, chile, and squash are produced for home consumption. Coffee, tobacco, ajonjolí, and rice are raised as cash crops. In the lowlands two crops a year— temporal and tonamil are obtainable. Land tenure is communal, private, or ejidal. In the lowlands construction of a dam has changed the nature of tenure,

MAZATEC

FIG. 2—MAZATEC WOMEN AND CHILD, HUAUTLA DE JIMENEZ

but one cannot yet say which system the Indians will accept. In the highlands the most important market is at Huautla, where all the necessary commodities may be found. In the lowlands there is no fixed market, and necessities are supplied by shops. In spite of the environmental difficulties, there is practically no emigration in search of a better life. Generally, wealth is possessed by the socalled gente de razón, who occupy the top level of society. The paisanos, economically inferior, try to imitate their ways and station. Residence is patrilocal, with tendency

toward an extended patrilocal family. The kinship terms reflect acceptance of the European pattern. An interesting system of naming obtains in which almost always the father's first given name is used as a surname among the less acculturated Indians of Ichcatlan. For example, the father's name is Juan Pedro, the son's name will be Lucas Juan, and the grandchild's name will be Miguel Lucas. This system of naming makes the understanding of the kinship system difficult. POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATION

The territorial units, pueblos, villas, and rancherías, have different political functions. 519

ETHNOLOGY

The municipal authorities are elected every two years by the townspeople. The candidates have to be previously approved by the Consejo de Ancianos (chotaj-chinká), in which the barrios of each town are represented. To be an elder one must have occupied the most important religious and political posts. Elders decide, ultimately, on the town's important issues. The barrios do not have a clearly established function but seem to follow certain historical survivals, since certain surnames are associated with certain barrios (Huautla), and a certain degree of endogamy exists among the barrios. The mayordomía is the most important feature of the religious organization. Its function is to take care of the patron saint during the year and to enhance the splendor of the fiesta. A group of auxiliary persons helps the mayordomo with the fiesta expenses. Communal work (tequio) takes on exceptional importance here and is performed with the compulsory assistance of officials and citizens alike. An important detail is the custom of the municipal president of Huautla, at the busiest hour of the weekly market day, to inform the inhabitants, in the Mazatec language, about the most important events in the municipality and in the nation. This is an important aid to the formation of group spirit. RELIGION

The predominant religion is Catholic, but there are clearly pagan aspects, such as the cult to the spirits or "owners" (dueños) of hills, water springs, and caves, as well as to "Father Thunder," "Father Sun," and "Mother Moon." The lords of the hills show special goodwill to favorites who wish to turn into witches and thus obtain invulnerability. Such people have to submit to various ordeals. The Rabon hill occupies an excep520

tional place among the pagan supernaturais, and its influence is felt even by the Chinantec. In the lowlands, in the cave called Cabeza de Tilpan, propitiatory ceremonies are performed, with frequent use of chicken, copal incense offerings, and prayers. The dueños of the earth are especially feared. During the night the real names of a person should not be mentioned, because the dueños get angry and bring about his or her death. Belief in nahuales is common among this group and its neighbors. There is also a secret cult to the fertility goddess (chumahe), especially when the milpa begins to grow. Curers are very active and are called on to "heal" as well as to do evil and even to cause death. The "air," "fright," and soulloss are causes of illnesses that only a curer can cure; the lost soul is recaptured by the curer in a pot. The elements used in divinatory and curative practices and in curing include piciete (wild tobacco); sacrifices in fields, caves, or hills; divination by casting maize and sacrificing birds, but mainly by using curative bundles containing eggs, fig-tree paper, feathers, copal, herbs, and coins. Cacao represents wealth and prosperity, eggs represent strength, brilliant feathers of various colors represent the witness; they are indispensable in all esoteric ceremonies, as is also the locally manufactured fig-tree paper which represents a promise. Copal is used not only in curing but also in the ceremonies. All these objects are openly sold in the Huautla market. The use of hallucinogenic mushrooms or semillas de la virgen (ololiuhqui), and other narcotic plants deserves special mention. It is the hechicero who takes the narcotic but the mushroom that speaks through him. The piciete is effective in combating tiredness as well as gaining protection against witchcraft—but it is also effective in causing it.

MAZATEC

The entire complex of invocatory ceremonies hinges on the fundamental Middle American principle that the supernaturais can be magically coerced. Gastrointestinal and respiratory maladies are the most common ones. Modern medicine and native curing alternate in their therapy. The temascal is well known in the highlands for convalescence, but its use in the lowlands is doubtful. AESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL PATTERNS

The most conspicuous aesthetic manifestation is the beautiful Mazatec huipiles. Another aspect is their love of music, and almost all towns have at least one band. In the principal fiestas bands from neighboring towns get together to compete. Religious fiestas offer the best opportunity to get relief from the monotonous life of this quite conservative region. LIFE CYCLE

In the fourth month of pregnancy a woman massages her abdomen "to arrange the belly." In the eighth month, the curer commences to pray to propitiate the gods, and rubs ground tobacco with lime on her forearms to prevent witchcraft. The woman gives birth in a crouching position. The midwife receives the child, ties the umbilical cord with a thread, severs the cord with scissors and cauterizes it with a hot machete. Later, the baby is bathed with hot water, girdled, and clothed. The mother is also girdled and rests for three weeks, during which time she abstains from eating irritating foods. The parents seek a candidate for godparent. Once he has been found, an emissary is sent to find out if he accepts. The baptism is performed when the priest comes to the town. In the highlands "the washing of the hands" has been preserved. This is a ceremony, possibly pre-Hispanic in part, in which the parents honor the godparents by

washing their hands and then giving them a sumptuous banquet. The mother is in charge of total enculturation of the women and partially of the men (social aspect); work is learned by the boy from his father. School is a recent institution, which apparently is well accepted and where the teaching of Spanish is proceeding at a fast rate. In the most conservative towns, the parents choose the bride. They send to the girl's parents' house an old man or an emissary who takes aguardiente and subtly discloses his senders' intentions. These visits are repeated three or four times, at the end of which both sets of parents fix the date of the wedding and the length of time the boy is to remain in his in-laws' house, to render them obedience and to learn about the family's customs. On the night before the wedding, the girl is bathed in a spring by various women who are the sponsors. The couple are married by the state, and then by the church when the priest comes to the town. They move, in some cases, into the bride's parents' house, but they return to his residence until they decide on their own home, within the husband's group. The church bells announce a death. The corpse is bathed and dressed in new or clean clothes, and placed on a cot or the floor, surrounded with black candles. The wake is a good occasion for boisterous frolic; food, drink, and tobacco are plentiful. The corpse is taken to the cemetery in a wooden box, accompanied by the band which plays melodies that were the deceased's favorites. During the wake a cross of ashes or lime is made in the place occupied by the corpse, and remains throughout the novena. At the end of the novena the "godfather of the arising," amid prayers and songs, lifts the cross and the following morning deposits it on the grave. It is still customary to bury with the 521

ETHNOLOGY

corpse some of his agricultural implements, comb, clay vessels, water, and a small sack with ajonjolí seeds or seeds from a plant called alegría. These seeds will serve as money in the "other life." It is believed that the dead person will remain for four days after death taking

leave of his friends, relatives, and favorite places. At the end of this period, he starts out on the voyage to the place of the dead; when he gets to a river, a black dog awaits him to help him across so that he can continue his long voyage.

REFERENCES Aguirre Beltrán, 1950 Cowan, F. H., 1946, 1952 Cowan, G. M., 1946, 1948, 1954 Hasler, 1960 Heim and Wasson, 1958 Johnson, J. B., 1939a, 1939c Pike, E. v., 1948 Pozas, I. H., 1949

522

Pozas Α., R., 1960 Starr, F., 1900-02 Stavenhagen, 1960 Villa Rojas, 1948, 1955 Wasson and Wasson, 1957 Weitlaner, 1952a, 1961 and Johnson, 1946 Williams García, 1953

28. The Chinantec

ROBERTO J. and HOWARD

T

HE CHINANTLA is a relatively small region in northwestern Oaxaca (fig. 1). Botanists, active in exploring the rich flora of its tropical rain forests, restrict the botanical Chinantla to a smaller territory than is customary among historians and anthropologists (Schultes, 1941b). The latter consider within its bounds all modern settlements where Chinantec has been spoken as the major language. This Chinantla is comprised of 14 municipios, each with several lesser dependent communities fig. 3; municipio boundaries are shown in Lemoine, 1954). The area, watered by several main rivers, lies entirely in the Papaloapan River Basin. The eastern extremities of the Chinantla are bounded by the foothills of the eastern Sierra Madre. Its spur ranges divide the area into subregions; all the Chinantla is mountainous. High humidity from heavy rainfall and condensation on Atlantic slopes combine with a generally warm climate to overlay the Chinantla with heavy forest cover. Inaccessability of the area, small

WEITLANER F. CLINE

population, lack of readily tillable lands or exploitable minerals, all relegated the Chinantla to a marginal position in colonial days. It has always been subdivided for administrative purposes; local centers of power have been outside the area at some distance from one another and from that separate portion of the Chinantla for which each was responsible (fig. 4). Many modern settlements date from precontact times. Survival of legends, colonial mapas and lienzos, as well as two Relaciones Geográficas (Esquivei, 1579; Quijada, 1579), permits tentative reconstruction of the area (Espinosa, 1910; Cline, 1953a, 1961b). On arrival of the Spaniards in 1519, seemingly the Chinantla was already split into two main groups, Chinantla Grande (lowland) and Chinantla Pichinche (highland), with two semiautonomous realms of the latter centered at Yoloxinequila and at Usila (Espinosa, 1910; Cline, 1957, 1961a). Little is known about a possible third such realm that may have included Malinaltepec and Xocotepec. Figure 523

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 1—MAIN NATIVE GROUPS IN EASTERN OAXACA

4 summarizes the approximate location of ancient Chinantec communities and main administrative boundaries of the area. Interaction of geography and a long history carves the modern Chinantla into five subregions, each with discernible cultural and ecological characteristics (fig. 5). Bevan (1938, pp. 147-48) adumbrated only four main Chinantec groups; our recent analysis suggests that the areas he combined as "northern and western" in fact form two distinct subregions. Main features of the five are summarized in Table 1. Oemografhy The concept of "native" has varied, as has the area considered the Chinantla, hence caution must be used in interpreting data on demographic trends. Table 2 indi524

cates a general rise in population from the late 19th century, when the first reliable estimates and national census data appear. The most recent data on the Chinantecspeaking population derive from the national census taken in 1950, comparable details for 1960 being unavailable. Table 3 summarizes the 1950 linguistic situation for the population over five years of age. It shows that Chinantec make up about 85 per cent of the population. Of the Chinantec group, more than a third still speak only Chinantec. There are significant differences among the subregions. Striking is the fact that the western (highland) group, most compactly Chinantec, at the same time is almost totally bilingual, a marked change from 1930. The impact of numerous national programs to raise educational and other cul-

CHINANTEC

TABLE 1—SUBREGIONS OF THE CHINANTLA

REGION

III

I

Ð

CENTRAL

EASTERN

WESTERN

IV

V

NORTHERN

NORTHWESTERN

Generic self-denomination

Hu-hmei

Wa-hmi

Dzah-hmi

None reported

None reported

Habitat

Forest

Rain forest Hot-warm, very humid

Scrub forest

Forest

Forest

Warm-cool, sub-humid

Warm, humid

Warm, humid

Lowland Zapotec

Highland Zapotec; Cuicatec

Mazatec

Cuicatec

Hot-warm, humid Neighbors

Non-native

Ancient territory

Chinantla Grande

ex-Chinantla Grande? Zapotec realm?

Chinantla Pichinche Yoloxiniquila realm

Chinantla Pichinche Usila realm

Chinantla Pichinche UsÜa realm

Ex-District (19th century)

Tuxtepec

Choapan

Ixtlan

Tuxtepec

Cuicatlan

Municipios 1960

Valle Nacional Chiltepec Jacatepec Ayotzintepec

Petlapa Lalana Jocotepec

Yolox Comaltepec Quiotepec

Usila

Ojitlan

Tlacoatzintepec Sochiapan

TOTAL CCMMUNPTIES

(1960)

66

46

11

71

9

TABLE 2—TOTAL CHINANTEC POPULATION, 1876-1960 DATE

POPULATION

PERCENTAGE CHANGE

SOURCE

SINCE 1900

1876 1883 1895

12,000 16,988 17,556

1900 1910 1921 1930 1940

20,419 21,732 20,484 24,836 20,381

1950 1960

32,953 40,000?

Estimate, Garcia y Cubas Estimate, Martínez Gracida National Census, I 6.5 0.3 21.6 0.0 46.6 100.0?

National National National National National

Census, Census, Census, Census, Census,

II III IV V VI

National Census, VII Estimate, Cline, 1962

525

FIG. 2—MAP OF CHINANTLA, OAXACA, MEXICO

FIG. 3 — C H I N A N T E C MUNICIPOS, 1950. 1, Valle Nacional. 2, Chiltepec. 3, Jacatepec. 4, Ayotzintepec. 5, Petlapa. 6, Lalana. 7, Jocotepec. 8, Yolox. 9, Comaltepec. 10, Quiotepec. 11, Usila. 12, Ojidan. 13, Tlacoatzintepec. 14, Sochiapan. TABLE 3 — C H I N A N T E C - S P E A K I N G POPULATION, 1950* SUBREGIONS AND

MUNICIPIOS

TOTAL POPULATION

SPANISH ONLY

CHINANTEC ONLY

SPANISH AND

CHI-

NANTEC

0\£R

PERCENTAGE CHI-

NANTEC-

NANTEC-

SPEAKING SPEAKING

5 YRS.

CENTRAL Valle Nacional Chiltepec Jacatepec Ayotzintepec

TOTAL CHI-

11,513 7,647 1,830 1,144 892

2,701 1,369 548 496 288

3,791 3,486 305

5,021 2,792 977 648 604

8,812 6,278 1,282 648 604

76.6 82.1 70.0 56.5 68.8

EASTERN Petlapa Lalana Jocotepec

7,251 1,113 4,582 1,556

1,018

3,481 835 1,910 736

2,752 278 2,101 373

6,233 1,113 4,011 1,109

85.9 100.0 88.0 71.2

WESTERN Yolox Comaltepec Quiotepec

3,673 1,389 1,240 1,044

64 18 2 44

235 235

3,374 1,371 1,238 765

3,609 1,371 1,238 1,000

97.5 99.0 99.9 96.0

NORTHERN Usila Ojitlan

14,014 4,080 9,934

2,043 97 1,946

5,929 3,382 2,547

6,042 601 5,441

11,971 3,983 7,988

85.5 96.5 80.4

2,474 847 1,627

146 23 123

1,242 1,242

1,086 824 262

2,328 824 1,504

94.2 97.2 92.4

38,925

5,972

14,678

18,275

32,953

84.5

NORTHWESTERN Tlacoatzintepec Sochiapan CHINANTLA

571 447

* Source: National Census, VII (various tables combined by Cline).

FIG. 4—ANCIENT CHINANTLA.

After Cline, 1950, pl. 7, revised by Cline, 1962.

CHINANTEC

FIG. 5—CHINANTLA SUBREGIONS

tural levels of native populations can be seen among the Chinantec, whose monolingualism has been considered a barrier to their forming an integral part of the Mexican nation. Although still high, monolingualism has decreased since 1930, when Bevan recorded it as 70.9 per cent (Bevan, 1938, p. 31). Table 4 shows changes from 1930 to 1950, probably also a rough index of acculturation tendencies. From it, it can be seen that a wide range exists from one municipio to another, within the same subregion. Figure 6 provides a diagrammatic view of municipios according to monolingualism reported for them. Since 1947 a major Mexican government program to develop the large Papaloapan Basin has resulted in rapid changes. This marginal and previously neglected area suddenly was provided with modern facili-

ties for communications and transportation, education, sanitation, and other features deemed necessary to a massive reclamation and resettlement project. Mazatec and Mixe Indian groups have been resettled, but effects on the Chinantec have been indirect (Cline, 1953b, pp. 382-87; 1962, pp. 74-76). Previous trends toward acculturation have thus been accelerated as many outside nonnatives have been drawn by these new opportunities to the Papaloapan Basin. The municipios forming the Chinantla, all within the Papaloapan Basin, have grown in the decade 1950-60. The regional increase of 29.3 per cent for them lies near the national average of 32.8 per cent, and is substantially above the general rise of 18.3 per cent for the state of Oaxaca (Cline, 1962, p. 335). Again there seems to be a notable variation among the subre529

ETHNOLOGY

TABLE 4—CHANGES IN CHINANTEC MONOLINGUALISM, 1930 õ. 1950* SUBREGIONS

AND

POPULATION

1930†

1950

MUNICIPIOS

S P E A K ONLY C H I N A N T E C

1930

1950

OVER 5 YRS.

NUMBER

NUMBER

1930 %

1950 %

CENTRAL: Valle Nacional Chiltepec Jacatepec Ayotzintepec

4,972 2,862 1,019 539 552

11,513 7,647 1,830 1,144 892

1,412 925 17 6 464

3,791 3,486 305 ... ...

28.4 43.8 3.2 6.0 91.5

32.9 45.8 3.2 0.0 0.0

EASTERN: Petlapa Lalana Jocotepec

4,342 719 2,642 981

7,251 1,113 4,582 1,556

2,237 624 1,227 386

3,481 835 1,910 736

80.4 86.8 62.8 52.6

48.0 75.0 41.6 47.2

WESTERN: Yolox Comaltepec Quiotepec

4,098 1,698 755 1,645

3,673 1,389 1,240 1,044

3,523 1,290 606 1,627

235 . .. ... 235

86.5 76.6 81.5 99.2

6.1 0.0 0.0 14.3

11,374 4,315 7,059

14,014 4,080 9,934

7,626 3,323 4,303

5,929 3,382 2,547

62.0 77.5 76.3

43.7 82.8 25.6

2,012

2,474

1,788

1,242

88.5

742 1,270

847 1,627

735 1,053

... 1,242

99.1 83.8

50.3 0.0 71.6

26,798

38,925

16,586

14,678

61.8

37.6

NORTHERN: Usila Ojitlan NORTHWESTERN:

Tlacoatzintepec Sochiapan CHINANTLA

* Source: National Census data, rearranged and tabulated by Cline. f Total, but percentages of municipios on population over 5 years old.

gions, the western and central areas showing rather large growth, the northern and northwestern significantly less. Table 5 summarizes these trends. Literature The scientific literature on the Chinantec is neither extensive nor fully adequate. There is scattered material of small consequence earlier (Starr, 1899b, 1900-02; Toor, 1928). Reliable reports date after 1934 when a series of reconnaissance expeditions undertaken by the Weitlaners and Bevan delimited the Chinantla and sketched its principal features; the most complete report on these expeditions and still the point of departure for modern studies is Bevan, 1938. The main corpus of data following it is 530

in the writings of Roberto Weitlaner, with collaborators and students. Cline, who has published on ethnohistory, also provides a comprehensive bibliography of all writings on the Chinantla to about 1960 (Cline, 1956, 1961b). The area tends to be unusual, if not unique, in having a monographic series devoted exclusively to it; the Mexican Institute of Anthropology and History has published three volumes in the Tapeies de la Chinantla, the first of which appeared in 1954 (Weitlaner and Castro, 1954; Barreda, 1730; Cline, 1961b), with others scheduled to follow. LovnLAND CHINANTEC

hy Roberto J. Weitlaner The lowland Chinantec are included in Subregions I, II, IV, and V defined above,

CHINANTEC

FIG. 6—CHINANTEC MONOLINGUALISM. Municipios, 1950. 1, Valle Nacional. 2, Chiltepec. 3, Jacatepec. 4, Ayotzintepec. 5, Petlapa. 6, Lalana. 7, Jocotepec. 8, Yolox. 9, Comaltepec. 10, Quiotepec. 11, Usila. 12, Ojitlan. 13, Tlacoatzintepec. 14, Sochiapan.

TABLE 5—GROWTH O F CHINANTEC SUBREGIONS, 1950-1960* SUBREGIONS

T O T A L POPULATION

PERCENTAGE

REGIONAL

(native and non-native) 1950 1960

INCREASE

PERCENTAGE

1950-60

TOTAL

1960 Central Eastern Western Northern Northwestern Chinantla

13,965 8,899 4,244 16,931 2,953 46,992

19,439 11,819 5,960 20,164 3,409 60,791

39.1 32.8 40.5 19.0 15.2 29.3

31.9 19.6 9.8 33.2 5.5 100.0

* Source: Unpublished 1960 Census data furnished to Chne by Instituto Indigenista ínteramericano and Instituto Nacional Indigenista (Mexico); tabulations by Cline.

531

ETHNOLOGY

distinct in many respects from the western group (III) treated below (Bevan, 1938; Basauri, 1940d). For subsistence the lowland Chinantec constantly cope with tropical forest, a rich botanical area, difficult for human habitation. These portions of the Chinantla have one of the highest rainfall records in the republic, exceeded only by parts of Tabasco. Principal general sources are Bevan (1938), Lincoln (1939), and Weitlaner (1961). The last includes data on the central, northern, and northwestern subregions, arranged in comparative tables for a wide range of ethnographic traits and topics. Subsistence Systems and Food Patterns

FIG. 7 — W O M A N OF SAN FELIPE DE LEON. (Photo by Howard Brunson.)

FIG. 8—GRINDING MAIZE, USILA. (Drawing by Cayuqui Stage.)

532

The Chinantec do not differ from the vast majority of Mexican Indians who rely on maize and beans as basic foods. These the Chinantec supplement with fowl and pigs, plantings of yucca and yams, and fish from the numerous watercourses. Dairy products do not form part of the diet. Beef is a rarity, generally reserved for fiestas, and flesh of other domestic animals, sheep and the like, is even more uncommon. Nor is meat from the chase a significant item; in Tepinapa until recently blowguns to kill small game were in use. The Chinantec do gather wild fruits, among which tips of the tepejilote palm, abundant in winter, are highly esteemed. Cultivated fruits are scarce, but some communities utilize bananas and coconuts. Fish, repugnant to some mountain groups, adds to the diet of those on rivers. Nets, lines, and other fishing devices are employed; in Chiltepec the use of harpoons with detachable points survives. Fish may be cooked directly over the fire, but a form of stone-boiling is reported. In a shallow hole scooped out of the riverbank and lined with leaves, a mixture of chopped fish and seasonings is boiled by adding heated stones (Weitlaner, 1952b). A grill on a tripod serves to cook meats. Tortillas, a principal food, are made from

FIG. 9 — C H I L T E P E C , OAXACA. (Photographed by Donald Cordry, 1940.)

maize. The only noteworthy variation in technique is that often the dough is spread on green banana leaves. From the masa that is the basic stuff of tortillas also comes the chief food during hot seasons: pozole. It is a thin maize gruel, "sweet" if white or brown sugar is added, "bitter" if not. In addition to pozole, beverages include atole, another maize derivative, coffee, and cane tepache. In Usila and Ojitlan there is a characteristic festive drink, popo, made from diluted tortilla dough, cocoa, brown sugar, and stems of a vine {cocolmecatl) which produces foam. Alcoholic drinks, especially aguardiente, are used to excess. Tobacco (cigarettes and cigars) is common for males. Narcotic seeds and mushrooms

may exist in the eastern subregion but are not generally reported elsewhere in the lower Chinantla. Settlement and Habitation

Patterns

The variety of terrain among and within subregions, plus historical factors, have influenced settlement and occupancy patterns. There are congregated, semicongregated, and dispersed communities. The eastern subregion (Wa-hmi) communities are small, usually on promontories, whereas the western Chinantec prefer terraced mountainsides. Only the ancient seats of power, Usila and Valle Nacional (Chinantla Grande), are on valley bottoms, surrounded by hamlets on the adjoining slopes. 533

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 1 1 — H O U S E IN USILA. (Drawing by Cayuqui Stage.)

FIG. 10—MAIZE CRIB, USILA. (Drawing by Cayuqui Stage.)

A number of the major Chinantec communities were formed by the colonial authorities who "congregated" smaller ones, but colonial records are often so ambiguous that conflicting interpretations about town limits and lands keep ancient feuds alive. The instability of smaller communities also generates considerable litigation over boundaries. As new rancherías or ranchos are formed on unoccupied tracts, often at some distance from the parent municipality, questions of boundaries and status of the new places arise. In general town plans are variations of the standard pattern which Spanish administrators attempted to impose throughout New Spain (Cline, 1947). A plaza surrounded by the public edifices—church or chapel, curacy, jail, perhaps a school, and a meeting place for local authorities ("Pala534

FIG. 1 2 — L O W L A N D CHINANTEC ROOF TYPES. (After Weitlaner and Castro, 1954, figs. 11-13.)

GHINANTEC

FIG. 1 3 — L O W L A N D GHINANTEC HOUSES, a, Framing, b, Plan of interior. 1, Tortilla basket. 2, Water bowl. 3, Two coffee jugs. 4, Elevated plank holding coffee, fried beef, etc. 5, Jug of lime. 6, Thick plank seat. 7, Old metate for preparing clay. 8, Rope for suspending clothes. 9, Loom for huípiles. 10, Bag holding maize on the cob. 11, Notched pole ladder to attic. 12, Two stones to break and grind limestone. 13, Half of hollow metate for grinding stones. 14, Large pottery jug. 15, Rolled straw mats. 16, Suspended shelf holding eggs, lard, string beans, and vegetable soap. Under bed; basket and two chickens. Not shown: two old machetes and a new one; candles. (After Weitlaner and Castro, 1954,

fig. 8.)

cio Municipal")—are the usual elements, varied by size and importance of the community. Houses nearest the plaza are those of the principal persons. Larger communities are subdivided into barrios, on which few confirmed data exist. In Sochiapan the barrios are exogamic; elsewhere they are endogamic. In Ojitlan there appear to be vestiges of endogamic moieties or "halves," but its barrios seem to have arisen when the Spanish consolidated various ethnic (Mazatec, Chinantec) and locality groups into a single community in the late 16th century. Barrios are thus geographical divisions which also may have socio-cultural attributes, not fully understood at this time. The household plot usually contains the

main residence, surrounded by henhouses and pigpens. Storage sheds are not common on this plot; maize and other food are guarded within the house itself or in small sheds near the harvest, often quite distant from the community. Houses may be large, with a capacity of a dozen persons, although smaller dwellings are not unusual. The interior of the largest house is subdivided into sleeping quarters, dining room, and occasionally a kitchen. The latter usually is part of the dining quarters. All houses have packed dirt floors, but house types vary slightly from subregion to subregion depending on climate, resources, and tradition. They also may differ slightly within the same community according to social status and wealth of the owners. 535

FIG. 1 4 — H O U S E INTERIOR, USILA. (Drawing by Cayuqui Stage.)

FIG. 1 5 — H O U S E FURNISHINGS, USILA. a, Net larder tray suspended from roof, and details of construction. b, Kitchen utensils. (Drawings by Cayuqui Stage.)

536

CHINANTEC

In general, however, houses are rectangular structures (fig. 11), windowless, but with doors on opposite walls and open spaces under their thatched roofs for ventilation (fig. 12). Edges of the thatch are extended to form what the Chinantec call an "ear." The main roof tree is supported by four or six main posts, with transverse crossbeams to reinforce the edifice (fig, 13,a). The post may last as much as 50 years, but the thatch roof needs replacing after 15 or 20. Walls are made from thin tree trunks, strengthened along the base by a line of river stones. Technical details on lowland houses are readily available (Weitlaner and Castro, 1954, pp. 32-43). House furnishings are poor and simple (fig. 13,b; 14). Hanging from the roof are ropes and hooks to store clothing, fishing gear, machetes, and other items (fig. 15,a). Sleeping quarters contain low thin cane beds, covered with straw mats, or, lacking beds, merely mats on the floor. Tables and low stools or seats, rudely shaped in animal forms are customary furniture. On a special small table against a wall there is usually an altar covered with flowers, candles, and images. The cooking area contains a stove made from three or five stones, and a minimum of utensils and cooking vessels (fig. 15,b), the most used being the stone (metate) for grinding maize and the griddle (comal) on which the tortillas are cooked. Technology Apart from agriculture, the Chinantec have few significant technological activities. More and more those objects needed for daily life are imported from other areas as preconquest and even colonial crafts have decayed and recently disappeared. Acculturation since the broadened social and economic programs of the Mexican Revolution of 1910 began to touch this area around 1940 has diminished many of those that had survived to that time.

FIG. 1 6 — F I S H N E T , U S I L A . (Drawing by Cayu-

qui Stage.)

A persistent but declining craft is centered about the weaving of fibers, especially into baskets (Schultes, 1941c). Production of pita fibers is now confined to a few small communities of the eastern subregion (Wa-hmi) from whom their Zapotec neighbors purchase the fibers and to Usila in the northern subregion. Here it is locally made into net carrying bags (fig. 16). As reported by Bevan and Schultes, some years ago there was in the Petlapa-Teotalcingo zone of the eastern Chinantec a flourishing basket industry which now has nearly disappeared. Some coarse, unglazed pottery is still made in San Esteban Tectitlan, but even in late precontact times the Chinantla was not notable for ceramics. The preconquest form of loom survives (see vol. 6, Art. 8, fig. 1), but commercially produced cotton thread is used. Weaving is confined solely to production of the major feminine garment, the huípil. This long, sacklike vestment is then adorned with geometric or animal figures, embroidered or woven in gay colors. The most luxurious huipiles come from the western areas of the lower Chinantla. 537

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 17—USILA WOMAN IN FESTIVE DRESS. (Photo by Walter Hoppe.)

FIG. 18—GIRLS OF USILA, OAXACA. (Photographed by Donald Cordry, 1964.)

Feminine dress (fig. 17) is one of the most attractive features of the group. Under the distinctive huipil, a skirt is often worn; in certain localities this signifies that a woman is married. In some communities (especially Usila) an elaborate coiffure is made by carefully braiding and coiling hair with cloth strips into a crownlike arrangement (fig. 18). The costume is completed by a large collar, now of plastic or nylon, and earrings. Acculturation has changed or eradicated other traditional usages. Even the last vestiges of characteristic Chinantec male attire are gone. Men dress like other Mexican campesinos; they are not so likely to wear huaraches. In a conservative village like San Felipe de Leon a bandana on the head may denote a married man. Although communication programs are reducing the traditional isolation of the Chinantla, the ancient mode of travel persists. Chinantec walk or use waterways to transport themselves and their goods. Beasts of burden—horses, mules, burros—

are not common; the numerous watercourses restrict their use. Trails generally take direct lines up and down slopes. Larger streams and smaller rivers too deep for fording are traversed by swinging bridges (vine or wire) (figs. 19, 20), known as "hammocks" (Medinilla, 1883). Balsa rafts (fig. 21) or canoe ferries are found. Individual swimmers are sometimes aided by a short balsa stick held under one arm. From Usila and Valle Nacional balsa rafts carry goods and people downstream to Tuxtepec, where the rafts are dismantled and sold for wood. Chiltepec retains the use of dugout canoes with stabilizers; long light poles tied on each side form these outriggers.

538

Economy Above all, the Chinantec are farmers. Agriculture is not only their principal economic activity but their way of life. The ancient calendar, based on the agricultural round, still persists in a few places. It is noteworthy that of what seems to have been

CHINANTEC

an elaborate system only the portions closely related to the agricultural year survive (I. Weitlaner, 1936; Weitlaner and Johnson, 1946; Schulz, 1955). Principal crops, all subsistence items, are three types of maize (white, yellow, pinto), beans (principally black), squashes and calabashes, chayote, yams (camote), yucca, and a few onions. A small amount of cotton and occasionally a dwarf banana without much market value are grown. These items are consumed within the Chinantla, usually within the municipio, even the local community. Agricultural practices are still primitive and deficient. The chief tools are the pointed digging stick (fig. 24) and spade for planting, the machete and sickle for harvesting. The Chinantec rarely use plows, even on level land. These Indians have not generally accepted fertilizers; the usual practice has been to let exhausted lands rest from 2 to 15 years. In any given year, however, two maize harvests are possible on some riverine plains, the primary one (temporal) and a second, smaller one (tonamil). Irrigation is seldom employed. Changes and improvements in hydrography, to cut damages from flooding and to im-

FIG. 20—SUSPENSION BRIDGE, USILA. (Drawing by Cayuqui Stage.)

FIG. 19—SUSPENSION BRIDGE, SAN FELIPE DE LEON. (Photo by Howard Brunson.)

prove agriculture through irrigation, form objectives of the Papaloapan Project. In general the nonindigenous farmers are taking the lead in newer agricultural practices. These non-natives produce the "export" crops on plantation enterprises: tobacco, coffee, some bananas. Commercial produc-

FIG. 2 1 — L O A D E D BALSA RAFTS GOING DOWNSTREAM, USILA. (Photo by Salomón Nahmad.)

539

ETHNOLOGY

FIG.

22—CLEARING

UNDERBRUSH

FOR

SOWING, VALLE NACIONAL. (Photo by Howard Brunson.)

FIG. 2 3 — C O M M U N A L WORK (TEQUIO). Removing big rock, Ozumacin. (Photo by Vera Snyder.)

540

tion of bananas in the Valle Nacional virtually ceased around 1940 when a blight nearly eliminated the crop, replaced in large part by tobacco. A few Chinantec produce some of these salable items; others are engaged as agricultural labor on the plantations. In general, men are responsible for agricultural activities. This does not preclude participation by women, whose tasks may vary from none at all to the most backbreaking labor of harvesting with machete and sickle. Whatever is expected of women in the fields, their main duties are to their homes and their families. The principal forms of agricultural endeavor are not necessarily mutually exclusive nor are they well defined. The most common is tillage of a plot of land by its owner, aided by his family and perhaps some day laborers from among the landless. Another form is known as "in society," basically communal; here the chores are shared and the harvest is divided into equal parts among the participants; one variation is when the "society" is made up of a single extended family. A third form is known as "giving a hand." It is cooperative but noncommunal, the participant receiving reward in kind, a portion of crop equivalent to his help. Landholding and tenure similarly present a mixed picture. The oldest and still prevalent type in conservative settlements is the communal possession of land by the community group; its members are permitted occupancy and usufruct for indefinite periods, but the land cannot be alienated. Within certain municipios there are privately held plots (fee simple), generally former portions of a privately held plantation purchased after they had become no longer profitable. Finally, there are ejidos, the result of national programs of land reform and redistribution. Coexistence of these systems in a given municipio or even in a small village is not unusual. Thus it may be said that the primary.

CHINANTEC

FIG. 24—PLANTING CORN IN TOBACCO FIELD, VALLE NACIONAL. (Photo by Howard Brunson.) almost exclusive, productive activities are related directly to agriculture, allowing little margin for any other. Nearly all consumer needs, apart from subsistence, must be supplied from outside. These are met by resident and traveling merchants, often Zapotec. A striking feature of the lower Chinantla is the lack of tianguis, the native market system of much importance in the upper Chinantla and among neighboring Zapotec. There are few economic extremes among the Chinantec. Status and prestige are not closely tied to wealth; in general the ownership of land confers higher status. The larger the holdings, the higher the status. Social Organization The nucleus of social organization is the family. It is monogamous, patrilineal, with marked tendencies toward the extended family through compadrazgo, or godfather relationships. By acting as spiritual sponsor

to a child, the godfather forges strong spiritual and social bonds with the child's parents, through his acceptance of various rituals and obligations (Rubel, 1955; Merrifield, 1959). The family unit is generally the conjugal pair, their minor children, and occasionally their surviving parent(s). Cases of polygyny are known, though uncommon. The family is male-oriented; sons inherit, often equal shares, although sometimes a larger bequest goes to the son who has treated the father best. Only occasionally do daughters get legacies from their fathers, by written will. The hierarchy of local and territorial units from the municipio to small places is regulated by the Mexican Constitution, the state constitution, and related legislation. The municipal government is responsible for the administration of lesser dependencies, with annual elections and other features prescribed. To these general rules, the 541

ETHNOLOGY

Chinantec have added or adapted certain ritual behavior; in some towns the annual investiture of public office is accompanied by propitiatory rites which may involve fasting and sexual continence, to safeguard the fate of the town during the year. In other communities, the barrio system is amalgamated with the national and state prescriptions, rotation and offices among barrios being traditional. The village may also set its own local prerequisites for office. For higher posts, a candidate may be required to have served as mayordomo at least once. In such capacity, for barrio or community as a whole, he has been responsible for a major fiesta, customarily honoring a patron saint or in connection with a lay organization associated with the local church, the cofradía. The elected authorities name the mayordomos, a practice which has the effect of redistributing wealth; the Council of Elders or the community as a whole generally ratifies these appointments. The Council of Elders, which survives in conservative communities, is made up of the senior members who qualify by age or service or both. The "ancients" can and do represent their barrio interests on this consultative and policy-forming body. It is an extra-constitutional body responsible for local socio-religious activities (Weitlaner, 1951). An important feature of Chinantec social structure is such age-grading. In Tlacoatzintepec there are five such age categories; the same number, slightly differently defined, are found in Quetzalapa (Weitlaner and Hoogshagen, 1960). To recent times, the Chinantec feeling of belonging to larger circles—state or nation—has been limited. The "patria chica" of immediate neighborhoods is still the most important horizon. Religion and World View Missionized in the 16th century, the Chinantec are still nominally Catholic. Some 542

Protestant missionary activities since about 1940 have made a few converts. The Catholicism of the area shows obvious syncretism, little studied. Certain creencias or general beliefs, indigenous or early colonial, may still be recovered. Among them the bisexual concept of "Father and Mother of Maize" as its progenitors and protectors is widespread. Rites to assure crops, now remembered only by older folk, have only recently been abandoned. Catholic prayers and village religious processions are generally resorted to when rains are late. Bevan (1938, pp. 6667, 148) noted ritual pilgrimages. Cosmography posits two worlds, evidenced by the sun's transit between them, resulting in day and night. There is a struggle between the sun and the heavens or stars; the latter are said to be old people. Creation myths are varied. In one instance, it is said that man descended from the monkey; another variation is that monkeys are also ancient people. Yet a third view is that monkeys were people before Sun-Christ appeared; because they would not recognize Him, they were transformed into monkeys to pay for that error. The duality characteristic in lore extends to the nature of man. His soul is different from his body. After death the soul, which in life resides in the heart, is carried to the other side of the seas by a large black dog or by a spider. The soul may also be converted into an insect, normally a butterfly, which is then eaten by a bird. A bad man's soul is supposed to wander aimlessly for nine days following death. The Chinantec share widespread Mesoamerican beliefs about bodily affliction: "bad air," "loss of spirit," "evil eye," and the like. Cures for these are also the familiar ones. There is scattered evidence on the existence of brujos (sorcerers and witches), but their roles and functions are not clear. A large body of folk belief relates to lightning, thunder, and wind, especially whirlwinds. The Lord of the Mountain for

CHINANTEC

FIG. 25—BURIAL SCENE ON MOUNTAIN SLOPE CEMETERY, SAN FELIPE DE LEON. (Photo by Howard Brunson.)

any major peak is undisputed. A disproportionately large place in folklore is devoted to "owners" of various wild animals and the abilities of human beings and animals to exchange forms (Weitlaner, 1940a). There are also many beliefs about the nature and treatment of common ailments: digestive ills, rickets, respiratory infections, and tuberculosis. Mal de pinto is prevalent, and in the western subregion coffee-zones, onchocercosis, an endemic disease that may lead to blindness. All these are being combatted by national public-health programs in the Cuenca de Papaloapan. Aesthetic and Recreational

Patterns

It may be said that the lowland Chinan-

tec retain no traditional major arts, crafts, dances, drama, or other aesthetic outlets. There are some minor vestiges of older patterns: musical bow, reed flutes, chirimía, drum, tambourines. The omnipresent village bands are rather solemn semiofficial organizations who play dutifully on ceremonial occasions. Carnival evokes major ritual-recreational activity. A principal diversion is a folk drama in which a clown and the Devil cavort, the latter with a rag-stuffed raccoon skin he calls "my son." Masks of cardboard, wood, or deerskin are used to a limited degree. Humor generally is unsophisticated, but more and more evident as the cultural 543

ETHNOLOGY

screen is penetrated. There are few toys to amuse children, who are considered small adults; boys make peashooters, and both sexes play with dolls. An ancient form of football, patolli, survives in weak form. Basketball is an importation of the 1920's that has popularity in certain larger towns. In general, the Chinantec are not violently competitive, even in sports. Relationships tend to be relatively formal. Etiquette and protocol honor age and traditions. In common speech, differences between generations and age grades are thus noted and reflected. Fiestas, especially those connected with major religious holidays, fix the calendar round, and are of great importance. They lure rancheros and their families back to the main communities. At this time, drunkenness, never considered a social sin here, reaches rather staggering proportions, but very few fights ensue. Life Cycle and Personality

Development

Birth pangs signal the beginning of the life cycle. At this warning, the expectant mother seats herself on a mat, and grasps a rope aflixed to a housebeam to provide additional leverage to force the child down the birth canal. On his appearance, a midwife cuts the umbilical cord with a knife, and bathes the stump with lemon leaves in tepid water; on the third day the mother is similarly bathed. The discarded cord and placenta may be buried in the floor of the hut, but usually they are hung in trees "to give the child strength," or to assure that "he can climb trees." Only in Ojitlan (where a ceremony of "offering the child to the water well" must be performed 10 days after birth) is there a prescription concerning the time of baptism. Then the parents choose godparents to the child, generally from persons of superior social status. Names are Christian, there being neither names in idiom nor "secret" names. Marriage comes relatively early, at age 544

18 or 20. The match is arranged by parents of the groom, directly or through an intermediary; in Usila one of the "ancients" takes this role, carrying the "supplication." After three favorable responses to the petition comes "closing the word," and the wedding date is set. Virginity of the bride is not requisite, but the groom has the right to sue for damages, or even dissolve the union, if his bride has not been chaste. In San Felipe de Leon the groom is expected to work for the bride's family for a short while, and the bride for the groom's family; in Usila there is a form of bride service. Because ritual gifts and other aspects of the wedding ceremony are so costly, elopements are frequent, now socially condoned. Death rites vary. Generally the cadaver is rolled in a straw mat or in a sheet (fig. 25), or is placed in a wooden box for burial. The corpse's head is placed toward the west in Valle Nacional, San Felipe, Ojitlan and Ozumazin; toward the north in Usila. Clothing, rosaries, pictures, palm-leaf crosses, flowers, food, even drink, and other objects may be buried with the deceased. In San Felipe two "godfathers" are chosen for the novena (nine days of mourning). The novena is followed by a "lifting the cross" ceremony. Generally there is some form of ritual purification for those participating in burials; examples are bathing in the river (San Felipe, Usila), passing through smoke of burnt chiles (Mayultianguis, Tlacoatzintepec), followed by the donning of fresh clothing. Relatives may not enter a cornpatch for two days, at which time these rites are repeated. Merely washing the hands suffices in some places (Sochiapan, Quetzalapa). Few data are available on socialization and personality development. In general the mother is responsible for providing children with knowledge indispensable for coping with the world about them. Younger children are often in charge of the older. The line between childhood and adulthood is not always clear, but comes rather early.

CHINANTEC

FIG. 26—CHINANTEC MEN, SAN PEDRO YOLOX. (From Starr, 1899b, pl. 139.)

Punishments are not severe, even for adult wrongdoers; rewards, like punishments, are generally verbal. Despite accelerated efforts, formal education in schools is still inadequate in quantity and quality. Few Chinantec pass through more than one or two elementary grades, at best. The influence of the Church is similarly variable but generally slight during those early years of life. Most of the traditional Christian and cultural values are transmitted within the family circle. The socialization process points toward the ideal of an honest, nonaggressive Chinantec, who will raise a family and provide for them by his own agricultural efforts.

There are no ancient or modern culture heroes who serve as models of the proper Chinantec life. HIGHLAND (WESTERN) CHINANTEC

by Howard F. Cline The Chinantec of Subregion III in the municipios of Yolox, Comaltepec, and Quiotepec share many traits with the lowland groups but are distinct in others. The western Chinantec are reduced in numbers, around 4000, but without non-native elements of any significance in their midst or as neighbors. They share the northern peaks of the rugged Sierra de Juarez with mountain Zapotec; for nearly all the colonial period 545

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 27—DON GERÓNIMO, ALCALDE OF SAN PEDRO YOLOX, AND WIFE. (Photographed by Irmgard W. Johnson, 1936.)

they were in the same encomienda and under similar administrative direction as Zapotec Macuiltianguis and its dependencies, formerly in the Realm of Yoloxinequila, hence they share numerous traditions and memories (Pérez García, 1956; Cline, 1946, 1947, 1955). Little has been published on Subregion III. Barreda (1730) provides a few ethnohistorical data. Toor (1928) and Ford (1948) give generalized and superficial coverage. Subsistence and food patterns are much like those of lowland groups. The main communities stretch from hot lowlands along the Rio Grande through temperate zones and then upward to "cold land" on the lee side. The village lands then extend eastward to the wet slopes of the mountains, abutting the central and eastern Chinantec, 546

where coffee ranchos predominate. This wide ecological range permits diversification in crops: maize and beans as the staples, plus bananas, oranges, sugarcane, even wheat. In addition, Zapotec, Chinantec and other merchants bring in occasional outside items like potatoes. Stone-boiling is not practiced, and only occasionally are fish eaten. These are usually obtained by dynamiting a stream or the Rio Grande—a dangerous sport. Water, coffee, carbonated drinks, a little cocoa are everyday beverages. Aguardiente (cane alcohol) is consumed, but in quantity only on ritual occasions. The villages are hung on the lee side of the mountains, at different altitudes. All but Malinaltepec, a dependency of Quiotepec, lie above about 3500 feet. Trails in and out are passable by pack animals; the more affuent Chinantec own horses or burros. Within the municipal centers there is a barrio structure, quite varied for the three main villages. In part these reflect the congregación efforts of the Spanish, who also provided the gridded town plan (Cline, 1955). Houses are rectangular structures, often built in the lee of terraces to fend off wind. Now the walls are usually made of adobe, this material having come into common usage about 1900, and roofs are usually tiled. Dwellings of poorer Indians still utilize wood and thatch. Various symbolic devices appear on the roofs, partly for ornament, partly for propitiatory ends, paralleling usage in many mountain Zapotec communities. A number of adobe houses have windows, shuttered at night and in inclement weather. A characteristic item of furniture is a small notched wooden stool (made by Zapotec). Otherwise the furniture and interior arrangements are much like those described for lowland places. Although primarily agriculturalists, these Chinantec retain a few crafts. Quiotepec produces tiles and some pottery. Pita weaving is remembered, but weaving of baskets

FIG. 28—SAN PEDRO YOLOX. Above, From Calvario. Below, Main street, curacy, church, and chapel. (Photographed by Howard F. Cline, 1942.)

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 29—SUNDAY MARKET, SAN PEDRO YOLOX. (Photographed by Howard F. Cline, 1942.)

or cloth and a number of other crafts have disappeared within recent times. So has traditional dress, including huipiles for women. Clothing for men and women is made from commercially produced cheap cloth obtained in Oaxaca or in the small village stores. Men affect the high-crowned black felt hat, a sign of the serrano, whether Zapotec or Chinantec. They wear huaraches or shoes. The economy rests on subsistence agriculture, production of coffee for the Oaxaca market, export of labor to the central Chinantec area, and on minor crafts. Only Yolox has large amounts of land, a matter that causes endless disputes, even minor wars. Quiotepec residents must generally earn a living elsewhere by working in nearby villages or emigrating part of the year to outside communities, chiefly Valle Nacional. Hunger for land has led to the un548

usual development of land purchases or usurpations by Chinantec, thus pushing out the usually more vigorous Zapotec. The national ejido programs never took root. Apart from the systems of work and tenure noted for lowland Chinantec, there is one unusual feature in Yolox. Barrios own communal lands, and, in addition, the age grade of unmarried men (solteros) own a field. Most property is communal in one way or another, or privately held by persons and families who obtained it by purchase or inheritance. Traditionally there has been a weekly market in San Pedro Yolox (fig. 29) to which are brought various subregional products for exchange. Zapotec and other native traders also vend manufactured items. The market is often suspended when periods of tension occur between Yolox and its neighbors. Each municipality then has

CHINANTEC

to rely on its own store which can supply most needs. The familial structure is much the same as that of the lowland groups, but one feature of social structure is noteworthy. There is, in Yolox, a collegiate age grade for youth between childhood and marriage. The solteros, who enter this status at 15, form an important subgroup. They elect the sacristan, who in addition to his duties in the church, is responsible to the town for the bachelors, as is his wife for the unmarried girls over 15. His symbol of authority is the large key to the church. The leather thong which supports it around his neck also serves as a whip for the boys who need to be disciplined. The solteros own and work a common maize field, own a special house where the maize is stored, have a patron saint, a common fund, and specific duties related to the church; the girls care for the church vestments and help the solteros in their field. Their crops, planted slightly later than others, are sold in times of shortage to produce revenue that goes toward upkeep of the local church. Solteros vote individually for town officials, but at town meetings their group has a prescribed place and their views are sought and voiced through designated spokesmen. Village offices start with the lowly topil, or runner, eight of whom in Yolox are annually appointed to run errands at the beck and call of the village government. Top of the hierarchy is the village president and a co-equal judge (alcalde). Having served two or more such ofiices and at appropriate maturity, a man is invited to join the ancients (ancianos). The president sets the communal work projects, tequios, to be accomplished during his term. Road building, maintenance of bridges, reconstruction of chapels, erection of a school, weeding the cemetery, are types of tequios. All males, with these exceptions, are subject to such communal work. Elders or ancients are exempted, as

FIG. 30—BOYS PLAYING, SAN PEDRO YOLOX. (Photographed by Howard F. Cline, 1942.)

are the oSicially named village musicians, who form the band. It has religious and political obligations. Some males, denominated "intellectuals" as distinct from the general body of "workers," also are exempted; their public service lies in copying papers, and performing "intellectual" duties, at the demand of the municipal government. The western Chinantec share much of the body of folk belief of their lowland brethren, but place special emphasis on lightning cults. Each village generally has one or more rayos, men capable of hurling thunderbolts against enemy communities or knowing the defensive techniques to keep their community from such destruction by an outside rayo. Further, there seems to be a much more developed body of witchcraft—white for curing and beneficent ends, black for less desirable—than is reported for the lowlands. Brujos may be either male or female, and also may serve as curanderos; the latter, simple curers, are not necessarily brujos. Many diseases endemic to the lowland 549

FIG. 3 1 — V I L L A G E BAND, SAN PEDRO YOLOX. Above, Half of the group are blind from onchocercosis; they are led by children. Below, Ceremonial appearance. (Photographed by Howard F. Cline, 1942.)

CHINANTEC

Chinantec are not as common in the more healthful climate of the Mountain Chinantec, whose water supply comes from mountain springs and whose villages are well drained. Serious illness is usually associated with workers who emigrate either to the Valle Nacional or to the mountainous coffee ranchos during the peak seasons. Onchocercosis, a relatively recent importation (ca. 1918), seems to have afflicted members of families who have worked on such coflEee lands. Those few who have become blind are guided from place to place by some member of the family, usually one of the smaller children (fig. 31). When epidemics occasionally strike, they are attributed to witchcraft and generally evoke punitive countermeasures. Contrary to the report by Bevan, there is a relatively well-developed complex of dances in the upper Chinantla, performed exclusively at Carnival. Men in Yolox belong to one of four dance groups which compete or join in complicated manuevers. At that time, too, a sort of cultural joke of reversal takes place: for three days no idiom is spoken, only Spanish; those men who do not know Spanish dress as women and remain silent as women should. Torches are carried during the day, and umbrellas are raised at night to shield one from the sun's (i.e., moon's) rays. Ritual begging visitations by dance-group members are made, asking sums of 2,000,000 (i.e., 2) pesos; orators from the groups vie to see who can make the most incomprehensible speech. Competition to climb a high greased pole for prizes at the top is also a principal feature at carnival. There is controlled and common use of Rivea conymbosa, "seeds of the Virgin" (ololuiqui) for divining, fortunetelling, and related activities (Schultes, 1941a). The

FIG. 32—CARNIVAL SCENE, SAN PEDRO YOLOX. (Photographed by Howard F. Cline, 1943.)

psychogenerated responses seem culturally patterned: bells ring and monkeys whisk the participant through time and space. Life-cycle ceremonies differ in many minor and a few major respects from the lowland. Main differences relate to marriage and death. In the western groups the preliminaries of courtship and arrangements, as well as the prolonged ceremonies of celebration, are quite elaborate. But death has less ritual; there were no reports of grave objects or of ritual purification, with only a hint of west-oriented burials. The mountain Chinantec thus partake of the Chinantla and its ways, but tend to place their allegiance to the sierra above it. Nearly impregnable, they have developed a visible subculture with strong powers of survival.

551

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REFERENCES A substantial body of unpublished data is held by Bevan, Weitlaner, and Cline, as well as by others who also have investigated the modern Chinantec. These include Vera Snyder, Stanley Ford, Arthur Rubel, Agustín Delgado, Carlos Antonio Castro, Salomón Nahmad, Walter Hoppe, Howard Brunson, and a number of linguists from the Summer Institute of Linguistics, especially William Merrifield, Carl Rensch, Frank Robbins, Leo Skinner, and Paul Smith. For comprehensive annotated bibliographies, see Cline, 1955, 1961b. Barreda, 1730 Basauri, 1940d Bevan, 1938 Cline, 1946, 1947, 1953a, 1953b, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1961a, 1961b, 1962 Espinosa, 1910 Esquivei, 1579 Ford, 1948 Lemoine, 1954 Lincoln, 1939 Medinilla, 1883 Merrifield, 1959

552

Pérez García, 1956 Quijada, 1579 Rubel, 1955 Schultes, 1940, 1941a, 1941b, 1941c Schulz, 1955 Starr, F., 1899b, 1900-02, 1908 Toor, 1928 Weitlaner, I., 1936 Weitlaner, R. J., 1939a, 1940a, 1951, 1952b, 1961 and Castro, 1954 and Hoogshagen, 1960 and Johnson, 1946

29. The Tequistlatec and Tlapanec

D. L.

Q

UITE DISTINCT TRIBES, putatively related, are the Tequistlatec (Chontal) of Oaxaca and the Tlapanec of Guerrero. 1 TEQUISTLATEC

The Tequistlatec are speakers of a Hokan language; its position within the stock is not entirely clear. There seems to be a bundle of isoglosses separating the coastal dialect (or dialects) from the mountain ones, of which there are at least three or four. The range of nonlinguistic cultural variation seems narrow, except as environmental differences (between a sea-level coast and inland elevations of several thousand feet) make for different ecological behavior. Geographical Sketch The Tequistlatec live in the mountains of the Sierra Madre del Sur, of south-central Oaxaca (fig. 1). The center of their territory is latitude 16°20' N., longitude 96° W. The Tequistlatec country today, as at first Spanish contact, lies entirely south of the Oaxaca-Tehuantepec highway and east of

OLMSTED

the Puerto Angel-Oaxaca road. It is bounded on the south by the Gulf of Tehuantepec, and on the east by a line drawn from Tequisistlan so as to bisect a line drawn from Salina Cruz to Santiago Astata. Climatically, the Tequistlatec country is classifiable as semiarid tropical, with rainfall probably not more than 20 inches a year, almost all in a rainy season from June to October. Rain-bearing clouds move northwestward from the Gulf of Tehuantepec during the day, typically releasing rain in the early evening, at or just after sundown. Because the steep slopes and sandy soils afford good drainage, little daylight working time is lost. The largely nocturnal pattern of rainfall ensures minimum moisture loss from evaporation. Brief History of Major Postcontact

Events

In 1522 Pedro de Alvarado was sent to conquer the Tequistlatec, who had proved 1 Between June and November, 1957, I did fieldwork among the Tequistlatec. I have never visited the Tlapanec, and therefore rely herein on the very scanty literature concerning that tribe. Gratitude is due the Social Science Research Council for support of fieldwork.

553

ETHNOLOGY

FIG.

1—TEQUISTLATEC

AND

TLAPANEC

AREAS, MEXICO. (After Lehmann, 1915.)

hostile when the Spaniards tried to explore the coast (Martinez Gracida, 1910b, p. 134ff.). Alvarado was received with professions of amity by the Tequistlatec king, Cosijopii, who had learned something from Cortés' treatment of Moctezuma. Nonetheless, after intrigues by both sides and pillage by the Spaniards, a battle was fought at Tequisistlan. The Iberians carried the day, though at considerable cost, including a severe wound to Alvarado. In 1527, Cortés, on his Tehuantepec expedition, noted the insubordination of the Tequistlatec, and deputed Francisco Maldonado to reduce them. With 200 Spaniards and 6000 Zapotec, Maldonado defeated them and ravaged their country from Tenango to Huamelula, returning then to Tehuantepec. From that time the Tequistlatec paid annual tribute but were otherwise undisturbed. In 1569, when they refused to pay, Pedro de Piedra was appointed Collector Extraordinary, with considerable powers. Taking only three or four companions, he traversed the difficult country, rounding up the people and exacting the tribute. Finally, having attempted to overcome obduracy by executing a few natives, he was himself killed, and drawn and quartered with obsidian knives; his flesh was then made up into tamales—after the ancient Tequistlatec fashion—and was eaten at a festive celebration by the populace. 554

His terrified companions fled to Nejapan, where thoughts of conquest were abandoned. The Tequistlatec promised to appear once a year at Nejapan—where their appearance and reputation struck fear into the Spaniards—and this annual visit was accepted as sufficient tribute by the latter. In time the viceroy of Mexico decided to try conquest by spiritual means. Various Dominicans attempted to convert the Tequistlatec, but without success. At length Fray Diego de Carranza came to live among them, and shared their privations for 12 years. He learned their language and won their confidence by his saintly deportment. His work was later carried on by others, and in 1612 the tribe was brought into the encomienda system, with Diego de Alavez in charge. From that time to the present the Tequistlatec fate has been a rather slow acculturation to Spanish and Mexican ways and some loss of territory to the expanding, more acculturated Zapotec. Population According to Basauri (1940c,: 235), the population of the Tequistlatec is 10,770 (cf. Settlement Patterns, below). Previous

Investigations

Previous studies of the group include those by Francisco Belmar (1900, chiefly a study of the language), Manuel Martinez Gracida (1910b, chiefly a history, though with some ethnographic notes), and Carlos Basauri (1940c). Of the last, the chapter on the "Chontales de Oaxaca" is credited to Salvador Ortiz Vidales and Rodolfo R. Valverde, who refer neither to fieldwork of their own nor to the publications of others; they seem to have leaned heavily on Martinez Gracida, however, even to repeating, without qualification, some of his wildest flights of fancy. Miguel Covarrubias devotes a few pages to them in his Mexico South (1946). D. G. Brinton (1891) suggested a linguistic relationship between Tequistlatecan, Serian, and Yu-

TEQUISTLATEC AND TLAPANEC

man. Kroeber (1915) documented that view. Since then it has been accepted by virtually all Hokanists except Basauri and his colleagues, who nowhere refer to that classification. On what seem quite inadequate grounds, they assign the group to the "Nahuatlan" family. Subsistence Agriculture plays the major role in Tequistlatec subsistence. Also important are hunting, gathering, and animal husbandry; fishing appears insignificant. The agriculture characteristic of central and southern Mexico has been well described, and the Tequistlatec patterns are little different except as they lack innovations found in better-acculturated areas. Primary reliance is on maize, cucurbits, and haricot beans, of which seven varieties are distinguished. Maguey is grown and made into mescal, a liquor that is the principal source of outside income. Bananas and sugarcane are of little importance, for not enough water can be trapped for the necessary crude irrigation. The tortilla and its thicker relative, the memela, are the chief forms in which maize is consumed, along with the totopo (an unleavened bread of larger circumference and of notably drier and more brittle texture), pozole, and atole. In addition to garlic and onions, the diet includes Amaranthus hlitum, watercress, mushroom, yerba santa, sage, and—sparingly—chile. Ground is cleared with the machete and broken with a fire-sharpened digging stick. The hoe is a luxury item, and the plow is virtually absent because the terrain is unsuitable and draft animals are lacking. Yields are quite low (both per man and per acre) because rainfall is undependable and fertilizer unknown. The principal object of the hunt is deer, though birds and iguanas are more often obtained. In the last generation the bow has given way to the rifle, a prized possession. Gathering provides, besides mushrooms, such wild vegetables as amaranth, cress,

and chayote (Scisyos edulis). Wild honey is also used. Domesticated animals include dogs, horses, pigs, goats, burros, cattle, turkeys, and chickens. Cattle running semiwild in the sylvan savanna provide an insignificant quantity of dairy products. They are rarely eaten but instead are a cash crop. Chickens are kept principally for their eggs. The Tequistlatec's idea of sumptuous protein is goat, turkey, venison, or iguana. Here, as elsewhere in the area, the turkey has ancient ceremonial associations; it is, no doubt, an indigenous domesticate. Dogs and pigs, as scavengers in towns, perform a service in garbage disposal, as do the occasional carabán birds. These angular, long-legged birds, kept as scavengers and pets, have a characteristic cry (a clear, slowly ascending gargle ending in a single lower note) that is a leitmotif of night in a Tequistlatec or Zapotec town. Settlement

Patterns

The Tequistlatec live mostly in villages and towns. Tequisistlan—an example of a larger aggregate with much recent acculturation—has a few-score houses arranged along fairly well-defined streets. Near the center is an old church, used but seldom, if ever. There is, however, no central plaza or zócalo of the sort that is ubiquitous in towns where national influence is great. The houses (fig. 2) are predominantly of one or two rooms (cf. under Technology, below). Occasionally one nuclear family occupies as many as two rooms; usually each room is inhabited by one nuclear family. The rooms are chiefly for sleeping and storage: most other activities, e.g., cooking, take place in the open or in a semiattached lean-to. The unpaved street— if on a slope—is frequently, though briefly, a raging torrent during the rainy season; if level, it becomes a series of pools that are nearly ideal for the reproduction of mosquitoes. The more isolated village differs in not 555

FIG. 2 — T E Q U I S T L A T E C VILLAGE IN OAXACA. (From Starr, 1899b, pl. 126).

having well-defined streets and in having a greater proportion of one-room houses. These may be scattered along a path and surrounded by vegetation so that, except for an occasional glimpse of a thatched roof, its character as an integrated village may not be apparent. Nonetheless, the village has its officers, its demarcated surrounding land, and its webs of mutual obligations, dependences, and privileges. The isolated homestead is very rare; its occupants are usually more dependent on hunting than is usual. Tequistlatec population estimates are quite untested; it is therefore difficult to calculate density. However, one hamlet (El Limon) was surveyed exhaustively in 556

1957. There were 18 houses, each of one room, occupied by 72 people. The average was exactly four persons per house; the range was from one to eight. Settlements vary in size from hamlets of about half-a-dozen houses to towns such as Huamelula and Santa Maria Ecatepec; several informants estimated the latter's population at more than 2000. Martinez Gracida lists, for the Tequistlatec, 28 pueblos and 20 ranchos (hamlets). If we assume an average population of 40 persons per rancho, the population living in hamlets is 800. Subtracting the hamlet population from Basauri's total estimate of 10,770, we obtain an estimate of 9,970 town-dwell-

TEQUISTLATEC AND TLAPANEC

ers. For 28 towns, the average population per town is then 356, a figure that is probably quite high for two reasons: (1) no allowance is made for isolated homesteads, and (2) the estimated average per rancho may well be low. Technology The fire-sharpened digging stick is the chief agricultural implement, along with the machete. The chief processing technique produces mescal. Tequistlatec pottery, innocent of the wheel, is usually left unslipped and unpainted, baked eight or ten at a time, and sold by the maker in her house. Prices in 1957 were 8 pesos for an olla, 5 for a cántaro. Some of the latter have handles, some not. Baskets, made of palm fronds, are usually no more than 15 inches in diameter. They are not decorated; the price is 3 pesos. Arrow making used to be important. The indigenous house (called "one-room house," under Settlement Patterns, above) is rectangular, with heavy forked poles set in the ground at the corners. Two or three taller ones support the ridgepole. The walls are bamboo poles set as close together as possible. Bamboo poles for the roof are set about 10 inches apart and covered with a thatch of cane leaves. No nails are used; fibers from split vines tie the parts very stoutly together. Occasionally, for insulation against a prevailing wind, a wall may be plastered with mud. In such a case an ordinary wall is built outside to protect the mud. The only usual article of furniture is a raised platform, about 8 feet square, in a corner. Both a storage shelf for foodstuffs and a bed, it is high enough to keep food away from the swine. It is made of bamboo poles, and covered with a petate. The houses seen were 15-20 feet by 20-30 feet. The roof often extends some 10-15 feet beyond the single door, covering hammocks slung there as additional sleeping accommodations.

The women wear a shapeless huípil (blouse) of faded pink or red, and a wraparound skirt of faded blue or black. They occasionally wear a white turban. Men wear the cotton shirt and trousers widely seen among the peasantry of Mexico, and store-bought hats of modest size and nondescript shape. Both sexes wear leather sandals or go unshod. Transport is on foot or, among the wellto-do, on a burro. One man regularly leads his burro from the Tehuantepec-Oaxaca highway into the mountains and, for a charge of 2 or 3 pesos, brings in heavy goods (e.g., grain) from the outside world. Economy Men do the work of agriculture, assisted by women at the harvest. Hunting and animal husbandry, except for the care of fowls, are also the responsibility of the men. Women do the gathering, as well as make baskets, pottery, and clothing, usually specializing in one category. Carpentry is a specialty of certain men. Some men make musical instruments (cf. Aesthetic and Recreational Patterns, below). Land is the property of the group, and may be used by any man who obtains permission from the town council and clears it. Any buildings are the property of the builders. All family income is held by the husband, including cash income from pottery or basketry made and sold by his wife. The production and consumption unit is the nuclear family. Trade is sporadic and, between towns, is largely the business of individual peddlers (often Zapotec). Within the town, goods are offered for sale at the home of the maker. The margin is so small that few items are made except on order. Regular markets in designated places are rare. Seldom does a young man leave the community to labor in the outside world; if he does, he rarely returns. Thus, he ceases to be a Tequistlatec and becomes, by degrees, a Mexican. The few observed bits of outside income (from work in Te557

ETHNOLOGY

huantepec, sale of mescal, or service as guide) were used to purchase rifles, ammunition, or cattle. No differences in display of wealth were noted; all live at or near the subsistence level. Social Organization The kinship organization of the Tequistlatec is of the Patri-Hawaiian type, i.e., characterized by bilateral descent, patrilocal residence, Hawaiian cousin-terminology, and the absence of exogamous unilineal kingroups. A vestige of the last-named may remain in a taboo, reported by some informants, on marriage between persons having the same surname. This rule, if it exists, is certainly not universally observed; there are a number of contrary cases in my rather small genealogical sample. (For details of kinship terminology, cf. Olmsted, 1958.) Marriage is one of the principal occasions for celebration. When a Tequistlatec youth finds a girl who takes his fancy, he informs his father of the fact. There appears to be no ex- or endogamy by locality among the Tequistlatec, and any match not forbidden on grounds of kinship is permissible. The youth's father then takes over. Three times, always on a Saturday, the boy's father calls on the girl's father to settle on the bride price. Bride prices, of course, vary with the circumstances of the groom's family, but probably within rather narrow limits since the scant economic standards of most of the group are not far exceeded by any of its members. After much friendly discussion designed to keep a balance between a display sufficient to uphold the family's good name, on the one hand, and economic disaster, on the other, a typical bride price may be: two large bottles of mescal, three large baskets of special bread, two or three cartons of cigarettes, about 20 pesos' worth of chocolate, two bottles of wine, two or three large turkeys, and 200-300 pesos in cash. In the old days, the money was always 12 pesos (still the amount put in the cere558

monial plato for the wedding, no matter how much money is involved in the bride price), in accordance with the Tequistlatec saying "a virgin is worth 12 pesos, and any other woman is worth 3 pesos." When the bride price is agreed on, the father of the girl sets the wedding date, usually two or three months away. On his wedding day the groom, accompanied by all his family, usually including all who can claim relationship to him, comes to the house of the bride-to-be, bringing flowers. Cascarones de masorca and a variety of white orchid are traditional. About 10-20 large bouquets are required, depending on the size of the bride's family, for every member of which there must be at least one flower. Both families gather in a large circle in front of the bride's house. A large pottery plato in the middle of the circle contains mescal, chocolate, wine, bread, cigarettes, and 12 pesos, all from the bride price. At least some of each item is traditional, and it is unthinkable that any should be totally omitted. Then the members of the groom's family give one flower each to every member of the bride's family. At this point the father of the bride picks up the plato, with all its contents, and takes it into his house. Its contents henceforth belong to him alone, and his acceptance of them indicates that the marriage is officially approved by him and his family. In its essentials the wedding is over at this point. The bride's father returns almost immediately, with one of the bottles of mescal. The groom's father takes the first drink, followed by the bride's father, signaling the beginning of the fiesta. The fiesta begins in the afternoon or early evening, and continues all night and all the next day. Mescal and wine are drunk, though not much from the bride price, which is retained by the father of the bride. The turkeys, however, are turned into the traditional wedding dish, a colossal caldo also containing tomatoes and flavored with yerba santa. The meal is completed by tor-

TEQUISTLATEC AND TLAPANEC

tillas and beans—and beef or venison if the bride's family is sufficiently affluent. On the evening of the second day, when the fiesta is coming to a close, the bride kneels in prayer before the saint's image in her family's house, praying for a successful marriage and protection from illness. She is followed by the groom, whose appearance before the saint of his wife's family is considered another evidence of the new bonds between the two families. This part of the ceremony is by way of an afterthought, however, and is not strictly part of the wedding itself, which is complete when the bride's father accepts the plato, with its traditional freight. In case the assembled company, including the groom, are too overcome by mescal and wine, the prayers may be omitted, except perhaps by the bride, who might add sobriety to the list of gifts requested of Providence. Afterward the young couple set out for the home of the groom's parents, where (ideally) a house has been built for them close to that of his parents. They visit the bride's parents—"so they will not be sorrowful"—every few months for a few days. The local unit of political organization is the town. Its organization is discussed under Life Cycle, below. The town or hamlet organization, though sometimes recognizing a historical relationship to an older community that supplied its first colonists, has no other ties. According to Martinez Gracida, (1910b), the nation once had a hereditary and (theoretically) absolute monarch; there are no traces of such a system today. Other members of the tribe are recognized as sharing language and much else of culture, but the town is the largest unit exerting any formal social control. The relations of the tribe with the Mexican nation are minimal: some public schools (through the first three grades) have been introduced, and the representatives of the Republic receive, yearly, the tax on maguey; it is assessed and collected by the presidente (cf. under Life Cycle, below).

Religion and World View The Tequistlatec, who seem relatively little affected by Catholicism, believe in a plurality of gods; the number varies with the informant. There seem to be between 12 and 20, and all are said to be equal in power. Some are benevolent, some malevolent; none are neutral. Each major event of life (birth, death, assumption of political office, planting, harvesting, clearing land) has an associated ceremony. If the ritual is not performed properly, the event may turn out badly. All rituals are performed by the male head of the nuclear family, except the hlápalu ceremony (performed by the youth on entering community service). All rituals are performed in secret and in solitude. The fate of the family is thus the responsibility of the husband and father; the credit and the blame—both psychic and social—are greatly concentrated in his person. The rubrics for ritual are handed down from father to son or purchased from a tonši, the sole religious functionary outside the family. His services are two: he performs ceremonies for those unable to do so (thus serving as a true scapegoat if things go wrong), and he sells—at a price usually prohibitive (300-400 pesos)—the texts of ceremonies to those who have no other way of learning them. Tequistlatec knowledge of the local flora is extensive, as is their use of plants for medicine as well as food. Sickness, like other untoward events, is believed to be at least partly the result of a god's displeasure; thus, ritual as well as medicinal therapy is required, and women play a leading role in both kinds of treatment. The Tequistlatec possess a considerable mythology; the principal cycle of myths concerns the culture hero Fane Kansini, said to have been a 14th-century king. One day an old couple came upon a great egg. They could not decide what to do with it at first, but eventually took it home with them and kept it warm. After a while there 559

ETHNOLOGY

hatched from it a human infant with supernatural powers. In gratitude to his foster parents, who were Tequistlatec, he grew up with the desire to save their people from the aggressive, encroaching Zapotec. Aided by his superhuman abilities, he invented body armor and a new, more efficient type of arrow. At that time the Zapotec seemed on the verge of annihilating the hardpressed Tequistlatec. Then Fane Kansini arrived at a battle and, using his inventions, accomplished the defeat of the Zapotec and ensured the survival of his adopted people. The cycle contains a number of myths in various versions, revealing much concerning Tequistlatec ideals of human conduct. Moreover, the myths are permeated with animosity toward the Zapotec, who have been the chief enemy for many centuries. Aesthetic and Recreational Patterns The coastal Tequistlatec used to be noted for their extraction (from sea snails) of a beautiful purple dye. Cloth thus dyed brought great prices, and a few heirlooms made of such cloth are still treasured in Tehuantepec families. The craft is well discussed by Covarrubias (1946). The only dramatic outlet seems to be in ritual: the curing ceremony, with its audience of patient and his relatives; other ceremonies are observed only by the gods. The dance is unreported. Music among the Tequistlatec is an art of leisure. Since there is not much leisure, there is not much music. It does not play a very prominent role in fiestas, and does not figure in ceremonial life at all. Nor is there group singing. Music is largely instrumental and entirely amateur. The instruments in common use are three: alsikanne, a woodwind; taMmolo, a drum; and lalipu, a stringed instrument of the guitar family. The first is about 13 inches long, of wood, and has six holes for the fingers. It is blown through the end, near which there is a slit of the penny-whistle type. The drum is a 560

cylinder about 18 inches long and 14 inches in diameter, covered at both ends by the skin of a puma. It is struck either with sticks or with the hands. The lalipu is made from a large calabash of the sort used extensively for carrying water. A hole is cut in one side, and the inside is hollowed out and left to dry. Then wooden pegs are inserted in both ends to hold either four or six strings, which pass over the hole. The instrument seen was about 30 inches long. The lalipu sometimes accompanies the singing of the player, but the other two instruments are apparently most often played together without singing. Musicians generally learn from their parents. In such families music is a family entertainment; otherwise it seems largely absent from Tequistlatec life. One man who for some years had worked elsewhere in Mexico played the guitar quite passably, but otherwise the contrast was marked between the Tequistlatec and their neighbors, the Zapotec of Tehuantepec, whose days and nights are filled with the music of marimbas, guitars, strolling players, hired bands, radios, phonographs, and even sound trucks, and where the indigenous Zapotec favorites have to share the stage with the popular music of Mexico and the Afro-Cuban rhythms that delight the dance-loving Tehuanas. Humor and games appear to play minor roles in Tequistlatec life, except as evidences of acculturation. Gossip is a potent method of social control. Dignity and reserve are valued attributes. Fiestas are less frequent than among the Zapotec; the family-centered wedding feast (see Social Organization, above) is a typical example. Life Cycle and Personality

Development

When a woman becomes pregnant, simple ceremonies are performed to ensure her good health and the safe delivery of the infant. At a spot away from the village, though of no particularly sacred character, flowers are presented and copal incense

TEQUISTLATEC AND TLAPANEC

burned while prayers are offered to the gods of earth, land, and sky for their protection of mother and child. During pregnancy, the mother is not allowed to eat verdura fresca or meat. The reason for these taboos is said to be to diminish the risk of disease only; any supernatural significance is vigorously denied. She is allowed and encouraged to eat fish, chicken, soup, beans, and atole de maíz. At parturition, one of the women of her family (never of her husband's, it is said) comes to act as midwife. It is usually her own mother if she is not indisposed or dead; otherwise, an aunt or older sister may come. No one else attends the birth, though the father-to-be is present to fetch and carry. The female relative carries out all the duties of the midwife, including disposal of the afterbirth. If the child is a boy, the father immediately causes his little hand to grasp a machete, rifle, or axe handle, to ensure skill in their use all his life. If the child is a girl, the midwife performs a corresponding function with a plate, cup, spindle, and/or mano (of a metate). The birth is kept a secret until the ceremony is held for the newborn child. This done, the father can return home and announce the joyful news to the neighbors, who have kept up a pretense that nothing has happened. The midwife stays three days with the new mother, and then returns home. The mother remains in bed from 20 to 30 days, waited on by her husband. Twins or other multiple births are welcomed as evidence of fruitfulness. The mother can now eat anything she wishes. A child's cradle is woven out of the limber branches of the otate tree and placed in the house on wooden supports. The child's clothing, when he wears anything at all, is a short shirt. The child is weaned gradually, beginning at some age between six months and two years to eat the regular food of the rest of

the family. No special transitional foods are in use. The child simply makes the switch to solid foods as his teeth appear, and is always fed whenever he wants to eat. Toilet training is accomplished with apparently little trauma by the simple expedient of pushing or guiding the toddler outside the house whenever it seems indicated. Since the entire outdoors serves as toilet, there is no necessity to make a particular time and place coincide. Thus the initial goal of toilet training is easier to reach and the demands on the child are correspondingly less severe. Toilet training is usually accomplished at about the age of two years. Corporal punishment is said to be fairly rare and is administered for two offenses: lying and stealing. Either the hand or a belt is laid on that part of the anatomy traditional in such cases, together with copious admonishments on the evils of transgression. One who tells lies is called li sawale but stealing is said to be rare enough that there is no word to label the thief, although the Spanish robar has been borrowed as a verb for the act. The ills of childhood receive no special attention, except for colic and gastrointestinal upsets at any age, which are treated with an infusion of traymukane, an herb known in the local Spanish as hierba del camino. Until the age of eight or nine years, the children have no special duties but are free to play. Their play, however, is not devoid of significance for their future activities. The girls play house with dolls, dishes, and mano-metates, practicing the giving of fiestas and gathering of flowers. Boys play at hunting with wooden "firearms" and real bows and arrows, made for them by their fathers, with which they soon learn to bring down birds, salamanders, and animals of like size. After eight years or so, the boys and girls begin to learn their adult duties from the parent of the same sex. Boys help their 561

ETHNOLOGY

fathers plant, weed, cultivate, and harvest, while girls assist their mothers with the never-ending round of child care and the preparation of foodstuffs. No puberty ceremony of any kind is reported. Marriage appears to serve in that capacity, since it usually takes place between the ages of 12 and 14. After returning with his bride to the house prepared for them, the husband stops working jointly with his father and is henceforth the independent economic head of his own family. The rather abrupt transition seems to lead to rather a large measure of responsibility for a 13- or 14-year-old youth, but the way is smoothed somewhat by assistance from the father during the first year. The groom's father usually donates the first year's seed and, if he has it, a plot of land, which will henceforth be the young man's. If he has no land, the youth must find some vacant land, clear it, and attempt to wrest a living from it. Since the land is usually very steep and animals are very expensive and seldom owned, ground must be broken with a fire-sharpened digging stick. When married or not, a youth is of no account in community affairs until he is 18 years old. Marriage confers some prestige, because of the assumption of responsibility, and good husbandry may earn esteem for the hard worker, but 18 he must be before he is eligible for civic duties and powers. Every year some eight or ten youths of that age are chosen as hlápalu. These serve as community policemen and messengers for the presidente and the alcalde. They assist unwelcome visitors out of town, notify citizens of assignment by the presidente to public works projects, and, if necessary, bring them by force and supervise part of the nontechnical labor around such municipal projects as street cleaning and repair of water facilities. Each hlápalu serves for a year, after which time his place is taken by others appointed by the alcalde. He is now allowed to attend the fortnightly meet562

ings of the adult males, assembled in council, but has no more formal community service until about the age of 40. He is not expected to say much or to take the lead in anything, but to wait until a plan is agreed upon by older, more experienced men, and then to be loyal and diligent in carrying it out. It is hardly necessary to add that this pattern is the ideal, from which there are individual variations. The laggard, the too-brash, the talker who fails to do his share of the public work, each is marked down mentally, by the elders, as unfit material for the major offices, presidente and alcalde. The more promising of the men will be tried out by assigning them the post of mayordomo of some fiesta or other. This post is for the life of the fiesta only, but carries with it considerable responsibility for the smooth functioning of an important civic ceremony, and reveals the ability of the individual to organize his personal affairs so as to have the free time necessary for superintending the numerous details of such an occasion. When a man is chosen presidente (by the men in council, with the opinions of the elders, particularly ex-presidentes and ex-alcaldes, being decisive), he is usually about 40 years old and has proved himself in the discharge of numerous lesser responsibilities. This post, held for one year, involves supervision of all public works— building and repair of town buildings and schools, if any, street cleaning, and public water facilities—and carries the duties of chief of the hlápalu. The post of presidente (there is no Tequistlatec word for this office or that of alcalde, both words being borrowed from the Spanish) carries with it much prestige, and also involves much sacrifice in that a man's personal interests must be neglected during the period of office. Thus it is that, after his term, the ex-presidente is exempt from office for four or five years, after which period he may be elected alcalde.

TEQUISTLATEC AND T L A P A N E C

The alcalde is the supreme local officer, outranking the presidente, is in over-all charge of all fiestas of the village, and has charge of its external relations. The alcalde names the mayordomo for each of the fiestas as they occur throughout the year, and thus has a direct hand in training a new generation of officials. The term is for one year, and there is no re-election. Ex-alcaldes and ex-presidentes then perform the functions of an oligarchy in running the town council xúnta (again a Spanish borrowing), where, if relatively united, they can have their own way. The words of former alcaldes have particularly great weight, which would seem to set the scales against any attempts at innovation, particularly in important matters such as fiestas. There is, however, no special term designating these elder statesmen. When death claims a Tequistlatec, young or old, there is general weeping and mourning. The custom of wearing black is gaining some ground among the women, when they have anything black to wear. The dead one (imanapá) is laid out in state for the wake, at which family and friends gather to eat and drink and praise the deceased. Burial (laminá) takes place about 24 hours after death. All the deceased's clothing, including hat and shoes, is buried with him, though other kinds of possessions are not put in the grave. A man's machete or other tools, a woman's household implements, are simply inherited and used. Every stitch of the deceased's clothing, however, disappears with him into the grave. Annual Cycle The Tequistlatec annual round is closely tied to the demands of agriculture. The chief agricultural activities and rituals— each a family affair—occur between May and December. Community activities, such as assumption of political office (and associated rituals and fiestas), are concentrated between December and March. The calendar, 18 months of 20 days each, was bor-

rowed from the Zapotec, according to Martinez Gracida (1910b). TLAPANEC

Schultze-Jena (1938), a work long out of print and virtually unobtainable, has become available too late for detailed treatment in this essay. The parts that deal with the Tlapanec are: an account of religion and folk-belief, and a grammar of the language. The latter, a creditable effort for its time and circumstances, has been rendered otiose by the vast unpublished materials collected by H. V. Lemley of Cuernavaca. The treatment of Tlapanec religion is still the best extant, including as it does extensive texts with translations and commentaries. The pertinent section in Basauri (1940c) is ascribed to Ing. Alejandro Paucic. Paucic (or Basauri) ascribes the Tlapanec to the "Zoque-Mixean" family; the consensus among Hokanists has long been that the Tlapanec belong to the Hokan stock (cf. Bright, 1955). The Hokanists' opinion rests essentially on the interpretation of data in Schultze-Jena (1938), a work not mentioned by Paucic. The population, estimated in 1937 at 23,586, is found in five different districts in the state of Guerrero, chiefly in the district of Morelos. The tribe is one of the least known of Middle American groups. Subsistence The principal foods of the people are said to be those of the Mexicans of the region, except that the poorer Tlapanec cannot afford beans to the customary extent. Animal protein is eaten only occasionally, usually at fiestas. The chief crops grown are bananas, coffee, and sugarcane, in addition to the food staples maize, chile, and beans. Settlement Patterns The Tlapanec appear to be settled in towns, though it is unclear whether this impression reflects the aboriginal patterns or the enumeration by the Mexican authorities. 563

ETHNOLOGY

Technology Tlapanec carpentry is said to be of high quality, though they have only the simplest tools: machete, wedge, and chisel. Saddles, petates, hats, fans, and textiles of cotton and wool are among their products. Their clothes are of factory-made cotton or native, undyed wool. The house type is similar to that of the one-room Tequistlatec house described above. Economy The division of labor assigns most agricultural work, house-building, and carpentry to men. Women play a prominent role in textile manufacture. The division of income in the household is unclear, resting as it does on the sale of products made by its members. Tlapanec are said to be esteemed as day laborers in nearby Mestizo communities. Social Organization

—culminating in a council of chiefs. Through acculturation, the whole appears to have been reduced to a rubber stamp for the Mexican authorities and the clergy. Religion The Tlapanec are said to have two principal gods—male and female—and a number of "impersonal gods." It is asserted that they believe in "superstitions," practice magic, and have sacred places, some of which they share with the neighboring Mixtec. The old religion has lost much of its influence to Catholicism. Aesthetic and Recreational Patterns There appear to be no indigenous dances or musical instruments. Fiestas in connection with Catholic holy days are reported as heavily influenced by the Mestizo culture of the Mexican nation. Pulque and aguardiente are the stimulants employed on festive occasions.

Tlapanec kinship organization is not described in the literature. Paucic says only that the family is strongly "patriarchal" and much influenced by Catholicism. Political organization, he reports, is variable and weak, but reveals traces of a detailed hierarchy of offices—both political and religious

Little information is available on this topic save the statement that the Tlapanec are anxious that their children receive formal education and that their boys aspire to the priesthood.

REFERENCES

REFERENCES

(Tequistlatec)

Angulo and Freeland, 1925 Basauri, 1940c Belmar, 1900, 1905b, 1921 Bright, 1955 Brinton, 1891 Carrasco, 1960 Covarrubias, 1946 Kroeber, 1915 Martinez Gracida, 1910b Olmsted, 1958, 1967 Pike, K., 1947 Pimentel, P., 1875 Turner and Olmsted, 1966 Waterhouse, 1949 and Morrison, 1950

564

Life Cycle and Annual Cycle

(Tlapanec)

Basauri, 1928a, 1940c Brinton, 1891 Charencey, 1879 Jiménez Moreno, 1937 Lehmann, W., 1910, 1915, 1920 Lemley, n.d., 1949 León, Ν., 1903a, 1912 Orozco y Berra, 1864 Pimentel, F., 1875 Radin, 1933, 1940 Schultze-Jena, 1938 Squier, 1852 Starr, F., 1899b, 1900-02, 1902, 1908 Thomas and Swanton, 1911 Weitlaner and Johnson, 1943

30. The Cuitlatec

SUSANA DRUCKER, ROBERTO and ROBERTO J. WEITLANER

B

ELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN a g r o u p w i t h

territorial, cultural, and linguistic unity, the historic Cuitlatec no longer exist as such. Tarascan and Spanish conquests destroyed their identity. Most of their territory (fig. 1) lay within the Mexican Empire, forming the province of Cuitlatecapan; only a small part was in the Michoacan Kingdom, where the Cuitlatec language was preserved. Cuitlatec in Nahuatl means "bastard people" or "people of the place of gold," according to Brand. The linguistic relationships of Cuitlatec have not been clearly defined. Hendrichs Pérez (1946) suggested a relationship with the Mayan languages, Weitlaner (1939b) with the Otomangue languages, Arana Osnaya (1958) with the Yutonahua and Chibcha, and Lemley (1949) with the Tlapanec. In some traits the physical type is similar to the Maya, in others to neighboring groups (Faulhaber, 1947). For the most part, our material is based on a field investigation of the town of San

ESCALANTE,

Miguel Totolapan, Guerrero. The culture has undergone a very great change since the time of the chronicles; it now resembles that of the other surrounding peoples. The historic habitat extended from the middle of the Balsas River valley to the Pacific coast, and included the municipios of Ajuchitlan, Totolapan, Atoyac, and Benito Juarez; it is now reduced to the Tierra Caliente that borders the midpoint of the Balsas River (fig. 2). The climate is dry and warm, the environment desert-like. The changes in population can be seen in Table 1. The only two sources which comment on the Cuitlatec, the Relaciones of Ajuchitlan and Tetela, describe them as an agricultural people with advanced social organization and religion, the latter characterized by complex ritual and cosmology—in general not very different from other peoples of Mesoamerica. The work of Hendrichs Pérez (1946) constitutes one of the few references. Other articles of more restricted focus are those of linguist H. V. Lemley 565

FIG. 1—LOCATION OF THE ANCIENT CUITLATEC PROVINCE

FIG. 2—LOCATION OF CUITLATEC TOWNS

CUITLATEC TABLE 1

Ajuchitlan, municipio Ajuchitlan, cabecera Totolapan, municipio Totolapan, cabecera Atoyac, municipio Atoyac, cabecera Benito Juarez, municipio Benito Juarez, cabecera

1579

1930

1940

1950

±5,000

13,049

16,032 2,656 13,731 2,224 12,153 2,147 6,981 2,654

16,754 3,123 13,547 2,673 9,382 1,838 4,711 1,791

(1949) and of Teófilo Dondé y López (1941). Brand (1943, 1944) comments on the Cuitlatec. SUBSISTENCE SYSTEMS

The Cuitlatec are expert farmers with seasonal and flood-plain cultivation. The principal crops are corn and sesame, and cotton until the last century; beans, chile, and squash are of secondary importance. These crops, with the exception of sesame, form the basic diet. Corn is eaten as tortillas, tamales, and atole. Beans are of the regional varieties "comba" and "judio"; the squash, tamalayota and pipiana. The Cuitlatec occasionally eat beef or pork, and game such as venison, armadillo, and iguana, in addition to fish and shrimp. They gather herbs (pigweed, purslane, sweetpotatoes) and other wild foods characteristic of Tierra Caliente. The relaciones mention that the Cuitlatec ate toads, snakes, lizards, and locusts, reflecting the belief that eating toad flesh or scorpion fat bewitches a person. Beverages consist of different kinds of atole—even one made of beans. Chocolate and coffee are less frequently drunk. Aguardiente, mescal, cigarettes (formerly the Nicotiana rustica was smoked), and marihuana provide stimulants. SETTLEMENT PATTERNS

Totolapan is a town (fig. 3) with straight, planned streets that converge on a small

11,658 17,212

square. Here are the public buildings and large stores (fig. 4), as well as the daily market and the special market (tianguis) on Saturdays. The town is divided into four barrios or electoral districts: San Juan (the downtown area), San Martin, San Pablo, and Santiago. The four barrios may have grown out of ranches, which were formerly dedicated to saints and named after them. TECHNOLOGY

Craftsmen manufacture rope (fig. 5) and sacks, beds made of bamboo, and native cloth. Besides these there are specialists such as carpenters and leatherworkers. Farm implements are the hook or curved machete, the hoe (tarecua), and the axe. The hunting implements include the sling, bird net, shotgun, deer call, and the whistle for hunting iguanas. Fish are caught with the guaruca, the fish basket (fig. 6), and the fishhook, as well as by a special method of drugging them. Houses in the town center have brick walls, tile roofs, and stone-slab floors. Houses in the barrios (fig. 7,1a) have not changed since the 16th century, when they had walls of reeds, bamboo, or adobe; roof of straw, palm thatch, or tiles, and a dirt floor. The rooms are small and dark with little windows. The historic Cuitlatec screened their windows with fine cane as protection against mosquitoes. The houses are furnished principally with bamboo platforms (fig. 7d) that are used as beds, bench567

FIG. 3—MAP OF SAN MIGUEL TOTOLAPAN. 1, Hospital. 2, Telephone office. 3, Kindergarten. 4, School. 5, Mail. 6, Butcher shop. 7, Jail. C, Bar. V, Wineshop. M, Mill.

CUITLATEC

FIG. 4 — T O T O L A P A N . a, Bandstand and church. b, House.

es, tables, etc. The kitchen, adjoining the house, has walls of reeds. In the 16th century a distinction was made between the dress of the important people and that of the workers; the former wore long robes down to their feet (until the 19th century) and shawls or blankets, and had long braided hair; the workers went nude or wore only a short blanket. The women wore embroidered huípiles and skirts and left their hair loose. Until the beginning of this century the men wore white pants and cotton blouses that the women wove, blanket, woven sash, huaraches, and a hat. They wore their hair braided. The women wore a pat acua, a woven and embroidered skirt (fig. 8), and a blouse which was also embroidered, with their hair bound with a malaca or band of colored cloth (white for unmarried women, red for married women or widows). The Cuitlatec still cross the river by

swimming or fording, with their clothing on their heads, as the relaciones mention. The rafts formerly used have disappeared (except among fishermen) and have been replaced by flatboats. Gourds are used for floating (fig. 9). The weights and measures are cuarterones, dobles, arrobas (Spanish weight of about 25 lb.), and cargas, as well as the usual ones of the metric system. These traditional measurements are used principally for corn and sesame. The doble has approximately the weight of a kilo; a doble equals four cuarterones, an arroba 10 dobles, and a carga 100 dobles. ECONOMY

There is land for dry farming (watered only by rain) and irrigated soil on fertile plains flooded by the river. The former is communal property and the latter is individually owned (the mountain lands are divided into 569

FIG. 5 — R O P E MAKING, TOTOLAPAN. a, Materials b, Tools. c,d. Twisting the rope.

FIG. 6 — F I S H BASKET, TOTLAPAN

FIG. 7—a, Cuitlatec house. h, Cornstalk fence. c, Annex to house. d, Bamboo bed.

571

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 8—EMBROIDERED SKIRT, TOTOLAPAN

FIG. 9—GOURD FLOAT, TOTOLAPAN

572

ejidos). The dry-farming lands, on one side of the river south of the town, are used principally to grow sesame and staples (corn, beans, etc.). The irrigated lands, with silt deposited every year by the river, are good for vegetables and beans, but they require daily watering. The main marketable products are sesame and cascalote, which is gathered. The small farmers must sell their products to the merchants in the center. The commercial units are large stores, small stores, bar and store combined, drugstores, and portable wineshops. There are two types of markets on the square: a daily one selling bread, fruit, vegetables and flowers, cooked foods, and corn in the morning, bread and cooked food at night. The other (tianguis) is held on Saturday and draws people from Ajuchitlan, Arcelia, Valle Luz I and II, Toluca, and even from Mexico City. The Cuitlatec engage in secondary economic activities like gathering, hunting, and fishing. They gather cascalote (fig. 10) —used to tan hides—and supplementary food products for the home such as herbs, fruits, and medicinal plants. Hunting and fishing have no economic importance because there is little game and fish. The women participate in almost all agricultural work such as the clearing, sowing, weeding, harvesting, besides taking care of the house. When carrying water, the women hold the container on their heads; the men carry water in jars tied to both ends of a pole that is held on the shoulders. The women also engage in the making of rope, rockets for fireworks, and in silverwork. Field work may be done by hired labor of two types: gañanes who work for two months to plow and sow corn milpa, and peones who hire out by the day during harvesting. There is no cooperative work in agriculture, but there is in the roofing of a house, for which relatives and friends get together, receiving three meals, mescal, and cigarettes in exchange.

CUITLATEC

FIG. 1 0 — C A S C A L O T E (IN BASKET) AND ITS TREE. Used to tan hides.

Communal labor repairs roads and constructs and repairs public buildings, etc. Formerly the Cuitlatec went to work on the coast of Sacatula in cacao groves, in the salt works at Cutzamala, and at the mines of Sultepeque. Now they go for a short time to sow the ejidos at Coronillas and to work as masons at Arcelia. There are specialized workers such as musicians, barbers, midwives, and curers. POLITICAL

ORGANIZATION

The municipal government consists of seven regidores and seven alternates, with the first serving as municipal president. They are elected by panels. The Department of Communal Properties (independent of the municipal government) is elected by the taxpayers and deals with matters of communal land. There are three Catholic churches in San Miguel: one main church and the two chapels of Chalma and the Calvary (fig.

FIG. 11—SAN MIGUEL TOTOLAPAN STREET AND CALVARY CHAPEL

11). Previously there were helpers who cared for the church and cleaned it and the images of the saints. There was a fiscal (also with civil and political authority), a sacristan, two tepisques, two tepiscas, oSicers in charge of candles, incense burners 573

FIG. 1 2 — C U I T L A T E C KINSHIP CHART. ***Concuña means a sister-in-law, but the term is confined to women who married two brothers.

574

CUITLATEC

and prayers, and mayordomos (appointed by the principales of the barrios or by former mayordomos). Now there is only a sacristan. The chapels still keep officers in charge of their incense burners and candles, and the mayordomos. The crosses at the exit of the town are the site of important celebrations. RELIGION

The old religion is still evident in legends about the earth, moon, sun, rayo-nagual, the river, the evil spirit, the naguales, and witches. There are stories about the creation of the river, and about Nana Culasa, who taught the people to spin and to sow cotton. For the Cuitlatec there are two kinds of illness: those willed by God, and the evil ones caused by the brujos, the evil spirit, or the chanes (dwarfs). The latter include soul-loss and evil eye. There are curers of both sexes: roseros (who diagnose with marihuana) and brujos (who cause evil and have many powers). They can transform themselves into animals and read thoughts. The curing techniques include diagnosis with limpias of egg or with marihuana; use of herb plasters, plant infusions, the flesh of a chicken, blood; enemas; massages; cures by contact with the tzotzopastli; offerings of food to the gods; cleaning and smoking out; dances for the gods; picking up or recapturing souls; food taboos, according to their classification as cold and hot, the former being bad for the body. The elements of nature have a life of their own. The earth sustains itself from the dead, manifests itself in earthquakes, suffering from our weight on it. The moon has an influence on menstruating women, unborn children, and plants. AESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL PATTERNS

There are special and popular fiestas all through the year, except in months when food is scarce (August and September).

The musical instruments are the whistle or reed flute, little drum, chirimía, and large guitar. There are many kinds of dances: the dance of the tecuanes, of the mules, of the santiagueros, of Malinche (this with recitations in Nahuatl), and of the little rooster. In the tecuanes dance, masked men dressed in old clothes, chaps, and animal skins, using canes, dance with children who perform as dogs. In the dance of the mules, old women dance with small wooden mules, two men lasso the mules, and there is a song in Cuitlatec. In the dance of the santiagueros personages of European folklore appear: Fierabras or the Giant, Saint James, Oliveros, and soldiers, all dressed in medieval garb. In the dance of Malinche the personages are Cortés, Moctezuma, and Malinche, and Spanish and Mexican soldiers. In the dance of the little rooster, exclusively a children's dance, they wear crowns of feathers and mirrors which carry a rooster's head. In the patron's celebration men and women engage in bullfighting. The few who spoke Cuitlatec used it for telling scatological jokes. LIFE CYCLE

When a woman is menstruating she does not have sexual relations, nor can she go to the church or to the cemetery because the moon would harm her. The midwife knows the sex of the infant by the pulse of the mother. The father and friends know the nagual of the child by signs on the roof of the house. If a little animal comes out he will be a brujo; if a little cloud, a rayonagual. During childbirth the husband and mother-in-law are present as well as a man who holds up the parturient. The midwife gives the mother a tea to help expel the placenta, which the midwife then burns and buries. The umbilical cord, after being cut with any sharp instrument, is hung from a tree or the roof ridge. The mother nurses the child for two years. Previously children were taken to the Rock of Enchantment to acquire "virtue"; 575

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now it is said that twins have virtue and that the child born before them (called "el banco") cures the evils that the twins bring on. The families establish connection by compadrazgo, wherein the future godfather is the one who asks to serve. The godfather ought not be from the same family. The kinship system is charted in figure 12. Elopements are frequent. The girls are taken to the house of a respected person and then the petitions begin through an intermediary called tlatuleador. Then come the ceremony of forgiveness, when the engaged couple kneel before the girl's parents; the ceremony of the "blankets," in which everyone gives blankets and clothing; and then the fiesta of "sí" to fix the date of the wedding. On the day of the wedding the godmother combs, bathes, and dresses the bride. Residence is patrilocal for seven years (authority is in the hands of the mother of the husband, for she manages the money of the household, even if she has several married sons living in the same house) and after that neopatrilocal or neolocal. Virginity is not important. Adultery by the husband is frequent, but there is no polygyny. There is one case only of polyandry by a woman who is living with two men and is criticized. Prostitution is not widespread. Among people of the mountains there are instances of male

homosexuality that are ridiculed but accepted. The general pattern is endogamy within barrios. The barrio of San Juan, however, apparently prefers exogamy. The death rites begin with the wake. Children and helpers in the church or chapels are dressed in the clothes of the saints. The body is extended on the ground with a stone under the head, and later is put in the cofiin on top of the table. On the spot where the body lay, a cross of sand, ash, and flowers is made. The vigil is kept one day and then the body is carried to the cemetery, with one line of men and another of women, who carry flowers and candles, music, and skyrockets. Inside the tomb they scatter holy water. On the ninth day of the wake the padrinos are appointed who will collect the sand, ash and flower cross on the floor, and then carry it to the cemetery in two lines (as in the burial). After a year there is the End of the Year ceremony, which is a repetition of the wake, marking the cross on the ground. The customs concerning inheritance require that if the children are small, the mother is executor. The oldest boy receives the house and has usufruct of the lands; the girls have the animals and household equipment. If there are no sons, the sons-in-law inherit the land. The woman does not inherit the rights to the land.

REFERENCES Arana Osnaya, 1959 Brand, 1943, 1944 Dondé y López, 1941 Faulhaber, 1947 Hendrichs Pérez, 1939, 1946 Lehmann, 1920

576

Lemley, 1949 León, Ν., 1903c McQuown, 1941 Relación de Ajuchidan, 1579 Relación de Tetela del Rio, 1579 Weidaner, R. J., 1939b, 1948a, 1948b

HANDBOOK OF MIDDLE AMERICAN INDIANS, VOLUME 8 Ethnology, Part 2

31. Central Mexican Highlands: Introduction

PEDRO

THE AREA

HERE

DESIGNATED

Central

Mexican Highlands includes the southeastern part of the Central Plateau (Mesa Central) plus its eastern slopes with part of the adjoining coastal plain and parts of the Balsas Basin to the south. These are the areas where the Indians speak Nahautl, or the languages of the Otomian or Totonacan families. The area is thus defined from both geographical and linguistic criteria. Its center is the Basin of Mexico and the surrounding valleys of Puebla, Toluca, and Morelos, the core area of the people of Nahuatl or Otomian speech. To the west it reaches to the westernmost groups of Otomian speech in eastern Michoacan which are separated from the Tarascans by a wide area with no Indian population. On the north the boundary almost coincides with the pre-Spanish border of the Mesoamerican culture area except for the few surviving Pame and ChichimecaJonaz and the remnants in Queretaro and Guanajuato of the Otomi settled there during the colonial period. The east has no clearly defined border; we include the Nahuatl-, Otomi-, Totonac-, and Tepeua-

CARRASCO

speakers but not the Mayance Huastec, who are discussed in Article 14. The southeast is bordered by the Mestizo areas of coastal Veracruz. No clear-cut line separates our area from the southern Mexican highlands, but the low density of Indian population in most of the Balsas Basin also establishes a boundary with the high concentration of Indian population of Oaxaca and eastern Guerrero. This region was the key area of ancient Mesoamerica and the core of the Aztec empire. Its present-day Indians are the descendants of the people whose 16th-century culture has been best described. These are also, however, the Indians who have been most thoroughly influenced by the nonIndian population and by the economic and cultural transformations of the colonial and republican periods. In this region were established the colonial Spanish cities of Mexico City and Puebla, the mining centers of Pachuca and Taxco, the sheep ranches and pulque haciendas of the Tierra Fría, the sugarcane haciendas of the Tierra Caliente in Morelos and the Atlixco-Izucar area. During the republican period it is in 579

FIG. 1—DISTRIBUTION OF INDIAN LANGUAGES IN CENTRAL MEXICO. (Drawn by E. Hatch from Mendizábal, 1946b.)

this area that modern industrial development and urban growth have taken place; coffee growing and oil production have rapidly transformed formerly conservative areas. It is thus one of the areas of Mexico where Indians have been subject to the heaviest Hispanization. From the 19th century on, Indian languages have been rapid580

ly disappearing as has consciousness of ethnic distinctiveness as Indians are being assimilated into the Mestizo rural population. DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION

The distribution of Indian languages is seen in figure 1. The linguistic families included

CENTRAL MEXICAN HIGHLANDS: INTRODUCTION

in this region are Uto-Aztecan, Otomian, and Totonacan. Uto-Aztecan is represented only by Nahuatl, the most widely spoken Indian language of Mexico; most of its speakers are in the central Mexican highlands and are found throughout most of the area. The Otomian family includes two sizable groups, Otomi and Mazahua. The other languages of this family have very limited distribution today: Matlatzinca in Mexicaltzingo and San Francisco Oztotilpan; Ocuiltec (or Atzinca) in San Juan Acingo, all three villages in the state of Mexico; Pame in a few spots from east central San Luis Potosí to Northern Hidalgo; and Chichimeca-Jonaz in San Luis de la Paz, Guanajuato. Otomi is spoken mainly in the western part of the state of Mexico and the Mezquital Valley area of Hidalgo, but there are also Otomi areas in the Sierra de Puebla, at Ixtenco in Tlaxcala and in parts of Queretaro and Guanajuato. Mazahua is spoken only in the western part of the state of Mexico and a few adjoining villages in Michoacan. The Totonacan family includes Totonac, spoken by a sizable group in the border area of Puebla and Veracruz, and Tepehua, spoken by a few Indians centering in the municipio of Huehuetlan, Hidalgo. The distribution and density of the Indian population can be seen in figure 2. There are five major areas with high concentration of Indian population. The largest, occupying the eastern slopes of the plateau, includes the most conservative cultures, villages of Nahuatl, Totonac, Tepehua, and Otomi speech. A second area is the Otomispeaking Valle del Mezquital. The western part of the state of Mexico is a third area of strong Indian population where Otomi, Mazahua, and Nahuatl are spoken. Less solidly Indian is the fourth region, in Tlaxcala and Puebla, villages of Nahuatl speech mostly on the slopes of the Popocatepetl and Malinche. The southeastern end of the state of Puebla beyond Tehuacan and the

neighboring area of Veracruz form a fifth area of high Indian population of Nahuatl speech neighboring on the Mazatec of Oaxaca. The Popoloca and Mixteca of the state of Puebla are treated with their linguistic kinsmen of Oaxaca in Section 2 of this volume. THE PROCESS OF ACCULTURATION

Modern Indian cultures are the result of a four-century-long process of acculturation, and the main lines in a discussion of modern basic institutions and regional differences have to be defined in reference to both colonial and present-day acculturation processes. After the conquest the Indian became part of a plural society, a stratified social system that included not only Indians but Spaniards, Negroes, and Castas (halfbreeds), each group with a legally defined social status. Class differentiation, however, also developed within these ethnic groups so that the total stratification was based on the two different principles of ethnic group and class. Changes in the culture and internal social structure of the Indian communities depended on the place that these communities came to occupy within the wider society. The Indians usually became a peasant group, but within this general characterization there have been important differences in the various areas and at different times. The steps in the long process of Indian acculturation can be seen as a sequence of different social structures with the Indian in a distinctive position at each step. And the influence of the total society on the Indian, especially as reflected in government policy, has also been different according to the changes developing in Mexican society as a whole. Viewing the Indian cultures from the present and without discussing the successive steps of colonial acculturation in detail, we can discuss the total transformation of Indian cultures from the conquest to the present in terms of two great processes. 581

FIG. 2—DENSITY OF INDIAN-SPEAKING POPULATION IN CENTRAL MEXICO. (Drawn by E. Hatch from Densidad, 1950, map. 1.)

First is the colonial process of transformation of the independent preconquest native societies into semi-autonomous peasant communities, which formed subordinate ethnic groups but were at the same time a basic component of the total social struc582

ture. Second is the modern process of progressive assimilation of the Indian into rural Mexican society, with only the marginal survival of colonial type communities in modified form. Within the wider structure of the Spanish

CENTRAL MEXICAN HIGHLANDS: INTRODUCTION

empire, the colonial society developed a structure of its own. The Spanish policy towards the Indians can be explained by the nature and interrelations of these two structures. From the point of view of the cultural transformation of the Indian, they have to be taken as the conditions, imposed from the outside, within which the cultural and social change took place. In the pluriethnic society of New Spain the Spaniards replaced or placed themselves above the native rulers and, although a good measure of indirect rule was practiced, the large native "empires" or confederations were broken down into their constituent chieftancies. The Indian segments of society became thus restricted to the peasant level of organization; of the native ruling group some disappeared, some survived but with a diminished social standing. The Indian communities or Repúblicas de Indios were peasant communities with a corporate legal personality, communal ownership of land, autonomous government and responsibility for the payment of tribute and supply of forced labor; they are the Mexican counterpart of the native reserves of other colonial areas. These were the conditions that explain the survival or disappearance of different aspects of native culture and social organization. The greatest amount of retention is found at the family and village level; the technology of the family or village production unit, family organization, and the private cults and beliefs connected with events in the life cycle or technological activities. At the village level of organization we find institutions such as local government and ceremonial organization that represent local interests but which are also related to the wider society, indeed are local branches of the wider institutions of state and church. The native forms of local government and ceremonial organization were purposefully changed by the new state and church, whereas the Spanish directives to impose forms of local administration and

FIG. 3—TLAXCALAN MAN. (From Starr, 1899b, pl. 51.)

religion had to be adapted to local conditions. We thus find in village government and village public cult and cult organization the foremost instances of cultural syncretism. The disappearance of large-scale native political units and the decline and transformation of the native nobility resulted in the disappearance of all those aspects of culture related to higher levels of organization and the native ruling group: the forms of political, military and religious organization of the native states, the architecture of public buildings, and the luxury crafts whose products were consumed by the ruling groups 583

ETHNOLOGY

in their private and public life. As a counterpart to this massive disappearance of upper-class native culture we find the relatively slight impact of Spanish folk or peasant culture. New Spain was a mixed society of a Spanish upper class and an Indian lower class. Spanish culture consequently prevails in patterns of government and state religion and was imitated by the surviving Indian nobility, while the culture of the Indian peasant continued to be basically Indian except in the changes forced by state and church. The policies of political and religious control, however, reached deep into aspects of Indian culture that might be expected to have been left undisturbed. Thus the policy of forced conversion led to the adoption of the standards of the church regarding modesty in dress or the regulation of marriage. The second great transformation is the modern process of disappearance of the autonomous, communal character of the Indian village and its assimilation into Mexican rural society. The legal bases for this transformation were laid down during the 19th century, first by the abolition of the separate legal status of the Indian and of the tribute system, later by the land reforms aiming at the suppression of the holding of land by corporate bodies. The amount of change, however, has depended on the strength of the economic transformation that resulted from the economic growth of Mexico starting in the late 19th century and on the settling of non-Indians in former Indian communities. The demands of the total Mexican society on the Indian have changed from colonial to modern times. The Indian is no longer significant as a source of tribute (or taxes) and he is less important than he used to be as a source of labor for non-Indian enterprises. The modern Indian is for the most part a farmer or craftsman producing partly for subsistence, partly for a local market. Both as producer and consumer the Indian's participation in the national market is small. 584

What we find, then, is the marginal survival of the type of Indian community developed during colonial times free from tribute and forced labor but subject to the influences of the modern industrial civilization and the new national political system. In technology these new influences appear as sewing machines, corn mills (molinos de nixtamal), widespread use of factory-made clothes and automotive transportation (used even if not run by Indians). The modern municipal organization of Mexico has everywhere caused changes or additions to the traditional system of local government, and there is often a distinction between the officials that are part of the traditional organization and those whose existence is prescribed by the municipal law of each state. The old religious sodalities introduced in colonial times have usually taken on a folk meaning and have become part of the traditional village organization, and a new set of sodalities is usually fostered by the church. Here and there the spread of Protestantism is another new avenue of change in religion. The total economic situation is also changing. The land-tenure system has changed in important respects with the loss of importance of the community as the basic landholding unit—loss of communal lands, individual title to land by members of the community, and even the modern introduction of the ejido system, since the ejido does not usually coincide with the village community as a whole but forms a factional group within it. The increased industrialization of Mexico has brought about strong competition for some of the traditional crafts and their eventual disappearance, although it also has created a new demand for other Indian products such as new cash crops (e.g., coffee) and thus has increased the Indian's involvement in the money economy. All these factors together with the growth of population and increased scarcity of land increasingly throw the Indian into the national labor market. The combined acculturative effects of all these new

FIG. 4—TLAXCALAN HOUSE GROUP, SAN ESTEBAN. (From Starr, 1899b, pl. 44.)

developments lead to the eventual loss of the cultural traits that are distinctively Indian, including language, and results in the assimilation of the Indian into the general rural Mexican population. It should be pointed out, however, that the social passing from Indian to non-Indian is only one aspect of a complex process of change. It does not always go at the same pace as the changes in the different aspects of the culture and social organization of the group making the transition. Traits of Indian origin are found at all levels of Mexican society, and the glorification of the Indian component of Mexican culture and history that is part of modern nationalism

has grown at the same time that the groups socially considered Indians with Indian speech and a strong Indian culture have been receding. These are problems, however, that go beyond the subject of this article. We are here concerned with the population that still is socially defined as Indian and has a cultural heritage of predominantly Indian origin. These we find today only as a marginal population socially and geographically. REGIONAL DIFFERENCES

The most important type of diversity among modern Indian communities is perhaps the one related to the situation 585

ETHNOLOGY

that a particular community may occupy within the general process of acculturation outlined before, i.e., the relative amount of pre-Spanish, colonial, and modern social and cultural features. In addition important regional differences are related to environmental adaptation and to the survival of different native traditions from the preSpanish past. Some of the most important and most visible cultural differences among modern Indian villages are connected with differences in the natural environment. In the first place we have those differences pertaining to agriculture and animal husbandry. Crops vary according to altitude and water supply. The most important plants in the native diet, corn and beans, have a general distribution because of the existence of different varieties adapted to the various environments, but otherwise we find the usual differences between crops of tierra caliente, tierra templada, and tierra fría. Domestic animals are less important in the native economy, but here also is found the concentration of goat and sheep raising in the dry-temperate and cold areas, respectively. Agricultural techniques are also to a large extent related to the environment: slash-and-burn is practiced in the forested areas whether lowland or high mountain, whereas the use of the plow has become general in the highlands. Chinampa cultivation (see vol. 6, Art. 4, fig. 5) has become restricted to the Lake Xochimilco area in the Basin of Mexico but has also expanded to the similar environment at the source of the Lerma River. Environmental influences are also perceptible in housing, settlement pattern, and dress. The more intensive cultivation of the highlands, related to the natural environment, in its turn results in the higher population density, land scarcity, specialization in crafts and more intense marketing that characterize throughout Mesoamerica the highland cultures in contrast with the lowland. 586

The differential acceptance of Spanish culture traits is to a large extent conditioned by environment, as for example in the introduction of new crops or the use of wool in clothing. In this respect Spanish influences have added to the aboriginal highland-lowland contrast. Other cases of differential acceptance of Spanish traits may be the result of divergent policies on the part of various missionary orders or bishoprics; this question remains to be investigated. The survival of diverse pre-Spanish cultural backgrounds can also be seen at the root of some of the modern regional differences. The main one, however, is the continuation although in somewhat changed form of differences conditioned by the environment that had already been at work in preconquest times. Other cultural features that probably continue to illustrate aboriginal regional differences are various types of housing (wattle versus adobe) and corncribs (square, round, radish-shaped) or certain types of garments (huipil versus quexquemitl). Some types of kinship organization discussed later also must represent the continuation of differing aboriginal patterns. It is not possible, however, to assume that modern regional differences even when relating to surviving aspects of aboriginal culture—for instance, pagan cults— always represent pre-Spanish regional differences. The peasantization of Indian societies after the conquest implied a simplification of the aboriginal cultures, and modern regional differences may well be the result of differential survival and different types of acculturation from a common indigenous base. Not enough ethnographic work has been done to plot satisfactorily the various cultural regions within the central highlands, but it seems safe to conclude that cultural differences do not coincide with linguistic areas. We will instead have to operate with a series of regions each including a mixed society of both Spanish- and Indian-speak-

CENTRAL MEXICAN HIGHLANDS: INTRODUCTION

ers, sometimes with various Indian languages in the same region. To some extent each area may have a somewhat distinct culture, and the most obvious differences will be related to environmental conditions. On the other hand, each area can best be viewed as a regional society within the same cultural tradition, and each will include a similar set of the main types of community —administrative or commercial centers, farming villages, craft villages. Another main factor in defining regional differences will be, then, the relative importance of the various types of community within each region—for instance, the areas with a large conservative Indian population with nonIndian administrative and commercial centers as against the areas of small marginal Indian villages within an area in which non-Indian industrial and political centers predominate. We shall now review the main aspects of Indian culture, pointing out the major regional differences and outlining processes of change. This article emphasizes the background of those aspects of culture that are most important in contemporary cultures in terms of the various factors making for regional differentiation and change that have been outlined above. ASPECTS OF INDIAN CULTURE AND SOCIETY

Community

Type

The first task in describing and classifying Indian cultures is to see what type of social group we are dealing with by ascertaining its place within the national social structure. Indians everywhere are part of the rural population. Their economic activities are farming, crafts, and wage labor. Some subsistence farming is always practiced, although its relative importance within a specific community differs widely; it is always supplemented by commercial farming, crafts, or wage labor. Village specialization is typical of the rural economy, and most Indian communities can be readily classified

as specializing in one particular line of farming or craft. Another and most important question is the nature of the Indian group as a type of settlement or administrative unit. From this point of view a contrast can be drawn between what we call village or town cultures and hamlet cultures. A village or town (pueblo, villa) is an autonomous unit with its own political administration. It consists of a nucleated settlement with the surrounding land and sometimes with dependent hamlets. When the village is the head (cabecera) of a municipio, the political autonomy has a strong legal basis, and a number of the local officials will be those determined by the municipal law of the state; when the village is not the cabecera but is subordinate to another town, the local body of officials will be based primarily on tradition, since the municipal law requires a meager administrative body for such a village. In either case, however, from the point of view of the Indian tradition, the village is the political and culture-carrying unit; the most important aspects of Indian culture refer to the village level of integration: village jurisdiction over land, village political and ceremonial organization. In many cases, however, we find municipios and villages in which the non-Indian population is in control of the local administration, usually forming the population of the cabecera or central part of the town. The Indian population, then, is found only in outlying wards or hamlets (barrios, ranchos, rancherías, congregaciones). In these cases most features relating to the village level of integration are outside the realm of Indian culture, which pertains then to the family level or to the village subdivision (ward, hamlet, etc.) of which its carriers are members; the aspects of political and ceremonial organization so important in village culture are here very weak or nonexistent. This is what we can call a hamlet culture (Tajin, for instance). During colonial times important groups 587

FIG. 5—WOMAN OF ALTEPEXI, PUEBLA, NEAR TEHUACAN. (Photographed by Donald Cordry, 1963.)

CENTRAL MEXICAN HIGHLANDS: INTRODUCTION

of Indians also lived in large towns, including those that were centers of Spanish urban settlement. In Mexico City, this was the result of the establishment of a Spanish city at the center of the old Indian capital, with the Indian population being organized in outlying barrios with their own separate cabildo. But a Spanish city such as Puebla, founded on a new site, also attracted Indian settlers to dependent barrios, thus creating exactly the same type of social unit (Marín Tamayo, 1960). These Indians, such as those of Mexico City or nearby Xochmilco, engaged in crafts and trades catering to the Spanish urban population. In Mexico City the Indian barrios with their autonomous government still existed at the time of Mexico's independence. It is only during the republican period that the non-Indian nuclei of cities and even of middle-sized towns have everywhere expanded and assimilated the local Indians so that today the Indian population is everywhere rural. From the colonial period to the present there has also been a constant trend toward the fragmentation of Indian political units (Repúblicas de Indios) into smaller and smaller units. Villages that were originally dependencies (sujetos, estancias) of some head towns (cabeceras) gradually became administratively independent, choosing their own body of local officials at the same time that most of the important settlements of the early colonial period became nonIndian in character. A constant trend has thus been in operation for Indian society to change from town or village toward hamlet with the corresponding simplification in the patterns of social stratification and political and ceremonial organization. Material Culture A comparison of the material culture of the modern Indian with that of conquest times shows a great amount of retention of peasant technology and an almost total disappearance of the material culture associated with the native upper class and its

political and ceremonial life. Thus farming techniques, cooking, housing, dress, and craft products such as pottery or basketry used by the peasant family are still largely aboriginal, whereas public architecture and the crafts associated with native upper classes have disappeared. This disappearance was in some cases sudden. For instance, native public architecture, which was primarily religious, went out of existence with forced conversion. In a good number of luxury crafts, however, the continued existence of the native nobility and the demands of the new Spanish state made for a transitional period in which some craftsmen continued to work at their trades, were converted to new products or left their imprint on products of the new technology. Thus feather ornaments were still used in Indian celebrations, and feather mosaics of Christian subjects were made for the church; goldsmiths also could work for the Spanish. The old system of picture writing disappeared from the non-Christian religious codices but was in use for some time in the local administrative records (e.g., Codices Osuna, Tepetlaoztoc, Mariano Jiménez). The stoneworkers put to work in Spanish buildings and churches gave a particular style to the early colonial stone carving. In spite of the large number of native survivals, the influence of pre-industrial European technology is everywhere noticeable, and in more recent times industrial products are also used. No detailed information is as yet available as to the precise dates and especially the extent to which various technological innovations were introduced in the different areas of Mexico. An often-mentioned early colonial report describes the great skill of Indian craftsmen and the eagerness with which they imitated Spanish products (Motolinía, 1914, pp. 21617), but this probably applied only to craftsmen in the main urban centers. The Indian nobility imitated the Spanish in dress and entered into new forms of economic activ589

ETHNOLOGY

ity such as sheep raising. Another avenue of change may have been the Spanish demand for products that the Indian was able to meet. Wheat, for instance, was often demanded as tribute (J. Miranda, 1952, p. 259). And the need for cash to pay tribute may also have been a factor in increasing the commercial involvement of Indians in products of Spanish demand. Old World crops seem to have been widespread rather early. Metallurgy is perhaps the one field in which change has been most radical. Aboriginal metal work has disappeared and the use of iron is today universal, although in the form of imported tools and rarely of native manufacture. Agriculture is the basic branch of production of the modern Indian peasant. Slash-and-burn farming continues in the forested areas of the Gulf coast and highland mountain slopes along lines that are basically aboriginal. The old key areas in the highlands, however, have adopted cattle and the plow, substantial additions to the more intensive cultivation of the highland plateau that already prevailed in aboriginal times. Staple crops continue to be the aboriginal corn, beans, chile, and maguey, but Old World crops have been added in all environments. The old chinampa agriculture is still practiced in the Valley of Mexico although in a very restricted area (see vol. 6, Art. 4, fig. 5). Of the most important crafts, pottery is still basically of aboriginal type (see vol. 6, Art. 5, fig. 11). The most substantial European innovations, glazing and the potter's wheel, are rather exceptional among Indian potters (Foster, 1955). The textile arts have been more influenced by European technology, with the introduction of an important new fiber, wool, the spinning wheel and the foot loom, the latter worked by men so that it also represents a change in the aboriginal division of labor in which weaving was the province of women. All this, however, is an addition to the native spindle 590

whorl and beltloom that have continued in general use. An important change in dress took place shortly after the conquest when men adopted pants (zaragüelles, calzones) and shirt instead of the native loincloth. The main force for change may have been the influence of the church, for whom native style amounted to nakedness. The aboriginal cloak (tilma) was kept as well as women's dress that, consisting of a wraparound skirt (cueitl, naguas) and upper garment of the huipil or quexquemitl varieties, met the church's standards of modesty. In the course of the colonial period the use of woolens became general in the highlands for skirts and serapes, the latter a colonial development. Full skirts, blouses, and shawls (rebozos) are of European origin and their widespread use among Indian women probably dates from the 19th century. In recent times factory made clothes have been replacing the local costumes. In housing tile has been the main Old World innovation. Native types of hut, wattle and thatch are common in the lowlands. In the highlands and in the larger lowland towns the prevailing adobe buildings with flat or tile roofs represent a blend of the native house with the Mediterranean types. Innovation has been greater in settlement types. In connection with the congregación policy enforced mainly around 1600 most Indian communities were resettled in nucleated towns with a grid pattern around a central square, where the church and other public buildings were located. In some areas, especially the eastern slopes of the plateau and the northern Otomi area, small hamlets and scattered homesteads are widespread, either because the congregación policy was not fully carried out or because a relapse took place to an older pattern. Economic

Organization

The economic system of the early colonial period was clearly based on Indian labor:

CENTRAL MEXICAN HIGHLANDS: INTRODUCTION

Indian tribute supported the royal treasury and the encomenderos, forced Indian labor provided a substantial part of the labor needs of Spanish farms, and Indian craftsmen, especially in Mexico City or Xochimilco, were significant in the nonagricultural sector of the economy. Within the Indian communities, independent household production prevailed in farming and crafts, partly for subsistence, partly for the market or for tribute payments in kind. The quantitative importance of labor exchange and work bees is difficult to estimate. In addition there survived a certain amount of land in the hands of Indian caciques whose holdings were parceled out among tenants who paid their dues in a great variety of craft products of their own manufacture, and in labor used to work the landlord's fields, build and repair his house, and provide domestic service (Carrasco, 1963). Together with this "private" sector of the economy there was a very significant "public" sector managed by the town's ofiBcials. All the land in the community was held under communal title and in addition to the lands for family use there were the commons (ejidos) and propios, land worked in common or rented out, the produce of which entered the town's treasury. There was also a certain amount of tribute surplus, and a number of payments in kind and labor were rendered by the members of the community for the support of its civil and ceremonial organization. An example is the town of Otlazpan in 1549 (today a barrio of Tepeji del Rio, Mexico). Indian householders paid tribute in cash, cacao beans, firewood, and turkeys in proportion to the amount of land they held. In addition there were a number of labor services primarily in working the communal lands and, for women, weaving stipulated amounts of cloth for the ofiBcials as well as for the town's treasury. Salaries in cash were paid to the governor, two judges (alcaldes), four councilmen (regidores), and a steward (mayordomo); these

ofiBcials also received firewood and had their fields worked for them by the villagers. Smaller salaries in cash were given to a scribe, to church singers (cantores) and instrumentalists (menestriles), as well as to a number of labor chiefs (tequitlatos) in charge of the laborers going to the public works in Mexico City, of the labor drafts for working the encomendero's land, of people taking food to the encomendero's house, of examining marriages, of overseeing the baptism of children, and of gathering people on Sundays and holidays to hear Mass and learn the Christian doctrine. The daily expenditures of the townhall (comun y casa pública) amounted to three turkeys, 500 cacao beans, and one fanega of corn; and every week there was a team, changing every Saturday, of 10 men to bring firewood and 10 women to grind corn. In addition the communal treasury spent at each of the main festivals of the year (St. Matthew and Easter Sunday) 3200 cacao beans, five turkeys, five chickens, and five fanegas of corn (Códice Mariano Jiménez). The modern economic organization of Indian villages has diverged from the one just outlined in a number of ways. The growth of the non-Indian population, the assimilation of Indians in many areas, and the development of new forms of economic activity at the national level have restricted the Indian population to smaller and marginal areas, and its part in the national economy is far less significant than in the colonial period. The Indian is no longer an important contributor of tribute or taxes; forced labor has disappeared and instead a situation of rural underemployment has developed. Modern Indian communities carry on independent household production in farming and/or crafts for subsistence or for the market. Village specialization in different crafts or farm products and a system of regional markets make for a close interdependence of different Indian villages with each other and with the non-Indian segments of the population. Communal title 591

FIG. 6—WOMEN AND CHILDREN OF ACATLAN, GUERRERO. (Photographed by Donald Cordry, 1964.)

CENTRAL MEXICAN HIGHLANDS: INTRODUCTION

to land has generally been replaced by individual titles, although in a number of villages ejido communities have been set up after the land reforms of the postrevolutionary period. Forest regulations restrict the use of the remaining commons as farming land. The common lands (propios) of townships and of religious sodalities have generally disappeared. The tribute system is gone and most of the few taxes paid by Indians (such as land taxes) go to the federal and state treasuries. Indian villages thus have a very meager cash income (Mendizábal, 1946b, charts at end of vol. 5). All this makes impossible the type of "public" economy outlined for the colonial period. What remains today is the tequio or communal labor for public works and occasional collections for the organization of festivals, but civil and ceremonial officials are not usually supported by the town. Instead they have to sponsor from their private income the public functions they perform. A system of sponsorships (mayordomías) thus developed that is connected with the hierarchical ladder basic to the political and ceremonial organization. Survival of the autonomous or self-centered character of the Indian community has come to depend on this sponsorship system that channels surplus wealth toward communal ends, rather than on the communal property of the colonial Indian village. More recent trends of change further destroy the remnants of a communal organization: individual resistance to participation in public works (tequio) and the sponsorship system grows as Indians are more closely drawn into the national economy. But then when the transformation goes this far we usually find that many other aspects of the Indian's culture have changed and the social identification as an Indian has been lost. Family and Kinship It is difficult to attempt an over-all view of the evolution of kinship organization

from pre-Spanish to modern times. PreSpanish kinship still presents a number of problems; little about the colonial period is yet known and the modern data, also quite limited, suggest that different types of organization may have existed from the early period to the present. Before the conquest extended family households were common. There were no barriers to marriage among close kin other than lineal relatives, at least among some Nahuatl groups. Polygyny was common although in varying degree among the ethnic groups and social strata; the levirate was practiced. The Spanish conquest imposed the marriage regulations of the Catholic church and thus effected a number of important changes. Polygyny was suppressed and marriage was forbidden with kin closer than the third degree, that is, second cousins; the levirate was also forbidden (Doctrina, pp. cxi-cxii). For Indian caciques succession rules of the Spanish nobility (primogeniture) were adopted. (For Huexotzinco, see Carrasco, 1966, pp. 152 and 157). Nuclear family households seem to prevail in colonial village censuses. The age for marriage was late, at least in parts of ancient Mexico, a custom probably related to the importance of the men's house organization and warfare; a change to earlier marriage took place in the early postconquest period. The modern prevalence of the nuclear family and the lack of preferential marriages are thus the result of changes that took place soon after the conquest. The bilateral kindred exogamy that prevails today has a basis in the regulation of the church, although custom seems to favor a wider exogamy than was demanded by the missionary church. The modern custom of arranging marriages through a go-between, with ritualized visits, exchange of presents, and formal speeches, is probably a survival of old usages (see Fabila, 1949, p. 153 ff.). At the time of the conquest the ward or barrio (Nahuatl, calpulli) seems to have 593

ETHNOLOGY

had some basis in kinship, although the precise composition of the group from the point of view of kinship is still debatable. Marriage does not seem to have been regulated by ward membership; patrilineal exogamy was definitely not practiced in the Aztec ruling lineage, but we should not assume that this was the rule everywhere in the central highlands. An analysis of the marriages performed at the village of Chiautla near Tetzcoco from 1585 to 1604 shows that the men of the 11 different wards in that town varied in their choice of wives as far as ward membership was concerned; the variation ranged from a barrio 59 per cent of whose men took wives from their own ward to one in which only 16 per cent did so; the variation in the ward membership of mates seems to be related to the size of the barrio and geographical proximity. The marriage pattern thus seems very similar to that of Tepoztlan in recent times. We might then agree with Monzón (1949) that the old calpulli was an ambilateral clan with some tendency towards endogamy. Modern evidence, however, shows the existence of barrios that are patricians in Murdock's use of the term among the Totonac of Eloxochitlan (I. Kelly, 1953, p. 181; Palerm, personal communication) and the Nahuatl of San Bernardino Contla, Tlaxcala (Nutini, 1961). The nature of the barrio from the kinship point of view is thus more complex than has generally been assumed, and we should acept the existence of different types of kinship organization both in aboriginal and postconquest times. Much more work is required in colonial history and modern ethnography before this problem can be settled. The modern barrio, irrespective of its ethnic or kinship basis, is primarily a social division, usually territorial, that functions in the political and ceremonial organization as a unit for the selection of officials and the performance of civil or religious activities. Ritual co-parenthood (compadrazgo) has become an important pattern of social re594

lationships among the Indians of the central highlands as in most other regions of Mesoamerica. Some basis for the successful adoption of this institution may have been afforded by a pre-Spanish ritual similar to baptism. Modern compadrazgo in this area has the features typical of Spanish America, but the basis for the successful adoption of this institution may have been afforded by pre-Spanish custom (Chaves, 1865, p. 539). Village

Government

The forms of village government are regulated by the municipal laws of each state which determine the number, title, and functions of municipal officers, the method of selection, and terms of office. The general pattern prescribes popular election of a number of councilmen (regidores), a municipal president and an attorney (síndico) for short terms of from one to three years. Other officials, such as the secretary and policemen, are appointed and not limited as to terms. In addition to and combined with this pattern one usually finds throughout Indian Mexico a number of customary civil officials and a ceremonial organization whose existence is not prescribed by law. These are the continuation of the colonial civil authorities and religious brotherhoods on top of which the recent municipal organization has been imposed without displacing it entirely. The civil and ceremonial offices of a town's organization are usually combined in a single scale of short-term (usually yearly) offices, which has been termed an escalafón or ladder system. All men of the community have to enter into it and all have a chance to climb up to the highest steps and reach the status of elder. The number of positions is always larger in the lower steps of the ladder; errand boys for ceremonial or civil officials and policemen are usually grouped in gangs from different sections or wards of the town who take turns in performing their duties. The higher offices are those of town councilmen and

CENTRAL MEXICAN HIGHLANDS: INTRODUCTION

judges or mayors in the civil government and several ceremonial stewardships (mayordomías) in the cult organization. When a town is subdivided into wards, most often each participates equally in the higher levels of the hierarchy; there are parallel offices of the same rank, one for each barrio, or a single position rotates year after year among the different wards. Generally a man alternates between civil and religious positions, and after filling an office he takes a period of rest during which he does not actively participate in the town's civil or ceremonial organization, until the time comes again for him to occupy a higher office. As a citizen of the community he has the obligation to serve, and social pressure to that effect is always strong; the individual will also be driven to apply for offices in order to raise his social status. The group of highest prestige, and in the more conservative communities the ultimate governing body of the town, consists of the men who have gone through the required offices and sponsorships of the ladder. These are usually referred to as principales (principals) or, since this grade is reached at an advanced age, ancianos (elders). Elders are considered to have done their share for the town and are exempt from communal labor services. This ladder system is the result of the syncretism of Indian patterns of political and ceremonial organization with the Spanish system of municipal government and guild or religious sodalities introduced in the 16th century (Carrasco, 1961a). The Spanish institutions were adjusted to the main lines of the native class distinctions and political organization, and important changes later took place in relation to the over-all transformation of Mexican society during colonial and republican times. In the pre-Spanish organization young men entered the men's houses (telpochcalli or calmecac) where they performed menial tasks in the political, military, and ceremonial organizations and were trained for

participation in these organizations at a higher level. Young men could enter into a career of military or ceremonial advancement determined mainly by success in the battlefield. The existence of class differences between nobles and commoners restricted the highest positions to the noblemen. The economic organization of the palace and the temples was marked by a number of occasions for the accumulation and consumption or redistribution of goods. Institutions such as temples and men's houses were supplied with land and tribute that constituted the source of the goods to be consumed or distributed. In addition, individuals achieving an office or performing a ceremonial function contributed to the performance or gave feasts that placed them at the focal point of additional redistributions. After the introduction of the Spanish system of town government the lower levels of local administration were still a direct continuation of the native organization that was kept for the collection of tribute and organization of public works much as it had been in the past. Even today one finds lesser officials with the title of tequitlato (labor boss) and topil (literally, 'staff bearer,' usually some kind of errand boy or policeman) that are clearly the continuation of their ancient namesakes (Durán, 1951, 1: 323; 2: 166, 223; Torquemada, 1943, 2: 545; Gibson, 1952, pp. 118-20). The higher offices in the colonial Indian village were clearly derived from the Spanish pattern: a governor (gobernador), and a variable number of judges (alcaldes) and councilmen (regidores). These offices, however, were usually filled by the descendants of the native nobility (prinicipales), who would also continue using the pre-Spanish political and ceremonial titles (see, for example, the lists of principales in Códice Mariano Jiménez, 1903). In many towns the native requirement of noble status for high office was sanctioned by Spanish authorities; and although the new offices had yearly terms and re-election for the next 595

FIG. 7—WOMAN MAKING TORTILLAS, SAN JOSE MIAHUATLAN, PUEBLA. (Photographed by Donald Cordry, 1963.)

CENTRAL MEXICAN HIGHLANDS: INTRODUCTION

two years was forbidden, the evidence is clear that the same group of men repeatedly held all the high offices of the new administration, alternating from one to another. A number of local differences in the system of electing officials have been reported that depart from the Spanish usage and have been interpreted as due to different Indian backgrounds. (Zavala and Miranda, 1954, pp. 80-82; Chávez Orozco, 1943, p. 10; Gibson, 1952, p. 112.) The old system of achieving prestige through ceremonial sponsorship also continued. Although the offering of sacrificial victims as a way of acquiring status was eradicated, the related practice of feast giving and sponsorship of religious functions is reported in early colonial times by missionaries who saw in it a continuation of the pre-Spanish customs. The well-attested identification of the native gods with Catholic saints, and consequently with their respective rituals, must also have resulted in the transference of the social prestige value of ritual sponsorship and feast giving from the old to the new ceremonials. As in the native period, the occasional achievement of the status of principal by men of commoner origin who had occupied high office is also attested from the colonial period. (Durán, 1951, 2: 125-26, 266; Sahagún, 1938, 3: 299-301; Zavala and Miranda, 1954, p. 61.) One important change throughout colonial times and the 19th century was the elimination of the nobility as a separate group with inherited rank, private landholdings, and exclusive rights to office, with the consequent opening of the entire hierarchy to the whole town. The process started early in colonial times, first of all because the Spanish conquest destroyed all the large political units, cutting them down to their constituent chieftaincies and depressing them all to the peasant level of organization, with the consequent loss in numbers and importance of the native nobility, especially in the old political centers.

Equally important were the efforts of the commoners to eliminate the restrictions against them and to wrest the control of town government away from the nobility. This process started in the 16th century, but the final disappearance of the native nobility did not take place until the 19th century when independence abolished the legal privileges of the Indian caciques. (Chávez Orozco, 1943, pp. 14-15; Gibson, 1960.) A second process was connected with the economic aspect of officeholding. As seen before, the tribute surplus and the public lands (or cattle) of the towns and of religious brotherhoods provided in early colonial times a substantial amount of the wealth consumed by the ceremonial organization. The loss of this income increased the importance of the individual sponsorship of public functions. This is how the term mayordomo, originally designating a steward or manager of communal holdings, became the usual title of the individual who sponsored with his own wealth a religious festival. Thus today participation in the higher ranks of the civil and ceremonial organization involves a number of expenditures. The operation of the ladder means that all men share in turn the financing of the town's government and ceremonials, and a man's expediture of wealth enhances his social status. No studies of Indian brotherhoods (cofradías) in the colonial period have been made, but the guild organization of the Spanish population in Mexico suggests that cofradía organization was a major source of modern ladder systems (Carrera Stampa, 1954, pp. 64-72, 84-85, 96-97). The data from our area are poorer on the political and ceremonial organization than on other aspects of culture such as technology or religion. It is difficult to ascertain the relative strength of the ladder type of organization in the various regions. A ladder organization combining traditional ceremonial offices with the civil-legal organization has been reported from Ocotepec 597

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in the municipio of Cuernavaca (Basauri, 1940c, 3: 197-98) and apparently similar organizations exist in the Sierra de Puebla in places such as Eloxochitlan (Totonac; I. Kelly, 1953, p. 179) and Atempan (Nahuatl; Nutini, personal communication). In Tlaxcala, Starr (1900, p. 31) neatly described the system in 1900: "Among the towns in Tlaxcala, and to some extent in all the Indian towns of Mexico, there are certain grades of dignity to which a man may attain and to the lower ones of which all men must attain. These grades are related to Church and civil affairs. . . ." Some villages in Tlaxcala still have a well-defined ladder system. Such are Tetlanoca, Ixcotla (Nutini, personal communication), and Tlalcuapan (Carrasco, unpublished notes). But today the most widespread situation is probably that in which the ladder system has become simplified, is losing importance, and is restricted to the ceremonial organization. Tepoztlan is perhaps representative of many other communities in that serving as mayordomo is the usual step before attaining a high civil office. However, there is no group of principales or elders in ultimate control of the political and ceremonial organizations. Important political factions exist, only a few people reach positions of power, and outside political connections are of paramount importance. (Lewis, 1960, p. 52; 1951, p. 221 ff.) Other examples of a ceremonial organization such as Tajin where we hamlet culture since the zation has fallen into the Indian population.

simple civil and are those places deal only with a municipal organihands of the non-

Religion In religious acculturation the distinction between different levels of integration is fundamental. We have on the one hand the rituals and beliefs associated with private or family events, the life cycle or technological activities; on the other hand, the public rituals of the village where, as in the po598

litical organization, the communal expressions of the village and the local branch of the national religious organization meet. Together with the differential acculturation at the separate levels of integration, a foremost factor is the Spanish policy of forced conversion. What factors in Spanish society demanded this policy we must leave out of this discussion and take as a given condition in the acculturation situation. The technique of conversion and the initial Indian reaction to Christianity also deserve close attention but fall outside the scope of this article. Suffice it to say for our purpose that the force of the state was exercised in favor of conversion; the learning of the Christian doctrine and attendance at Christian services were obligatory, while nonChristian practices were forbidden and punished. Both colonial documents and modern ethnography show that total conversion must have been rare. A good many aspects of Christianity were accepted not necessarily by force but because of the existing preSpanish pattern of incorporating new gods and cults within the existing religion, and because the attitude of the Church as the foremost defender of the Indian against the abuses of the conquerors must have made the church politically convenient and Christian doctrine attractive. But this does not mean that the native religion was brainwashed out of existence. Although there were cases of successful indoctrination of the young, and although we may assume that groups such as the Indians in urban settlements (Mexico City, Puebla, for instance ) in closer contact with Spaniards and the church were more effectively Christianized, the evidence, colonial and modern, clearly shows that the native religion simply went underground, while the new state religion was outwardly accepted. A double religious system thus came into existence, a system in which two different sets of practices and beliefs became more or less compartmentalized. On the one

CENTRAL MEXICAN HIGHLANDS: INTRODUCTION

hand, there was a large survival of heathen rituals and associated beliefs of a private nature and basically associated with the family level of integration: rites de passage in the life cycle of the individual, curing practices or rituals accompanying technological activities. These were performed for the spiritual welfare of an individual or family group and by the people concerned, sometimes with the assistance of a private religious practitioner. The private or family nature of these rituals allowed the continuance of their normal performance since they were less subject to the intervention of the missionaries. On the other hand, there were public performances of the rituals of the Catholic Church: the cult of the saints in the church with the participation of the Catholic priest (never an Indian) and the Catholic sodalities established among the Indians. There was some continuation of public heathen rituals performed by officials (or native priests) of the Indian village on behalf of the community as a whole. There is evidence of the continued observance of some monthly rituals (Procesos, 1912, pp. 1ff., 202, 200ff.; Serna, 1892, p. 293), but the secrecy necessitated by the persecution of the native religion made it impossible for these public rituals to survive with the aboriginal form and organization. Another important process is the syncretism of native and Christian elements, especially important in the identification of native gods and Catholic saints. Both Catholic and native supernaturals were patrons of human activities or of human groups and, although to a lesser extent in Christianity, were connected with natural elements. Their public worship took place at particular temples and on given days of the calendar; they were anthropomorphic and their cult centered about an image. On the basis of any of these points of similarity native and Christian supernaturals were identified. Sahagún thus reports the identification of the goddess Tonantzin with Our Lady of Guadalupe at Tepeyac, of St.

John the Baptist with Telpochtli Tezcatlipoca at Tianquizmanalco and of St. Ann, the mother of Mary, with Toci (Our Grandmother) at Chiauhtempan (Sahagún, 1938, 3: 299-301). In these cases the Christian saints were the objects of a widespread Catholic public cult. In other cases it is seen that the identification of gods and saints also took place in the surviving private rituals of predominantly heathen character. Thus Serna in 1656 reports how the fire god addressed in a number of family rituals was identified as an Old God (Huehueteotl) with St. Joseph or St. Simon whom the Indians had also seen represented as old men. A spell against storms, also recorded by Serna, shows how Our Lady is identified with the native earth goddess and St. James (Santiago) the warlike patron of Spain with Yaotl (Warrior) or Telpochtli (Youth), names of Tezcatlipoca (Serna, 1892, pp. 281, 290). Occasionally an old identification of god and saint can still be detected in modern folklore, as in Coatepec, Guerrero, where a story is told of the infant Jesus that clearly belongs to the old patron Quetzalcoatl (Carrasco, 1945). Another well-known case of syncretism is that of the modern cult of the dead in which the Catholic prayers for the salvation of the dead have been combined with the aboriginal beliefs in the yearly visit by the dead to their surviving relatives and the offerings and prayers to them. The development of the dual religion and the syncretism of heathen and Christian elements in the same cults did furnish the basis for the more thorough Christianization of the Indian, through the gradual decline and even disappearance of the heathen private rituals and the growth of the Christian component in the syncretized cults. Important pagan elements are still noticeable in the modern Indian religion (Madsen, 1957), but we have only to compare the modern religion of Milpa Alta or Tepoztlan (Madsen, 1957; Zantwijk, 1960; Redfield, 1930) with that of the 599

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neighboring areas of Morelos and Guerrero (Ruiz de Alarcón, 1892) in the early 17th century to conclude that the Indians have been progressively and effectively Christianized and that the missionary policy of allowing a certain measure of syncretism was in the long run successful. As the Catholic saints prevailed in the public cult, the heathen supernaturals surviving in the private cults lost their connection with the anthropomorphic deities represented in images in the temples, as was the case before, and became nature spirits loosely or not at all connected with the new supernaturals of the public cult. The winds (ehecatl) of modern belief, for instance, are different from the saints of the church rituals, whereas their pre-Spanish antecedents were the hosts of wind and rain gods, retainers of Ehecatl Quetzalcoatl or Tlaloc, and the mountain gods (Tepictoton) that were patrons of certain localities and were the objects of the public cult. On the other hand, as the Catholic cult and sodalities were accepted, the new public cult replaced the old in its different social implications, it supplied the new rites of intensification of the Indian groups, and the sponsorship of Catholic religious functions became part of the economic and political system of the Indian communities. Although the connection with the official church was kept, the local cult and its organization can be said to have been taken over by the Indian, and a distinction has arisen between the church and the local view of Catholic cult and belief. As a result of these processes, all modern folk religions in Mesoamerica can be analyzed in terms of the extent to which there exists a dichotomy of private versus public rituals as defined above, which may coincide to a greater or lesser degree with an additional dichotomy of heathen versus

600

Christian rituals and beliefs. In the central Mexican highlands there are today two main types of religious configuration. In the eastern slopes of the plateau there is a high survival of native religion. There is the public cult, primarily Catholic, although marked by some elements of aboriginal character such as the volador. On the other hand, there is also an elaborate system of private and some public rituals performed on the occasion of life cycle events, disease, and technological activities. This system is connected with nature spirits and shrines in caves, lakes, or other natural places. This prevails, for instance, among the Tepehua (Gessain, 1938, 1953) and the Otomi of San Pablito (Christensen, 1953a). Its nearest counterparts are in the more conservative groups of Oaxaca such as the Mazatec, Mixe, and southern Zapotec or Chatino. A different configuration is that of the groups in the valleys of Mexico, Puebla, and Morelos. Here we have the same configuration that prevails in the more acculturated groups of Mexico, such as the Tarascans or Valley Zapotec; the private rituals are relatively fewer and as much Catholic as heathen in nature. The main native survivals are in the areas of curing and weather lore. (Madsen, 1957; Redfield, 1930; Barrios, 1949; Starr, 1900, pp. 18-22; Gamio, 1922, 2: 404 ff.) The colonial evidence shows that the present-day pattern of the eastern slopes was once widespread throughout the central plateau, as seen in the abundant data on the survival of heathen private rituals into the 17th century by Ponce (1892) and Serna (1892) for the Toluca area; Villavicencio (1692) for the Puebla region; and especially Ruiz de Alarcón (1892) for the middle Balsas Basin (Morelos and northern Guerrero).

CENTRAL MEXICAN HIGHLANDS: INTRODUCTION

REFERENCES Barrios, 1949 Basauri, 1940c Carrasco, 1945, 1961a, 1963, 1966 Carrera Stampa, 1954 Chaves, 1865 Chavez Orozco, 1943 Christensen, 1953a Códice Mariano Jiménez, 1903 Densidad, 1950 Doctrina, 1944 Duran, 1951 Fabila, 1949 Foster, 1955 Gamio, 1922 Gessain, 1938, 1953 Gibson, 1952, 1960 Gillow, 1889 Inst. Nacional Indigenista (Mexico), 1950 Kelly, L, 1953

Lewis, 1951, 1960 Madsen, 1957 Marín Tamayo, 1960 Mendizábal, 1946b Miranda, J., 1952 Monzón, 1949 Motolinia, 1914 Nutini, 1961 Ponce, 1892 Procesos, 1912 Redfield, 1930 Ruiz de Alarcón, 1892 Sahagún, 1938 Serna, 1892 Starr, F., 1899b, 1900-02 Torquemada, 1943-44 Villavicencio, 1692 Zantwijk, 1960 Zavala and Miranda, 1954

601

32. The Nahua

WILLIAM

Ν

AHUATL-SPEAKING PEOPLES

today

constitute Mexico's largest indigenous group, estimated at more than one million.1 The bulk of the Nahuatl population is concentrated in the states of San Luis Potosi, Hidalgo, Mexico, Puebla, Distrito Federal, Tlaxcala, Morelos, Guerrero, and Veracruz; smaller fringe groups are in the states of Jalisco, Michoacan, Nayarit, Oaxaca, and Tabasco (fig. 1). The largest monolingual group is in the state of Puebla (Mexico, 1944, 1953). This report is limited to the central states of Hidalgo, Mexico, Puebla, Federal District, Tlaxcala, and Morelos. The coastal states of Veracruz and Guerrero are excluded because there is not enough information on the large Nahuatl groups here to determine their affinities with the Nahuatl culture of the central states. For the purposes of this article, the term "Nahuatl" is broadly used to designate the contemporary peoples of central Mexico who speak the ancient Aztec tongue with minor dialect differences and varying degrees of linguistic acculturation. These people are usually called "los 602

MADSEN

mexicanos" in the common speech and the literature of Mexico.2 The Nahuatl language may be more precisely defined as part of the Nahuatlan division of the Uto-Aztecan stock, according to the Jiménez Moreno-Mendizábal classification (Vivó, 1941, p. 41). The principal dialects are: (1) classical Nahuatl, the language of the ancient Aztec, spoken in modified form in Milpa Alta and Xochimilco, D.F.; (2) the eastern dialect spoken in the states of Puebla and Tlaxcala; (3) the southern dialect of Morelos; (4) the western dialect; and (5) the "t" dialects known as Nahuat (fig. 2) found in southern Veracruz (Whorf, 1946, p. 367). Modern Nahuatl includes numerous 1 This estimate was made by Whorf (1946, p. 367). Exact figures are not available because recent census counts of the Nahuatl-speaking population of Mexico have not included bilinguals who speak both Spanish and Nahuatl. 2 I am indebted to Claudia Madsen for research aid and the use of her manuscript on Mexican folk medicine, and to Antonieta Espejo of Mexico's Museo Nacional de Antropología for the use of her material on Nahuatl cooking.

FIG. 1—DISTRIBUTION OF NAHUATL POPULATION, MEXICO.

FIG. 2—LOCATION OF NAHUAT AREA ON GULF COAST PLAIN

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 3—MILPA ALTA-TEPOZTLAN AREA. (From Atlas Geográfico de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos.)

Spanish loan words even in the Milpa Alta area of "classical Nahuatl" speech where the Indians are completely bilingual. Whorf has observed that the Milpa Alta Indians prefer to use Spanish terms for new things and ideas instead of using the power of free coinage (1946, p. 392). Spanish words have been borrowed for European agricultural tools, crops, garments, money, measures, compadrazgo relationships, disease concepts, herb remedies, political offices, 604

and administrative divisions. Even native concepts are sometimes designated by Spanish or hybrid terms (Law, 1960, pp. 16-19). The principal habitat of the Nahuatl peoples is the Mesa Central bounded by the Sierra Madre Oriental and the Sierra Madre Occidental, which come together as a triangle along the southern rim of the mesa. The northern part of the area is tropical forest country of the Sierra Madre Oriental, extending from the southeastern corner

NAHUA

of San Luis Potosí south into Hidalgo and eastward into the northwestern part of Veracruz. The heart of the Aztec area is the Valley of Mexico, including the Federal District and parts of the states of Mexico and Hidalgo. The Valley has an elevation of nearly 8000 feet and a temperate climate. Most of the Nahuatl peoples of the Federal District and the state of Mexico are bilingual. Hidalgo has 35,085 monolinguals who speak only Nahuatl, according to the 1950 census (p. 232). South of the Milpa Alta area, the forested Sierra de Cuauhtzin forms the boundary between the Federal District and Morelos. The Nahuatl population of this area within the delegación of Milpa Alta, D.F., and the municipio of Tepoztlan, Morelos, has been estimated at 20,000 by Zantwijk (1960, p. 5). The municipio of Tepoztlan has the highest proportion of Nahuatl peoples in the entire state of Morelos. The Nahuatl peoples of Morelos are largely bilingual (Mexico, 1944, 1953). Puebla has 81,947 monolinguals who speak only Nahuatl—approximately onethird of the total Nahuatl population in the state. The largest Nahuatl group is in the Sierra Norte de Puebla. Another group is in the Valley of Puebla, which embraces the southern part of the state of Puebla and the state of Tlaxcala. The Nahuatl population of Tlaxcala is mostly bilingual. Contemporary Nahuatl culture must be understood in terms of its historical development, which has been analyzed by Carrasco in Article 31. The Spanish conquest of Tenochtitlan in 1521 profoundly altered the life of the Nahuatl Indians. The greatest accomplishment of the early colonial period was the conversion of the Aztec to an Indian Catholicism characterized by the fusion of indigenous beliefs and Spanish forms. The syncretism of Aztec and Christian religions was symbolized by the miraculous appearance of the dark-skinned Virgin of Guadalupe, who spoke Nahuatl

and was called Tonantzin, the appellation of the Aztec earth goddess. Native economy was changed to a lesser extent by Spanish introduction of new domesticated animals, tools, and crops. The European plow drawn by oxen or mules replaced the crude spade used by the Aztec to prepare the soil. Other new animals included chickens, sheep, goats, horses, donkeys, and cattle. Wheat and European fruit trees became important secondary crops raised in addition to native maize and frijoles, which continued to be the basic crops of Nahuatl economy. HISTORY OF ETHNOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION

Ethnographic investigation of contemporary Nahuatl peoples (fig. 4) has been meager in comparison with research on other Indian groups of Mexico. Starr's pioneer work on the ethnography of southern Mexico at the end of the 19th century contained brief descriptions of Nahuatl customs (1900, pp. 17-33). The first intensive research was Gamio's three-volume study (1922) of the people of the Valley of Teotihuacan, which constitutes a basic source of Nahuatl ethnography. In 1930 Redfield's study of Tepoztlan presented his initial thesis on folk culture and became a classic concept for anthropological research and theoretical discussion. Folk culture is distinguished from urban culture by the relative social isolation and homogeneity of the folk community, whose members share common traditions and attitudes. Redfield emphasized the cooperative nature of Tepoztecan folk culture, which measured the individual by his contribution to the collective activities of the community. Seventeen years later, Lewis restudied Tepoztlan and presented (1951) new data with much greater emphasis on economic analysis. His techniques of investigation were vastly different from the informal approach used by Redfield. A team of fieldworkers directed by Lewis administered batteries of psychological tests, question605

FIG. 4—NAHUATL AREA, SHOWING SITES OF ETHNOGRAPHIC FIELDWORK

naires, surveys, and generally utilized quantitative procedures wherever possible. Student assistants lived with local families and recorded all the intimate details of their private lives. The different emphases and techniques of the two anthropologists produced different results. Lewis corrected Redfield's error in assuming that the terms tonto and correcto designated two social groups. Perhaps Lewis' major contribution is his illuminating portrayal of the social strife that accompanies modern acculturation in a Nahuatl community. The folk culture portrayed by Redfield has come into direct conflict with western innovations, which are gaining acceptance among the younger generation. Friction has resulted over such issues as Protestantism, women's rights, modern dress, and decreasing respect for the aged. In 1960 two ethnographic studies were 606

published on Nahuatl communities in the Milpa Alta area (figs. 3, 4) which has retained a high degree of social isolation from the modern urban culture of Mexico City. Zantwijk's Los Indígenas de Milpa Alta deals almost exclusively with Aztec survivals reported by educated informants who were apparently familiar with Aztec history. The Virgins Children by Madsen is an ethnography of San Francisco Tecospa, a small pueblo near Milpa Alta, and focuses on the syncretism of Aztec and Spanish traditions in Nahuatl culture. A number of supplementary sources have been used in tracing the distribution of the general patterns of Nahuatl culture as well as local differences. Of these sources the most valuable have been the brief ethnographic sketches contained in the medical reports of Mexican doctors who worked in Nahuatl pueblos in the states of Hidalgo,

NAHUA TABLE 1—SECONDARY CROPS LISTED BY MUNICIPIOS VALLEY O F MEXICO

CROP

Wheat

. . Milpa Alta Teotihuacan

Barley .....

. . Milpa Alta Teotihuacan Xalatlaco , . Milpa Alta Teotihuacan Xalatlaco ,. Milpa Alta Teotihuacan Xalatlaco

Potatoes Habas

Alfalfa

Peas Capulín Zapote

CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN NORTHERN MORELOS

Xochitepec

PUEBLA

Tlatlauqui

Tlatlauqui

San Juan Mihuatlan Tlacotepec Coyomeapam Coyomeapam

Coyomeapam

Xochitepec Tlaquiltenango E. Zapata Xochitepec Xochitepec

,. Xalatlaco , . Milpa Alta Xalatlaee , . Milpa Alta

Chirimoya . . .

SOUTHERN PUEBLA

Teziutlan Tlatlauqui

Teziutlan

Plum

Watermelon .

NORTHERN ΜORELOS

Teziutlan

Tepoztlan Tlayacapan Tlayacapan Tlayacapan Tepoztlan Tepoztlan Tlayacapan

Mexico, Puebla, and Morelos. The medical school of the University of Mexico published a few copies of each of these reports between 1940 and 1951. Basauri's monograph (1940c) on the village of Ocotepec, Morelos, provides an interesting comparison with the Tepoztlan materials of Redfield and Lewis. Fabila's book on the Sierra Norte de Puebla (1949) and the Cordrys' article on the Cuetzalan region of Puebla (1940) give us a glimpse of the economy, costumes, textiles, and dances of northern Puebla. A program of ethnographic research and community development is now being carried out by the Instituto Indigenista Interamericano in the community of Zacapoaxtla under the direction of Miguel León-Portilla, but the results have not yet been published.

E. Zapata Xochitepec E. Zapata Xochitepec Xochitepec Xochitepec Tlaquiltenango

Tlatlauqui

Tlacotepec Zinacatepec San Gabriel Chilac Coyomeapam Coyomeapam Zinacatepec San Gabriel Chilac

Tlatlauqui Teziutlan Tlatlauqui San Gabriel Chilac Tlatlauqui San Gabriel Chilac Hueytamalco Teziutlan Coyomeapam San Gabriel Chilac

Soustelle's excellent ethnography entitled Tequila: un village nahuatl du Mexique oriental (1958) concerns a village in central Veracruz. Unfortunately, comparable studies in northern and southern Veracruz are lacking. Ethnographic research is needed in the states of San Luis Potosi, Hidalgo, Tlaxcala, Puebla, Guerrero, and Veracruz. SUBSISTENCE SYSTEMS AND FOOD PATTERNS

Maize, frijoles, and chile are basic subsistence crops throughout the area; tomatoes and squash are widely grown. Maguey, the Mexican century plant which yields pulque, is a major crop in the Valley of Mexico. Sugarcane, rice, and cofiFee are primary crops in central and southern Morelos and in the Sierra Madre Oriental regions of southeastern San Luis Potosi, northern Hi607

FIG. 5—SUBSISTENCE FEATURES AND ACTIVITIES. a, Corncrib. b, Shelling corn on an olatera. c, Shelling church corn. d, Harvesting tunas. (From Madsen, 1960. Courtesy, University of Texas Press.)

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dalgo, and northern Puebla. Secondary crops grown by farmers in various municipios are listed in Table 1. The wooden plow of European origin is generally used to cultivate level land. The hoe and the coa (Aztec digging stick) are used in conjunction with the plow on level fields but alone on hillside fields. In the Valley of Teotihuacan three plowings precede the planting of maize milpas. At the beginning of the rainy season, maize is planted by dropping three or four grains in a small hole made with a hoe. During the growing season, fields are plowed twice to dig up weeds and form dirt ridges on either side of the row of corn. When the corn plant is full grown, it is hilled to brace it against the wind (Gamio, 1922, 2: 45455). In Tecospa four men work together to plant one milpa in the level crop land around the village. Two men plant maize, a third frijoles, and a fourth squash or habas. The four men who cooperate are usually related by blood or compadrazgo ties. Occasionally neighbors exchange labor at planting or harvesting time. Well-to-do families may hire peons to help them plant their fields. The compulsory system of collective labor is used only on the fields devoted to the support of the church. The seeds are planted in holes made with an iron-tipped coa. During the growing season the ground is turned twice with a plow and a third time with a hoe. The plow is pulled by mules or horses in Tecospa and by oxen in Tepoztlan (Madsen, 1960, pp. 38-39, 44). In Ocotlan, Morelos, three or four families commonly work together on the milpa of each participating family at planting and harvest time. Labor exchange between relatives is practiced in Tepoztecan agriculture (Lewis, 1951, p. 141; Basauri, 1940c, p. 197). The slash-and-burn system of agriculture is widely followed on mountain milpas that are too steep for plowing. In the Milpa

Alta-Tepoztlan area the forested mountain land is cleared in January and the underbrush is burned later after it has dried out. The ashes are turned under the soil for fertilizer. Because of erosion, the mountain soil is poor and is quickly exhausted by maize when planted annually in the same field. Tecospa mountain milpas are planted with maize one year and frijoles the next year. Potatoes, habas, wheat, and barley are also sown in the poor mountain soil. The hoe and the coa are the most common tools for digging holes to plant mountain milpas. During the growing season weeds are cut down with a machete or pulled out by hand (Lewis, 1951, pp. 150-53; Madsen, 1960, pp. 41, 44; Fabila, 1949, pp. 40-43). After the harvest, green ears of maize (elotes) are put in corncribs to dry (fig. 5,a). The dried ear of corn is shelled by rubbing it over an olotera, which consists of dried corncobs (olotes) bound together by wire or an iron strip (fig. 5,b). The dry maize kernels fall onto a petate. Corn kept for family use is generally wrapped in a petate and stored in attics in Tecospa (Madsen, 1960, p. 44; Lewis, 1951, p. 142). Maguey is grown in Mexico, Hidalgo, Federal District, Tlaxcala, and Puebla. When the maguey plant is ready to be milked its stalk is cut off with a tranchete (a large, curved knife). The farmer inserts the acocote (a long, hollow gourd) in the center of the maguey, sucks out the juice (fig. 6,a), and spits it into an earthenware container. After each milking he scrapes the cavity inside the plant with a castrador (a flat, metal scraper). The juice is mixed with three or four liters of strong pulque to induce fermentation. The fermented pulque is stored in goatskins and sheepskins (Gamio, 1922, 2: 456; Madsen, 1960, p. 35; Franco Martínez, 1951, p. 14). Families raise chickens and turkeys throughout the area. Pigs (fig. 6,b) and goats are also common. Draft animals include horses, mules, burros, and oxen. Cat609

FIG. 6—SUBSISTENCE ACTIVITIES. a, Sucking aguamiel from maguey plant. b, Butchering a pig. (From Madsen, 1960. Courtesy, University of Texas Press.)

tle and sheep raising is limited. Wild animals are hunted but their meat is not a basic item of subsistence. Tortillas, frijoles, and chile are universal elements of diet and generally eaten at every meal. The use of meat varies according to locality and family means. In extremely poor farming areas, such as the municipio of Amozoc de Mota in northern Puebla, meat is eaten only at fiestas; ordinary meals consist of tortillas, chile, frijoles, and pulque with the addition of a pasta soup as a main dish once or twice a week (Becerra Cobos, 1944, p. 59). Elsewhere stews or soups with small amounts of meat may be eaten daily or weekly. Pulque is the characteristic drink accompanying meals in the Valley of Mexico and parts of Puebla. A beverage called lapo made of pulque, fermented sugarcane juice, and water is the regional drink of southeastern Puebla. Aguardiente, made by distilling sugarcane juice, is consumed in huge quan610

tities in the areas where sugarcane is grown. Agua loca, a beverage consisting of aguardiente mixed with chile and onions, is the regional drink of the Xochitepec area in Morelos. Tequila and mescal are widely consumed. Nonalcoholic beverages include coffee, hot chocolate, herb teas, and soft drinks (Chávez Torres, 1947, p. 27; Franco Martínez, 1951, p. 14; Madsen, 1960, p. 35; González Tenorio, 1941, p. 51). Three meals a day are customary but in some regions only two. Breakfast of tortillas and chile with or without frijoles is taken at daybreak before the men leave for the fields. At noon the men in the fields eat tacos filled with frijoles, leftover meat, or just sprinkled with salt. At home their families may eat tortillas, soup, or nothing at noon. Dinner is usually served late in the afternoon after the men return from the fields. Four or five hours later a small supper may consist of atole (maize gruel) or tortillas and frijoles.

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Fiesta dishes include mole de guajolote, mole adobo, mole verde, romeritos, tamales, and enchiladas. Mole de guajolote is an expensive and elaborate dish reserved primarily for the annual village fiesta honoring the patron saint. The sauce is made with three kinds of dark chiles (ancho, mulato, and chilpotle), tortillas, peanuts, almonds, raisins, cinnamon-flavored chocolate, and sesame. It may be served with turkey or chicken. Mole adobo and mole verde are eaten at family fiestas celebrating birthdays, baptisms, or confirmations in the Milpa Alta area. Mole adobo is made with red chiles which are boiled, skinned, ground on the molcajete, and then fried with salt and sugar. The sweet sauce is poured over sliced pork, chicken, beef, or tongue and topped with slices of raw onion. Mole verde is made with pumpkin-seed paste, green chiles, green onions, green tomatoes, garlic, coriander, and broth from the chicken, turkey, or pork. Mole verde and tamales are traditionally served to dead relatives on the Days of the Dead, November 1 and 2. On the day of the village fiesta, enchiladas are made by filling hot tortillas with mole de guajolote and adding cheese and chopped onion. This kind of enchilada also is purchased by the Nahuatl Indians when they go to market to sell their produce or wares. Enchiladas verdes are made with a sauce of chile verde, green onion, green tomato, garlic, and coriander. SETTLEMENT PATTERNS

The characteristic feature of Nahuatl settlement patterns is the location of a church in the center of town with streets leading in four directions from the church to the surrounding homes. In the cabecera, the church is situated in a central plaza which serves as a marketplace. The plaza is the social, economic, and religious center of the town. Surrounding the plaza are separate barrios, each of which has its own chapel and patron saint. The Spanish barrio sys-

FIG. 7—PLAN OF SAN FRANCISCO TECOSPA, MILPA ALTA, D.F.

tem is absent in pueblitos such as San Francisco Tecospa, which is divided into four quarters surrounding a central church (fig. 7). Each of the four quarters bears a Nahuatl name and recruits its residents for compulsory collective labor on the village land dedicated to the support of the church. Each quarter also erects an outdoor altar in its section of town at the annual pueblo fiesta. These functions of the four quarters suggest that they may be vestiges of the Aztec calpulli system. The town of Milpa Alta has four large barrios grouped around the central church and plaza. Zantwijk describes this arrangement as "the traditional 611

FIG. 8—JACALES AND CIRCULAR GRANARY, MORELOS. (From Wolf, 1959. Courtesy, University of Chicago Press.)

Aztec pattern of four large calpullis grouped around the principal temple and the market" (1960, p. 26). South of the four large barrios in Milpa Alta are two small ones. Tepoztlan is divided into seven barrios, each of which reserves certain milpas for the exclusive support of its chapel. These milpas are worked collectively by the men of the barrio under the direction of the mayordomo for the barrio santo (Redfield, 1930, pp. 75-76). The barrio chapel and its milpas worked by the compulsory system of collective labor for the support of the chapel are reminiscent of the native calpulli. In the municipio of San Bernardino Contla in Tlaxcala, the barrio is reported to be an exogamous kinship unit whose members may not marry within their own barrio. Nutini believes that the Contla barrios are not territorial divisions but his evidence is inconclusive (1961, pp. 71-73). In the southern part of the Valley of Mexico and some other areas the family 612

household is characteristically enclosed by a low wall of stone, maguey plants, or stakes (fig. 8). The most common house is a one-room rectangular dwelling that serves as kitchen, dining room, bedroom, and living room. In addition to living quarters, the family household includes one or more outbuildings—a temascal, cooking shed, corncrib, storehouse, granary (fig. 8), fowlhouse, and a roof shelter for work animals—the number varying according to region and family means. The household also may have a vegetable and flower garden, a patio, and a corral. Intervillage relationships operate mainly within the framework of the municipio. The municipio is an administrative area embracing a small number (usually less than a dozen) of neighboring pueblos which often have had close ties since preHispanic times. Each municipio has an administrative seat called the cabecera, which is commonly the largest town in the district.

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The cabecera serves as a market center, a religious center, and a center of judicial proceedings for the dependent pueblitos in the municipio. In the Federal District the delegación is the equivalent of the municipio. The various pueblos within the municipio have close social, religious, and economic ties. They trade with each other, attend each other's fiestas, form compadrazgo relationships, and share jurisdiction over the communal lands jointly owned by all the villages in the municipio. The pueblitos share a strong dependence on the cabecera, where their baptisms, weddings, confessions, communions, marketing, criminal hearings, and imprisonment take place. TECHNOLOGY

Tools Agricultural tools used by most Nahuatl peoples are the wooden plow drawn by animals, the coa, hoe, machete, and axe. Specialized tools for maguey culture and pulque production are the tranchete (a large curved knife), the acocote (a long, hollow gourd), and the castrador (a flat metal scraper). Aztec cooking implements are still in use throughout the Nahuatl area, the most characteristic being the metate and meclapil (grinding stone and roller), the molcajete and tejolote (mortar and pestle), comal (clay griddle), olla (earthenware vessel), and tlequil (stone hearth). The metate and mano grind nixtamal (the cooked maize kernels flavored with lime) into a paste called masa. This is patted into tortillas, which are cooked on the comal over the tlequil. Grinding mills called "molinos de nixtamal" now produce masa in many communities. The molcajete and tejolote pound and mash chile and spices for sauces. Spinning and weaving tools are the malacate (a spindle whorl), the native belt loom, the Spanish upright loom, and the spinning wheel.

Crafts Weaving is the outstanding craft of the Nahuatl peoples. Some of the finest serapes in Mexico are woven in the Nahuatl villages of San Miguel Chiconcuac near Texcoco in Mexico and Santa Ana Chiautempan in Tlaxcala. These heavy wool blankets worn by men are woven on the Spanish upright loom, and the weavers are usually men who devote full time to their craft. The municipio of San Bernardino Contla, 4 miles from Santa Ana Chiautempan, is well known in Tlaxcala and Puebla for its serapes, cotones (sleeveless jackets), fajas, and rugs. Puebla is also famous for its beautiful weaving done primarily by women on the Aztec belt loom. Puebla women weave at home more for family use than for commercial purposes. Among their best garments are the huípil (a square-cut blouse), the chincuete (an ankle-length skirt overlapped into pleats that are tied in place with a sash), the quechquemitl (a short, triangular cape), the rebozo (a stole), and the faja (a sash). In the municipio of Cuetzalan, Puebla, women weavers often use thread that is handspun and colored with dyes derived from natural sources. When spinning is in process a wooden spindle is twirled in a small clay whorl. The women weave in a sitting position and fasten the warp to a post. The lace-weave quexquemitl is woven of commercial wool yarn on the belt loom by a complicated technique. The warp threads are mounted in 14 groups of five threads each; the weft is a continuous thread wound on a slender stick which serves as a shuttle. The loom carries three shed rods and four heddle rods (Cordry and Cordry, 1940, pp. 36-42). The fajas woven in the Milpa Alta area are known throughout the Valley of Mexico. They are made by women with wool or cotton thread woven in geometrc patterns on the Aztec belt loom. The weaver sits 613

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 9—WEAVING A FAJA ON A NATIVE BELT LOOM. (From Madsen, 1960. Courtesy, University of Texas Press.)

back on her heels with one end of the loom tied around her waist and the other end tied to a door post or a tree (fig. 9). In the Valley of Teotihuacan rebozos and fajas are woven in the town of San Juan Teotihuacan, which has a considerable Mestizo element although the surrounding villages are Nahuatl. The weavers in this town are specialists who have no other occupation. They purchase yarn in Mexico City, dye it, separate the skeins with the malacate, roll up the skeins on a warper, and weave the cloth on an upright loom equipped with foot peddles (Gamio, 1922, 2: 277-81). Ayates (carrying cloths) and costales (gunny sacks) of ixtle (maguey fiber) are woven at Santa Ana Tlacotenco and San Lorenzo Tlacoyuca in the Milpa Alta area. Maguey fiber rope is manufactured in Tepoztlan and Toluca. In Puebla the Nahuatl 614

people of San Juan Atzingo are specialists in making maguey fiber rope and costales which are known for their quality and durability. These maguey products are made with only two tools: a malacate and spindle (Franco Martínez, 1951, p. 14). The barrio of San Sebastian in Tepoztlan specializes in making ixtle rope. This craft is practiced by 10 families who gather the ixtle from maguey plants on the communal mountain lands or buy it. The maguey plant is beaten with a special tool which breaks up the plant so the fiber can be extracted. The fiber is soaked overnight, spun on a simple device, and then twisted into rope on a framework of stakes, according to Lewis (1951, pp. 167-68). Petates of tule or palm are woven by hand in many parts of the Nahuatl area. Tule petates are made at Acuitapilco in the state of Tlaxcala and at Xochimilco in the Federal District. Some of the best palm petates in Mexico are made in the Nahuatl villages of Puebla. Pottery-making centers in the Nahuatl area include: Texcoco, San Sebastian, and Chalco in Mexico; Huejutla in northwestern Hidalgo; San Francisco Altepexi, Huejotzingo, Zacatlan, and San Martin Texmelucan in Puebla. Foster states that some of the most graceful of all Mexican pottery is made in Huejutla. The most common forms are water jars with narrow concave bases, high shoulders, wide mouths, and thin walls. Altepexi produces cooking pots, casseroles, and molcajetes. San Sebastian in the Valley of Teotihuacan produces domestic pottery and fake antiquities for tourists (Foster, 1955, pp. 12-21; Gamio, 1922, 2: 277). The process of manufacturing adobe bricks in San Sebastian in the Valley of Teotihuacan is a common one. The clay is mixed with dung and placed in wood molds until it dries. The bricks are then baked for several hours in a large, brick oven (Gamio, 1922, 2: 277).

FIG. 10—HOUSES, a, Stone houses with shingle and tile roofs, Tecospa. (From Madsen, 1960. Courtesy, University of Texas Press.) b, Jacal, Tepoztlan. c, Adobe house and separate kitchen, Tepoztlan. (From Lewis, 1951. Courtesy, University of Illinois Press.) Lewis' description of Tepoztlan charcoalmaking applies to the entire T e p o z t l a n Milpa Alta area (1951, p p . 1 6 3 - 6 4 ) : The tools used in charcoal production are an ax, a shovel, a pick ax, and a machete. Charcoal workers generally leave the village for the mountains in the early morning, going alone or in groups of two or three friends or relatives. ... To make charcoal, oak and sometimes pine trees are felled, cut up into logs a few feet long, and piled upright to form a charcoal

oven or kiln. The kiln is then covered with earth on all sides, except for a small opening which is left for a draft of air to enter, so that the fire can be kept smouldering. The kiln is lighted and allowed to smoulder for anywhere from 24 to 48 hours, depending on the size of the wood pile. The worker must continuously be on the watch to prevent too much air from fanning the fire and thus burning the wood rather than producing charcoal. So it is necessary for the charcoal burner to sleep out in the forest for one, two, or three nights. 615

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 11—A SHEPHERD'S HUT. (From Madsen, 1960. Courtesy, University of Texas Press.)

Houses The most common house is a rectangular, one-room dwelling with a gabled roof covered with zacate, palm leaves, maguey leaves, shingles, or sometimes tiles (fig. 10,a). The flimsy Indian jacal makes up more than one-third of all the dwellings on the Mesa Central, according to a 1939 census (Whetten, 1948, p. 287). The jacal is usually constructed of canes with a thatched roof (fig. 10,b). The more substantial house is constructed of wood, adobe, or stone. The jacal is made with a framework of otate (Bacbusa arandinacea), commonly known as Mexican bamboo, in the municipio of Jaltocan, Hidalgo. Gaps between the 616

canes are filled with a mixture of mud and dried grass. Floors are made of dirt, and roofs of woven straw. Beams near the roof provide storage space for maize, piloncillo (sugar), and other food. The "attics" are often converted into nests by rats, bats, and poisonous snakes. In the municipios of Tepoztlan and Xochitepec in Μorelos, the jacal is similarly constructed of otate canes or cornstalks with a gabled roof of straw (Romero Alvárez, 1952, p. 19; Lewis, 1951, pp. 178-79; Cepeda de la Garza, 1944, p. 10). In the Valley of Teotihuacan the jacal is made of maguey leaves attached to a pole framework (Gamio, 1922, 2: 585). In the municipio of Tlacotepec, Puebla, the jacal

NAHUA

FIG. 12—HEARTH AND COOKING UTENSILS, TEPOZTLAN. (From Redfield, 1930. Courtesy, University of Chicago Press.)

is constructed of maguey with a thatchedpalm roof. The windows are triangular gaps left between the walls and the roof. Six to eight persons sleep on the dirt floor, where petates serve as beds and serapes are used for cover (Aladro Azueta, 1944, p. 33). In the municipio of Hueytamalco, Puebla, the jacal is made of tarros, a kind of bamboo, with a gabled or conical roof of palm or zacate. Windows are unnecessary since there are so many gaps in the walls. There is no furniture other than petates for sleeping (Cantellano Alvarado, 1949, p. 34). In the municipios of San Gabriel Chilac, San Jose Mihuatlan, San Sebastian Zinacatepec, and Tezuitlan in Puebla the jacal is made of canes with a roof of palm fronds or zacate de caña (García Pérez, 1943, p. 31; Areizaga Millan, 1945; Carrillo González, 1950, p. 29; Franco Martínez, 1951, p. 15; Castillo Sánchez, 1944, p. 33). The second house type, built of wood,

adobe, or stone, predominates in the southern part of the Valley of Mexico and parts of Tlaxcala, Puebla, and northern Morelos but it is often found in the same localities with the jacal. In the municipio of Tianguistengo, Hidalgo, houses are constructed of wood or adobe with straw roofs (Bonilla R., 1948, p. 2; González Tenorio, 1941, p. 35). Beds consist of a few boards or sacks laid together on a dirt floor. In the municipio of Acaxochitlan, Hidalgo, houses are made of wood with shingle roofs. This house type also is common in the municipio of Xalatlaco, Mexico (Gutiérrez García, 1946, p. 11; Vara Gómez, 1948, p. 26). The one-room adobe house with a flat roof of adobe or straw is found throughout the state of Mexico. In the municipio of Chiconcuac, Mexico, some houses are furnished with dining tables, crude chairs, sleeping petates, and radios. Separate cooking sheds and corrals are common (Velasco Ramos, 1950; Vás617

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 13—HOUSE INTERIORS. a, Plank bed and small chairs, Tecospa. b, A home altar. (From Madsen, 1960. Courtesy, University of Texas Press.)

quez Ramírez, 1946, p. 10). In the Milpa Alta area of the Federal District rubble masonry predominates. Separate cooking sheds and storehouses for maize are common. Similar three-part houses are characteristic of Tlaxcala. In the municipio of Xochitlan Romero Rubio in northern Puebla houses are constructed of wood or stones with straw roofs. Adobe houses with straw roofs are typical in Tlatlauqui, Puebla (Arriaga Cervantes, 1944, p. 39; Castellanos Fernández, 1950, p. 21). The adobe house predominates in the towns of Xochitepec, Ocotepec, and Tepoztlan in Μorelos. Zacate roofs are used in Xochitepec; tile roofs are typical in Tepoztlan. A separate cooking shed is common in Ocotepec and Tepoztlan (Lewis, 1951, pp. 178-80; Basauri, 1940c, p. 167; Barrera González, 1949, p. 31; Chávez Torres, 1947, p. 26). Utilitarian furniture is usually limited to cooking utensils (fig. 12), pottery, and

sleeping petates. Families who can afford more furniture (fig. 13,a) may have tables, chairs, plank beds, and sewing machines. In every home there is a family altar (fig. 13,6) with images and pictures of the santos hung on the wall above a table covered with a cloth and decorated with flowers, candles, and incense burners. The radio is a rapidly increasing item of furniture in the Valley of Mexico. In areas where there is no electricity, candles or gas lamps provide light at night. The temascal (fig. 14) is widely used and mainly dome-shaped and rectangular. Stones or adobe bricks are the most common building materials. The fireplace usually projects out from the main temascal. A wood fire heats its walls and a pile of stones between the bathing room and the fireplace. When these stones are red hot, they are drenched with cold water to produce large quantities of vapor that

618 FIG. 14—SWEAT BATHS (TEMASCALES). α, Rectangular adobe temascal, Tepoztlan. (From Redfield, 1930. Courtesy, University of Chicago Press.) b, Domed stone temascal, Tecospa. (From Madsen, 1960. Courtesy, University of Texas Press.)

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 15—CLOTHING WORN IN CUEZTLAN, PUEBLA. (From Cordry and Cordry, 1940. Courtesy, Southwest Museum.)

causes the bathers to sweat profusely. Sweat baths are recommended to hasten recovery from childbirth and serious illnesses. Storage facilities for maize include the corncrib (cincolote), a square structure made of poles and used for drying ears of corn (fig. 5,a); the circular or vasiform granary (cuezcomate) made of clay and covered with a thatched roof used for the storage of shelled corn (fig. 8); the storehouse which contains an indoor corncrib and beams near the roof for the storage of shelled corn wrapped in petates; and similar beam storage space in the family living quarters. Dress and Adornment Distinctive Nahuatl clothing woven by hand today is found mainly in Puebla. Throughout this state women wear the native chincuete, a rectangular shaped skirt of dark wool which is gathered in pleats around the waist when it is put on 620

and tied in place with a bright-colored faja hand-loomed of wool or cotton. With the ankle-length skirt is worn a white blouse (huípil) with a low square neck bordered by a wide band of black or colored embroidery. A white cotton quexquemitl with colored border designs is worn over the blouse in Cuetzalan, Puebla (fig. 15); other regions of the state weave the quexquemitl in different styles. Navy blue rebozos are used in the regions of Teziutlan and Zacapoaxtla, where women wear their hair in two braids tied together in a loop in back with bright-colored yarns. In Cuetzalan women wear their hair piled high on top of the head and, cover it with a large white cloth. In all parts of the state women go barefoot. Cuetzalan men are distinguished by a bowl-shaped haircut with deep bangs in front and a heavy ridge in back. They wear thong sandals, a large faja with elaborately embroidered fringes, and a brown wool overgarment resembling a T-shirt with open sides, in addition to the white muslin calzones, white shirts, and straw sombreros worn throughout Mexico. In the Valley of Mexico, Morelos, and elsewhere Nahuatl men now wear readymade trousers, shirts, belts, and even felt hats instead of sombreros but they still wear leather sandals, a symbol of Indian culture as opposed to Mestizo shoe culture. Women wear long skirts made of darkcolored yardage purchased in the market and light-colored cotton blouses made of commercial cloth. Aprons commonly are worn over the skirts. The faja and darkcolored rebozo complete the costume. Most women go barefoot. The most common hair style is braids woven with bright strands of yarn. Gold earrings are popular adornments. The chincuete and quexquemitl are still worn in parts of the states of San Luis Potosi and Mexico. Transportation Burros, mules, horses, oxen, buses, and

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human backs are the means of transportation (fig. 16,a). The Aztec mecapal (forehead tumpline) supports burdens carried in a maguey-fiber bag (fig. 16,b) or a crate (huacal). Going to market by bus is becoming increasingly popular, especially in the vicinity of Mexico City. ECONOMY

Division of Labor The division of labor follows a fairly standard pattern. Men work in the fields, shell corn, sell crops, hew wood, make charcoal, hunt, care for the work animals, build and repair houses. Women prepare meals, clean house, wash clothes, take care of the children, sew and weave, raise fowl and pigs, cultivate the household garden, buy and sell in the market, chop up firewood, gather herbs, and help their husbands in the fields at planting or harvest time if they are needed. In the Milpa Alta area women do not work in the fields if the family can afford to hire a peon; in Tepoztlan wives do not work in the milpas under any circumstances. In the state of Puebla a wife regularly helps her husband plant, harvest, transport, and sell his crops (Arriaga Cervantes, 1944, pp. 24-25; Lewis, 1951, p. 98). Specialization Nearly every village has one or more specialists in midwifery, curing, and witchcraft. Some villages have marriage matchmakers, weavers, ceramicists, candlemakers, brickmakers, butchers, ropemakers, carpenters, masons, and woodcarvers. Weavers are full-time specialists in parts of Tlaxcala. The acculturated town of Tepoztlan has an unusual number of trained druggists, silverworkers, millers, teachers, plumbers, barbers, and bakers (Lewis, 1951, pp. 102-03). Land Tenure The three main types of landholdings are: (1) communal lands jointly owned by all the pueblos in a municipio; (2) ejido land

FIG. 16—TRANSPORTATION, a, Transporting firewood by burro. b, Young pulque vendors; the boy at the right carries a maguey-fiber bag with tumpline. (From Madsen, 1960. Courtesy, University of Texas Press.)

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nominally owned by the pueblo but actually distributed to local families by officials working under the jurisdiction of the federal government; (3) private property, which includes land devoted exclusively to the support of the church. Communal lands owned by the municipio may be cultivated by any resident of the villages in the municipio. The land used by each village has clearly recognized boundaries, within which the villager may plant any piece not in use. In the Milpa AltaTepoztlan region the communal forest lands are a carryover from Aztec times perpetuated by the Spanish colonial government. They are immensely important in the economy of this region. Recent attempts by some acculturated politicians to sell the Milpa Alta communal lands to a Mexico City lumber company met vigorous and united opposition from all the pueblos in the delegación of Milpa Alta. Nutini reports that communal forest lands owned by the municipio of San Bernardino Contla, Tlaxcala, comprise 40 per cent of the total area. Elsewhere in the Nahuatl area the distribution and economic importance of communal lands owned by the municipio have not been investigated (Nutini, 1961, p. 70; Lewis, 1951, pp. 113-18; Madsen, 1960, pp. 21, 40-41, 121-22). The relative importance of private property and ejido holdings varies greatly from one region to another. The significance of the modern ejido in village economy depends on the cultivability of the land, its location, the size of individual plots, and local attitudes. In the heavily populated areas of the Mesa Central, the small size of the individual ejido plot makes it a supplementary source of subsistence. The average allotment of ejido crop land made to an individual in the Federal District is less than 1 hectare. In San Francisco Tecospa the ejido is of minor economic significance owing to the small size of the individual allotment, the inconvenient location of the ejido 2 miles from town, and prior concern 622

with privately owned milpas which provide the main source of subsistence. In some areas the modern ejido has replaced private ownership of land. In the municipio of Tlacotepec, Puebla, many landowners sold their own land when they had the chance to acquire ejido holdings free of charge. The expropriation of land from nine haciendas and its redistribution in ejido allotments averaging 5 hectares per person has produced large expanses of uncultivated land formerly cultivated under the hacienda system. The average farmer in this area does not have the means to plant 5 hectares and he sees no point in planting more land than necessary to provide for his family. Consequently, a man who receives an allotment of 5 hectares may plant only 1 hectare (Aladro Azueta, 1944, p. 50). There are no ejidos in the municipios of Teziutlan and Tlatlauqui, Puebla, since the inhabitants of these areas own their own milpas which provide enough food for their daily needs (Areizaga Millan, 1945; Arriaga Cervantes, 1944, p. 39). Lewis reports an unusually high proportion of landless families in Tepoztlan. In 1944 he counted 384 families who neither own private land nor hold ejido grants. When Redfield studied Tepoztlan in 1926 he reported that most families had at least a small milpa. In the village of Ocotepec near Cuernavaca, Morelos, the average family owns about 3 hectares of agricultural land (Basauri, 1940c, pp. 208-09; Lewis, 1951, pp. 122-25; Redfield, 1930, p. 61). Trade and Markets Trade is conducted primarily in markets held on fixed days once or twice a week in the main plaza of the cabecera. Women from all the satellite pueblos in the municipio and more distant places come to the cabecera on the día de tianguiz (market day) to sell their produce, buy what they need for their families, visit with their friends and compadres from other villages,

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and enjoy the enchiladas sold in the market. Important religious fiestas are also accompanied by markets not only in the cabecera but also in the dependent pueblos which hold markets on the day of their annual village fiesta honoring the patron saint. Each pueblo has a fixed site in the plaza of the cabecera on market day. Similar products are grouped together in a special section. The women set out their goods in attractive arrangements on petates and sit behind them to wait for customers. The first price asked by the vendor is almost always higher than the actual sale price, which is settled by friendly bargaining. Nahuatl women frequently go to large markets outside of their own municipio. In the Milpa Alta area women sell flowers and nopales in the markets of Mexico City and Xochimilco. The Xochimilco market embraces two square blocks. The flower market is held in the central part while another block is occupied by a quadrangle of store buildings enclosing a huge patio. Visiting merchants, displaying their goods inside the patio and outside in front of the stores, offer meat, ready-made clothing and yardage, huaraches, serapes, rebozos, pottery, herbs, amulets, steaming ears of roasted corn, enchiladas, fruits, vegetables, grains, and spices. The streets surrounding the market are filled with pigs, sheep, ducks, goats, cows, turkeys, chickens, and burros for sale. Trade is also carried out on a limited scale in the village store, which is common in the Valley of Mexico and Morelos. Six stores in Ocotepec, Morelos, sell sugar, salt, bread, candles, and cigarettes but their main business is the sale of cane alcohol, the favorite intoxicating beverage of the area. These stores are tended by women who simultaneously do their housework in back of the store since they have so few customers (Basauri, 1940c, pp. 147-48). Itinerant merchants travel from village to village, often by foot, selling chairs, petates, machine-made clothing, serapes, magueyfiber rope, sacks, and other wares. Corn

merchants come in trucks to the pueblos in the Milpa Alta area to buy shelled maize. A milk truck comes to Tecospa daily to buy goat milk, which is sold in the neighboring villages of Tecomitl and San Juan. Weavers from Texcoco come to Tecospa to buy wool for making serapes. Tlahuac bird trappers catch songbirds in Tecospa and sell them in Mexico City. Traveling gopher trappers make a tidy profit at the rate of 2 pesos per dead gopher. Tecospans sell their pulque in the nearby towns of Tlahuac, Tulyehualco, San Juan Ixtayopan, and Mixquic. Wealth Private ownership of land and animals is the main criterion of wealth, but land wealth is not a primary goal of Nahuatl culture. The main use for wealth is in fulfilling the financial obligations of being a mayordomo in charge of a religious fiesta. In the Valley of Teotihuacan the wealth of a Nahuatl Indian family is computed by the number of pigs and chickens they own. "These animals constitute the savings account of the Indian," Noriega Hope writes. "These savings coupled with the Indian spirit of cooperation and aid provide a guarantee that nobody dies of hunger in the pueblos" (1922, p. 255). Most Nahuatl communities do not have extreme contrasts of wealth, although they usually have a few landless families and a few families referred to as "los ricos." These "rich" families have a few more hectares of land than the average and they may have a sewing machine, a radio, or better than average food, but they avoid any ostentatious display of wealth such as acquiring better houses, better furniture, or better clothes than their neighbors. Any member of the community who does display his wealth by "putting on the dog" draws the censure of his neighbors. Lewis' statistical study of Tepoztlan shows an extremely wide range of wealth differences. The 38 wealthy families in Tepoztlan eat better food and live in better 623

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houses than average but they do not adopt urban dress or spend money on luxuries. Although they hire labor, they work in their fields side by side with their peons (Lewis, 1951, pp. 173-77). SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

Nahuatl social organization is a highly formalized structure based on a concept of social distance designed to avoid intimacy and friction. This concept is eflFected through a complex series of respect relationships between wives and husbands, children and parents, younger and older generations, ahijados and padrinos, and compadres. Each of these relationships is governed by special rules of etiquette and mutual obligations. The Nahuatl family is a stable, cohesive unit in which divorce is virtually unknown. In most families the husband is the absolute master of his home and his authority is unquestioned. He is served with care and respect by his wife and children. The mother also holds a position of honor and respect in her family. Zantwijk (1960, pp. 30-31, 73-74) mentions the following factors which contribute to the importance of the mother's position in the Milpa Alta family: (1) her central role in the home and in the upbringing of the children; (2) her participation in the economic affairs of the family to the extent of handling all the family earnings and being primarily responsible for decisions on how the money is spent; and (3) her unique position as the only object of open affection in a very formalized society. The traditional pattern of Nahuatl family relationships has become a "social fiction" in Tepoztlan, according to Lewis, who states that: "Although in most homes there is an outward compliance to the ideal pattern, with the wife apparently submissive and serving, there are actually few homes in which the husband is the dominant figure he seeks to be or in which he truly controls his family. Most marriages show some conflict over the question of authority 624

and the respective roles of the spouses" (1951, p. 319). The Nahuatl family traditionally includes unmarried children, parents, and grandparents. Although the family of parents and unmarried children constitute the basic economic unit, the grandparents are very much a part of the family social unit. In Milpa Alta it is customary for the threegeneration family to live together in the same household enclosure (Zantwijk, 1960, pp. 32-36). Patrilocal residence is characteristic of the Nahuatl area. Newlyweds usually live with the husband's parents for at least a year until enough money has been saved to enable them to establish their own home nearby. In Tepoztlan the biological family consisting of parents and unmarried children constitutes the basic social and economic unit, according to Lewis (1951, p. 58). Next to the biological family, the most important form of Nahuatl social organization is the compadrazgo system of ritual kinship. A child's first and most important godparents are the padrinos of baptism who become the compadres of his parents. The baptismal godparents have the obligation of supervising the child's training and scolding him for misbehavior. In case the child's parents die while he is young, his baptismal godparents are obligated to bring him up as their own child. Financial aid provided by the baptismal godparents includes paying for the baptismal ceremony and clothing and for the child's funeral if he dies before the age of 12. If a Tecospa child wants to go to school and his parents cannot afford to send him, his godparents will help pay for his schooling. In return, the child helps his godparents when they are sick or short of farm hands, and brings them gifts on special occasions. He must show his godparents absolute respect and never joke or gossip about them. Whenever they meet he kisses their hands. A respect relationship is also established between the child's parents and godparents.

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Compadres lend each other food, money, or labor in time of need and always treat each other with great respect. A man must never quarrel with his compadre or gossip about him. In Tecospa parents choose the couple they respect most to serve baptismal godparents. In Tepoztlan the wealth of the prospective godparents is a primary factor in this choice. Compadres from Mexico City are desirable because it is assumed that they can be of greater financial help (Lewis, 1951, p. 360; Madsen, 1960, pp. 93-103; Gamio, 1922, 2: 243; Foster, 1953a). Confirmation and marriage godparents rank below baptismal godparents in social importance and have fewer obligations. Other compadrazgo relationships include: godparents of First Communion, godparents of Last Communion, godparent of the scapulary, godmother of a saint's picture or image, godmother of a bridge, godfather of a mule, and godmother of a soccer team (Lewis, 1951, p. 351; Madsen, 1960, p. 93). The main unit of legal political organization throughout Mexico is the municipio with its administrative seat in the cabecera. The dependent pueblos are governed by an ayudante municipal or a sub-delegado and other locally elected officials. These officials may govern on their own initiative or merely act as agents for the local council of elders, which has no legal status. The functioning of pueblo government under a council of elders is well illustrated by Basauri's material on Ocotepec (1940c, pp. 197-99). The legal officials of the pueblo are chosen by the council of elders before the local "election." The council is composed of men over 60 who have passed through an hierarchical system of age grades including: campaneros who take turns ringing the church bells; semaneros who take care of the churches; mayordomos who organize and finance the religious fiestas and supervise the campaneros and semaneros; and el fiscal, the supreme authority in religious matters who plans all the fiestas and supervises the services of the mayordomos, se-

maneros, and campaneros. Ocotepec has four mayordomos, one for each of its four barrios. A man must have held all the offices listed above before he can become a member of the council of elders. This council names the fiscal, mayordomos, and legal officials; supervises the compulsory labor on public works; intervenes in the direction of the school; and deals with other political and religious matters at its regular meetings. San Francisco Tecospa also has a village council in charge of civic and religious affairs but the sub-delegado elected by the community is the real power in local government today. The village council is not a council of elders. Its members are supposed to be elected every three years at a town meeting. Those elected in 1950 resigned en masse because of "too much work" and were replaced by the sub-delegado's appointees. The compulsory system of communal labor for constructing public works (fig. 17) and for working milpas devoted to the support of the church is widespread. All men over 18 and under 60 are required to donate labor. A man may fulfill his community labor obligations by sending a peon to take his place. In Tecospa the labor for public works is recruited by streets whereas labor for the church milpas is recruited from the four quarters of the pueblo. The compulsory system of community labor is declining in Tepoztlan, where there have been no significant public works in recent years. Communal labor on church milpas is entirely voluntary and is recruited by barrios. There has been increasing difficulty in obtaining barrio cooperation for this purpose (Lewis, 1951, pp. 108-11). The salient feature of Nahuatl religious organization is the mayordomo system introduced throughout Mexico by Spanish priests in the 16th century. A different set of mayordomos is chosen for each village fiesta or pilgrimage honoring a santo. Mayordomos bear the financial and organi625

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FIG. 17—COMMUNITY LABOR ON TECOSPA C H U R C H WALL. (From Madsen, 1960. Courtesy, University of Texas Press.)

zational responsibility for these fiestas. Being a good mayordomo is an achievement which brings a man the highest prestige and honor he can earn in a Nahuatl community. It is also a staggering financial drain which may leave his family impoverished for several years, but they do not mind. There is a belief in Tecospa that a satisfied santo repays his mayordomo with good crops. In Tepoztlan and Ocotepec the mayordomía system is linked with barrio organization. Each barrio chooses mayordomos in charge of the barrio fiesta for its patron 626

santo. Redfield has pointed out (1930, p. 78) that there is an esprit de corps in the barrio which is embodied in the barrio santo and expressed in rivalry with other barrios. Each barrio tries to put on a better fiesta than those of the other barrios, and the barrio member likes to boast that his santo can perform better miracles than other barrio santos. In Tecospa there is a similar rivalry between the residents of the four quarters of town to see which quarter can erect the best outdoor altar for the village fiesta honoring San Francisco. The

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people of Tecospa like to boast that San Francisco is the most miraculous saint in the Milpa Alta area. Religious fiestas arranged by mayordomos of all the barrios and pueblitos in the municipio are meshed into a unified calendrical system permitting any resident to attend the fiestas of other communities in the same municipio. Villagers also attend some fiestas in neighboring municipios and make pilgrimages to famous shrines. In addition to mayordomos, the lay officials of Nahuatl religious organization include prayermakers, bellringers, church caretakers, and fund collectors. In pueblos where there is no resident priest, the prayermaker is the worship leader. He leads the chants at fiestas and wakes. The community may also have religious associations whose members meet at regular intervals to worship together. Group loyalty is largely limited to the pueblo and the municipio. Zantwijk observes that in the Milpa Alta area the "patria chica" is more truly a focus for patriotic sentiment than Mexico as a whole. In general, the Nahuatl pueblos have no close relations with the state or the Republic of Mexico except in administrative matters such as taxation, ejido problems, and violations of the law. There is a widespread attitude of suspicion and hostility toward state and federal agencies even in acculturated communities such as Tepoztlan. The residents of Tecospa are proud of being "inditos" and feel contempt for city Mestizos distinguished by lighter skin and "evil ways" (Lewis, 1951, pp. 43-44; Gamio, 1922, 2:263-64; Madsen, 1960, p. 230; Zantwijk, 1960, p. 69). The national holidays of September 15 and 16 commemorating Mexican independence are coolly observed in most Nahuatl pueblos with minor fiesta programs put on by the schools. Basauri states that the people of Ocotepec pay little attention to the patriotic fiestas organized by the local school

on September 15th and 16th, May 5th, and November 20th. In contrast they show great enthusiasm for all the religious fiestas celebrated in the village. The national holidays are celebrated with outstanding fiestas in Tepoztlan through the efforts of the school (Lewis, 1951, p. 41; Basauri, 1940c, p. 228; Madsen, 1960, p. 112). RELIGION AND WORLD VIEW

Contemporary Nahuatl religion has been studied only on a superficial level outside of the Milpa Alta area. The unfortunate lack of research on this focal aspect of Nahuatl culture is due partly to overemphasis by United States anthropologists on economic analysis and to the Nahuatl Indian's disinclination to discuss religion or witchcraft with outsiders. On the basis of existing literature, very few generalizations can be made about the Nahuatl world view. In the Valley of Mexico the Nahuatl universe is ordered by supernatural beings who give and take away the necessities of life. The supernaturals who play the major role in human affairs are the santos. The village patron saint is the most important santo in the pueblo. It is to him the Indians turn when they are afraid of losing their crops or their lives. Every member of the community must contribute time, money, and devotion to the fiestas honoring the patron saint, for he controls the fortunes of the entire village. A man earns prestige only by his contributions to these cooperative community efforts designed to preserve or restore a favorable cosmic order. The individual is subordinate to the group (Gamio, 1922, 2: 214-15; Basauri, 1940c, pp. 21618). Most of the santos are dual-natured beings who reward the Indians for good religious fiestas and punish them for neglecting ritual obligations. The most benevolent santo is the Virgin of Guadalupe, who is also called Tonantzin in the Milpa Alta area. She is believed to be the mother of all the 627

FIG. 18—RELIGION AND CURING. a, Tecospa boys at the foot of a decorated cross. b, Worship at a posa in Tecospa. c, Chirimía player and drummer in religious procession at Tecospa fiesta. d, Tecospa woman demonstrates the egg cure for "aire." (From Madsen, 1960. Courtesy, University of Texas Press.)

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"mexicanos." Her dark skin and Nahuatl speech make her a special object of affection. So great has been her influence in Nahuatl religion that Jiménez Moreno aptly designates the Christianity accepted by the Aztecs as "Guadalupinist Catholicism (1958, p.

92). Many "Cristos" are worshipped in the Nahuatl area. Among the most famous are the crucifixion images of Señor de Chalma, whose shrine is in the state of Mexico and the Señor del Calvario in the state of Puebla. An image of the Señor del Calvario was discovered by Nahuatl Indians in the Tlacotepec district in a mountain cave during the latter part of the 16th century. A local story tells how this Cristo unnailed himself from the cross and moved to the hill now called Calvario where the people built him a temple. One Sunday morning at Mass the white Cristo turned brown, and throngs of people began making pilgrimages to see the Lord who changed his own color to match that of his worshippers (Aladro Azueta, 1944, pp. 10-11). The Christian supernaturals called "pingos" are devils who live on earth and in hell with their chief who is the Devil. Earthdwelling pingos usually appear as charros to show they are rich and impress the poor people they are trying to win over. When a man makes a bargain with a pingo he sells his soul and the souls of his family in return for earthly riches. Belief in pingos is general in the Xochimilco-Milpa Alta-Tepoztlan area and probably has a much broader distribution not yet reported (Lewis, 1951, pp. 276-77; Madsen, 1960, p. 133). In the same area there is a general belief in pagan rain dwarfs known in Nahuatl as yeyecatl (a word derived from the ancient Atzec ehecatl meaning wind or air) or ahuatoton (water spirits) from the Spanish agua and the Nahuatl toton. The dwarfs are also designated by the Spanish terms enanitos (dwarfs) and aires (airs or winds). These dwarfs produce rain, thunder, lightning, snow, hail, and frost as well as the sickness commonly

known as aire or aigre that occurs when the spirits blow their breath on humans. In Tecospa this sickness is called moyeyecahuia or netenamitili in Nahuatl and aire de cuevas (cave air) in Spanish. The dwarfs are described as little people made of water who stand about a foot and a half high. They live in mountain caves, springs, pools of water, and in damp recesses under volcanic rocks. Concepts of the afterlife are concrete. Heaven is the skyworld with beautiful flower gardens inhabited by God, the saints, the angels, the angelitos, and the souls of good people. Hell is an underworld where devils burn the souls of bad people and jab them with pitchforks. Only witches and people who bargain with pingos are doomed to hell forever. Ordinary people are sentenced to purgatory in hell for a short time until they have expiated their sins and can get into heaven. Limbo is a place of total darkness where the souls of unbaptized children go to wait for the Day of Judgment when they will become little angels and see light again (Gamio, 1922, 2: 210-12; Madsen, 1960, pp. 209-19). Individuals who die by violence in a fight or an accident become ghosts doomed to roam the earth by night and frighten the living. The souls of those who die leaving unfulfilled vows, unpaid debts, or undistributed property also become earthbound until their affairs are settled by their relatives. Tecospans believe these earthbound ghosts must carry pingos on their backs who bite them at crossroads causing the ghosts to scream. The overwhelming majority of Nahuatl peoples are devout Catholics, but Protestant missionaries from the United States are carrying out a vigorous evangelical movement to convert them. Nahuatl Indians in the state of Puebla have become a major target of missionary efforts aimed at destroying belief in the supernatural powers of the saints, particularly the Virgin of Guadalupe (McKinlay, 1945, pp. 63-69). 629

ETHNOLOGY

The leading diseases listed by Mexican doctors who worked in Nahuatl communities include aire (bad air), espanto (fright), mal de ojo (evil eye), mal enfermedad (bewitchment), and muina (anger sickness). The Spanish term "aire" refers to several distinct diseases which produce the same symptoms. In the Milpa Alta-Tepoztlan region aire is commonly used to designate the Aztec concept of illness caused by rain dwarfs, which is called moyeyecahuia in the Nahuatl dialect of Tecospa. Symptoms of the disease may be paralysis, palsy, twisted mouth, skin pustules, and an aching in the joints called yeyecacuatsihuiztli. Nahuatl terms for ailments sent by rain dwarfs are derived from the ancient Aztec word ehecatl meaning air or wind. These illnesses must be cured by a specialist who is called a tepopoque in Nahuatl and a curandero de aire in Spanish in Tecospa. The standard treatment consists of a series of cleansings performed by brushing the patient's body with a handful of herbs and an unbroken chicken egg (fig. 18,d). Both the herbs and the egg cleansing are of Spanish origin (Foster, 1953b, pp. 207-09). A severe case which does not respond to cleansings may require a tlacahuili, which is an Aztec ritual offering to the offended dwarfs who appear to the healer in his dreams and tell him what kind of food they want (Madsen, 1960, pp. 181-86; Lewis, 1951, p. 280; Redfield, 1930, pp. 163-66). A second type of bad air comes from ghosts who cause the sickness called yeyecatl de motetzahui (air of a frightening thing) in Nahuatl and aire de noche or espanto in Spanish in Tecospa. The ghosts who produce this illness are earthbound spirits of people who died by violence or died with unpaid debts. Symptoms of the illness are loss of consciousness, loss of speech, chills, and trembling. Treatments include cleansings which sometimes involve the European technique of rubbing a live, black chicken over the patient's body. 630

Loose women and whores release a third kind of bad air called yeyecatlcihuatl (woman air) in Nahuatl and aire de basura (garbage air) in Spanish. Woman air causes eye trouble in newborn babies and fetuses. A fourth type of aire results from a violation of the hot-cold principle of Hippocratic disease theory. For example, the cold night air causes aire when it strikes the warm body of a sleeping man covered with blankets. This European theory of illness has no Nahuatl name in Tecospa. Bewitchment is caused by two types of witches: (1) the vampire, called a tlacique, who sucks the blood of his victims; and (2) the nagual or itlacatiliz, who has the power to cause illness from a distance by magical means. The word "nagual" means a "transformer" who has the power to change from human into animal form. In the Valley of Mexico the word is used to designate: (1) a witch who uses this transforming power to spy on his victims; (2) a non-witch who changes into animal form for the sole purpose of stealing food. In Tecospa the nagual witch is also called an itlacatiliz, meaning a person born with supernatural power who requires no training to perform supernatural deeds. A. de Molina notes that the Aztec used this word to designate the Christ child after the conquest (1944, p. 41). Common techniques used by the nagual witch include (1) the European practice of sticking pins in a doll representing the victim; and (2) object intrusion, sending animals, worms, hair, or pebbles into the victim's stomach by magical means. A diagnosis of bewitchment may be made for any chronic illness not alleviated by treatments for other diseases. Stomach disorders are typical of bewitchment. In the state of Puebla bewitchment is treated by another witch who sucks harmful objects out of the patient's body. Bewitchment caused by image magic in the Milpa Alta area is treated by burning the buried doll. In many cases,

NAHUA

there is no cure for bewitchment and the patient dies (Benitez P., 1943, p. 36; Castillo Sánchez, 1944, p. 30; García Pérez, 1943, p. 27). The Spanish concept of evil-eye sickness is found throughout the area, where it is called "mal de ojo" (or "ojo") meaning sickness caused by the evil eye. This sickness is not an ailment of the eyes. Rather, it is characterized by continual crying, vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite, and loss of weight. Children are the most common victims of the evil eye, which may come from a witch or from a person with "strong vision" who is not a witch. The latter person unintentionally causes evil-eye sickness just by looking with admiration at a child whereas a witch intentionally causes the illness by means of the magical power in his eyes. Muina (a corruption of the Spanish word mohina meaning animosity) is a Hippocratic disease resulting from pent-up anger which causes an overflowing of the yellow liver bile into the blood and the stomach. The excessive bile causes liver trouble and contamination of the blood. A variety of illnesses are sent by God and the saints as punishments for human misdeeds, such as breaking a religious vow. The only way to cure sickness sent by a saint is to pray for forgiveness and make an offering of flowers and candles. An aspect of Nahuatl curing which has not been studied is the use of hallucinatory mushrooms to divine the cause of illness. Heim and Wasson report that several kinds of native mushrooms are used for this purpose in the Nahuatl villages of San Pedro Nexapa near Amecameca in the state of Mexico and San Pedro Tlanixco in the Valley of Toluca (1958, pp. 78-84). AESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL PATTERNS

Religious fiestas provide the main opportunity for aesthetic expression and recreation. The village fiesta is the occasion for dancedramas, music, fireworks, rodeos, markets,

gambling, drinking, processions (see vol. 6, Art. 16, fig. 7), feasts, cockfights, and Masses. Traditional music is provided by a chirimitero who plays a small native flute (chirimía) and a drummer who plays the huehuetl (an elongated upright drum with a skin covering) (fig. 18,c), the teponaztli (a horizontal wooden drum), or a modern European drum. The fiesta band plays European instruments such as the guitar, flute, saxophone, and cornet. The most popular dance-drama in the Valley of Mexico is a re-enactment of the battle between Christians and Moors called Moros y Cristianos (fig. 19,a) (see also vol. 6, Art. 9, fig. 17). The greatest variety of fiesta dances is performed in the state of Puebla where the repertoire includes Los Voladores (see vol. 6, Art. 9, fig. 30), Los Tocotines, Los Negritos, Los Santiagos (see vol. 6, Art. 9, fig. 16), and Las Vegas. The town of Cuetzalan, Puebla, is famed for its production of Los Santiagos, the dance of St. James on the white horse who leads the Christians in battle against the heathen. The image of Santiago's horse (see vol. 6, Art. 9, fig. 15) is venerated and given a bowl of maize and water daily (Cordry and Cordry, 1940, pp. 13-15). Private fiestas (fig. 19,b) are given in the home to commemorate family birthdays, baptisms, confirmations, weddings, and deaths. In Tecospa the most important person at a party is the mother of the host. Every guest kneels before her to kiss her hand. Nahuatl etiquette is based on the concept that formality breeds respect whereas intimacy breeds contempt. Friends do not drop in at each other's homes just to chat. A family pays visits only on formal occasions such as a birth, baptism, or death. Gossip tends to center on witchcraft, outsiders, and individuals who flout the local code of ethics. Tourists, city slickers, and strangers who come to a small pueblo are targets of gossip. Anthropologists are commonly taken for land speculators, United 631

FIG. 19-AESTHETICS AND RECREATION. a, Dance of the Moors and the Christians. b, A party toast. The girl in the foreground has been grinding on a metate.

NAHUA

States spies, or agents of the Mexican government. The atmosphere is not conducive to team studies. A local resident becomes a subject of gossip if he steals, neglects his family, shows disrespect for the saints, fails to perform his religious duties, or manifests greed and ambition to get ahead of his neighbors. Nahuatl humor deals with drunkenness, death, and the strange ways of city people. Fiestas often feature a clown who caricatures the antics of tourists or government officials. LIFE CYCLE

In the Valley of Mexico birth is sometimes accompanied by a sign indicating the fate of the newborn child. If the infant is born with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck, he will die by hanging or in some other violent manner. A caul birth is a sign that the baby will be rich (Gamio, 1922, 2: 242; Madsen, 1960, pp. 81,199). The first matter of importance after birth is finding baptismal godparents, who become the compadres of the infant's parents. In the Valley of Teotihuacan a baby boy is usually baptized with the first name of his godfather. Here the baptismal fiesta is held 40 days after birth when a Mass is held to solemnize the compadrazgo relationship (Gamio, 1922, 2: 242-43). After giving birth, the mother stays in bed for two weeks to a month. The baby is his mother's constant companion for most of his first year. He sleeps with her at night and is carried in a rebozo on her back when she goes out of the house. When he is eight months old he begins riding piggyback with his legs sticking out of the rebozo. Then his older brothers and sisters start carrying him and helping tend him. Babies are breast-fed whenever they cry day or night for about two years. The infant is abruptly denied the breast when his mother becomes pregnant again since it is believed that the milk of a pregnant woman is dangerous for a baby (Basauri, 1940c, pp. 186-87).

Little children lead carefree lives playing with animals, rag dolls, balls, and toy trucks made by their father. Nahuatl fathers show great affection for their children and provide them with the best food, clothing, shelter, and medical attention they can afford. The Aztec pattern of teaching children to work when they are very young is still followed. In Ocotepec six-year-old girls help their mothers sweep, wash clothes, sew, and make tortillas. Eight-year-old boys help their fathers weed the fields, harvest the crops, tend the herds, care for the work animals, and carry home wood, charcoal, and water (Basauri, 1940c, pp. 192, 194; Zantwijk, 1960, p. 44; Madsen, 1960, pp. 86-88). Children are disciplined with Aztec severity after the age of five. Both fathers and mothers beat their children in order to teach them obedience and responsibility. Among the misdeeds meriting punishment are failure to perform assigned tasks, grumbling or rudeness, and mistreatment of younger brothers. A mother slaps her child on the mouth when he talks back to her. The father generally inflicts the most severe beatings. One or two such beatings usually suffice to instill the proper fear of paternal authority so that afterwards a slight rise in the father's voice commands instant obedience. It is generally believed that lack of harsh punishment will spoil children. There is no problem of juvenile delinquency among the Nahuatl peoples, whose crime rate is low. The most common crime is theft of domesticated animals by outsiders (Cerda Silva, 1957b, p. 224). Elementary schools including the first four grades have been established to teach the children Spanish, reading, writing, arithmetic, Mexican geography and history. Some Nahuatl villages in Puebla opposed the establishment of these schools and still refuse to send their children because they do not want them to be like educated city people (Arriaga Cervantes, 1944, p. 59). Marriages are usually arranged by par633

ETHNOLOGY

ents and professional matchmakers. When a youth picks out the girl he wants to marry, his parents and godfather ask her parents for her hand. Her parents take the matter under consideration while they find out whether their daughter wishes to marry her suitor. If she says no, the suitor may hire a female matchmaker to press his case. In the event of a favorable reply, a wedding date is set. In Tecospa and Ocotepec the engagement is celebrated with a procession bearing gifts of fruit, cakes, flowers, and candles from the home of the boy to the home of his novia. An all-day fiesta takes place at the girl's home where the wedding date is announced. The bride-to-be spends the night before her wedding with her marriage godmother, who traditionally arranges the bride's hair for the ceremony. The wedding takes place in church at dawn in Milpa Alta, where the bride's veil is spread over the groom and the couple are tied together with a white cord wrapped around their shoulders during the nuptial Mass. The religious ceremony is followed by an all-day fiesta at the groom's home. In Puebla wedding celebrations last from three days to a week (Franco Martínez, 1951, p. 16; Basauri, 1940c, pp. 182-83; Madsen, 1960, p. 100; Gamio, 1922, 2: 246; Lewis, 1951, pp. 40809). Old age is the time of life when a person receives the greatest respect as well as the liberty of getting drunk in public. An old person's idiosyncracies are accepted with good humor even when they violate local etiquette. Extreme respect for the aged is a dominant feature of Nahuatl society in the Milpa Alta area. Lewis reports that respect for the aged is decreasing in Tepoztlan (1960, pp. 411-12). Death is the climax of life and requires the most elaborate ritual. The corpse is draped with a shroud and placed on a table. In Ocotepec a cross of lime is placed under the table to absorb contaminating air from the corpse. In Tecospa a special dark sand 634

is sprinkled on the coffin table for the same purpose. In the Sierra Norte de Puebla a cross of sacred marigolds is placed beneath the coffin table (Fabila, 1949, p. 162; Basauri, 1940c, p. 219). An all-night wake is held at the dead man's home on the night after his death. Guests bring candles and food while the family serves coffee and tequila. The corpse is buried with food and drink for his journey to the afterworld. Wakes are held every night until a series of nine has been completed. On the ninth night after death the shadow soul in the coffin is supposed to leave the corpse and go to heaven. Various local ceremonies are held to help raise the shadow soul and make sure it gets to its proper destination without returning to haunt its old home (Basauri, 1940c, p. 220; Lewis, 1951, p. 416). In the Sierra Norte de Puebla the family and friends of the dead man pray for the repose of his soul for 13 nights after the burial. On the 13th night the entire group goes to the cemetery to erect a black, wooden cross at the head of the grave (Fábila, 1949, pp. 162-63). ANNUAL CYCLE

A significant feature of the Nahuatl annual cycle is the correlation between the village fiestas and the growing season. Most of the pueblo fiestas in the Valley of Mexico, northern Morelos, and northern Puebla take place in July, August, September, and October when the danger of drought threatens the growing crops. This is the time that the village santo must be placated with an elaborate fiesta so he will repay the villagers with good crops. January is the time for clearing the mountain fields in the Milpa Alta-Tepoztlan area. In Tecospa level fields are plowed to break up the mounds left by the last crop of maize. In the Sierra de Puebla the soil is turned with a hoe in preparation for planting maize. Wheat, barley, and habas are planted (Fábila, 1949, pp. 41-42).

FIG. 20—NAHUATL CHILDREN. α, Boy carrying his baby brother in a rebozo. b, Children with toy house. c, Boy and pet lamb. (From Madsen, 1960. Courtesy, University of Texas Press.)

ETHNOLOGY

Candlemas is celebrated on February 2. Carnival is an unimportant fiesta in most Nahuatl communities but it is the most spectacular fiesta of the year in Tepoztlan, where it is a secular celebration and a profitable commercial enterprise. The Carnival fiesta of Huejotzingo, Puebla, has become a tourist attraction. In February, Tecospans plant chile and tomato fields. Potatoes are planted in March. Level maize milpas are fertilized with animal manure and mountain fields are burned during February. In the Sierra de Puebla maize and frijoles are planted in February and March. Planting of maize, frijoles and habas begins in Tecospa in April. Lenten fiestas are rare prior to Holy Week, which is universally observed. In May and June planting of maize begins in the mountain fields of Tepoztlan and level milpas are prepared for planting. In Tecospa the level fields are plowed a second time about the first of June and a third time in the latter part of June. In the Sierra de Puebla wheat and barley are harvested in May. May 3, the Day of Crosses, is celebrated in all villages. In case of drought in the Valley of Mexico, village after village holds a special Mass petitioning its patron saint for rain. Many villages celebrate their annual fiesta honoring the pueblo patron saint during July, August, September, and October.

636

Harvesting begins in October and continues through November in Tecospa. In the Sierra de Puebla maize is harvested in October. The ceremonies honoring the return of the dead on November 1 and 2 are universally celebrated. In the Catholic church November 1 is All Saints' Day and November 2 is All Souls' Day, but the belief that dead children return to their homes on November 1 and dead adults return on November 2 is not Catholic. The use of cempaxochitl, the sacred marigold, to decorate for the dead and the custom of feeding tamales and calabazas to the dead are Aztec. In some villages of Puebla and San Luis Potosí, marigolds are strewn over all the paths from the cemetery to the homes to guide the returning dead (McKinlay, 1945, p. 64). November is the main month of harvest in Tecospa. Frijoles are harvested first, then habas, and finally maize. December marks the end of the rainy season and the time of harvest in Tepoztlan. December 12, the fiesta of the Virgin of Guadalupe, is universally observed but is not a major fiesta in the pueblo. Individuals with vows to fulfill make the pilgrimage to the Basilica de Guadalupe on the outskirts of Mexico City. The first of the nine Christmas posadas re-enacting the search of Mary and Joseph for lodging is performed on the night of December 16. In the small pueblo these ceremonies take place at the church.

NAHUA REFERENCES Aladro Azueta, 1944 Areizaga Millan, 1945 Arriaga Cervantes, 1944 Barrera González, 1949 Basauri, 1940c Becerra Cobos, 1944 Benítez P., 1943 Bonilla R., 1948 Cantellano Alvarado, 1949 Carrillo González, 1950 Castellanos Fernández, 1950 Castillo Sánchez, 1944 Cepeda de la Garza, 1944 Cerda Silva, 1957b Chávez Torres, 1947 Cordry and Cordry, 1940 FabÜa, 1949 Foster, 1953a, 1953b, 1955, 1960a Franco Martínez, 1951 Gamio, 1922 García Pérez, 1943 González Tenorio, 1941 Gutiérrez García, 1946

Heim and Wasson, 1958 Jiménez Moreno, 1958 Law, 1960 Lewis, 1951 McKinlay, 1945 Madsen, 1955a, 1955b, 1956, 1957, 1960 Mexico, 1944, 1953 Molina, A. de, 1944 Noriega Hope, 1922 Nutini, 1961 Redfield, 1930 Romero Alvárez, 1952 Soustelle, G., 1958 Starr, F., 1900-02 Toor, 1947 Vara Gómez, 1948 Vásquez Ramírez, 1946 Velasco Ramos, 1950 Vivó, 1941 Whetten, 1948 Whorf, 1946 Wolf, 1959 Zantwijk, 1960

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33. The Totonac

H. R. HARVEY and ISABEL

AN

IMPORTANT ETHNIC GROUP of

an-

cient and modern Mexico are the Totonac, situated in the states of Puebla and Veracruz. Traditionally, their domain is known as Totonacapan and, except for major shrinkage in the south, modern Totonacapan closely agrees with the distribution reported in early sources (fig. 1). Today, the greatest concentration of Totonac speech is along the Puebla-Veracruz border and down the front scarp of the Sierra Madre to the Papantla lowlands. A small and rapidly disappearing island is found to the south, about Misantla. Three dialects are recognized (Juan A. Hasler, 1964, personal communication): Munixcan, Zacatlan-Papantla, and Misantla. The first is northern, in the vicinity of Mecapalapa, Puebla; the second, central, extending from the Sierra de Puebla to the Gulf coast; and the third, southern or southeastern. Field data are not sufficient to permit definition of cultural subareas, but within the central dialect zone there are marked differences between lowland and highland. In the latter, in particular, significant survivals of native social and religious traits are evident. 638

KELLY

The Totonac share much in common with Mesoamerican culture, but among the lowland groups a few traits appear unique or rare in Mesoamerica and suggest some affinity with the circum-Carib area (Kelly, 1953, p. 185). Nevertheless, linguistic aflBliations do not point gulfwards. Totonac and Tepehua, which are genetically related and geographically contiguous, constitute a separate language family, Totonacan. Linguists are studying the possibility of wider relationships. Habitat varies widely. The limited area of the Sierra de Puebla known to us is high mesa, deeply dissected, and cool, with mist and rain much of the year. Residual stands of pine and oak testify to major deforestation. In sharp contrast, the coastal zone is low, rolling country, with little level land. Much of the year is hot and humid; a brief, sharp, dry spell generally occurs in the spring. Until relatively recently, this great stretch of lowland was covered with tropical rain forest, but here, too, extensive clearing now has taken place. These differences in natural surroundings inevitably are reflected in the way of life— in basic economic activities, agricultural cy-

FIG. 1—TOTONACAPAN: APPROXIMATE EXTENSION IN ANCIENT AND RECENT TIMES. Solid circles: occurrences of Totonac speech reported in 16th century sources. Dotted area: the modern extension of Totonac speech (monolinguals and bilinguals) according to 1940 census files. Municipal units with 5 per cent or less of Totonac speech have been disregarded. (A simplification of data in Kelly and Palerm, 1952, Maps 1-3.)

cle, assortment of cultigens, diet, house type, dress, and even in intercommunity relationships. On the whole, the highland is an area of limited resources and consequent poverty. The lowland, by comparison, is generously endowed and relatively prosperous. Within three years after the appearance of Cortés and his army in New Spain, most of Totonacapan was under Spanish domination. "The Spanish conquest of Totonacapan is almost unique in that the Totonac were received into the Spanish empire as allies, that is, as subjects incorporated into the

empire through the will of their own native leaders. This is particularly true with respect to southern Totonacapan . . . [and] the conquest of Totonacapan was singularly free from the violence and cruelty which characterized that of other parts of New Spain" (Kelly and Palerm, 1952, p. 26). The spiritual conquest of Totonacapan started with the very arrival of the Spaniards, whose missionizing zeal is apparent in their deliberate destruction of idols in the native temples of Totonac Cempoala, at a moment when they could hardly afford to risk the enmity of their hosts. There, in 639

ETHNOLOGY

Cempoala, the Spaniards converted a native temple into the first Christian chapel in New Spain. The arrival of the Franciscans in 1523 marked the first concerted effort to proselytize the Totonac, although their activities were largely confined to the highlands. A decade later the Augustinians arrived, to administer to the northwestern frontier, along the borders of Hidalgo, Puebla, and Veracruz. Gradually, the activities of the religious orders were taken over by the secular clergy, who were under the Tlaxcala bishopric. Notwithstanding the early and unabating interest in conversion, the relative ineffectiveness of the missionizing program is suggested by the paucity of both religious architecture in most of Totonacapan and translations of religious works into Totonac during the colonial epoch (Kelly and Palerm, 1952, pp. 32-33). In political and economic spheres, the Spaniards took advantage of existing native structure. The old class division with its established lines of authority proved a useful instrument in implementing Spanish policy. For example, native leaders who were cooperative were maintained in their positions and used as intermediaries. The political centers of preconquest times were retained and became the cabeceras or political nuclei of the new administration. The Totonac had grown accustomed—albeit reluctantly —to paying tribute to the Triple Alliance in pre-Hispanic times, and after the conquest they were required to pay tax to church and crown. Despite the retention of many of the familiar components of the native framework, the abolition of the warrior group, the suppression of the native priesthood, and the control of commerce were factors of postconquest times which combined to undermine the fabric of Totonac society. Of even more direct consequence to native society were the institutions of repartimiento and encomienda which the Spaniards superimposed on the native structure. In theory, the encomienda was compatible 640

with the preservation of native property rights. In practice, since it proved a mechanism for unbridled exploitation of native labor, it placed an oppressive burden on the native population in many parts of Totonacapan. Its effects are dramatically seen in the population decline in the years following the conquest (Cook and Borah, 1960). Both disease and labor exacted their toll, and many who survived did so only by abandoning their home localities and fleeing to the inaccessible parts of Totonacapan (Kelly and Palerm, 1952, p. 38). Indirectly, therefore, the encomienda served to clear the land of its native occupants and pave the way for Spanish colonization. Official reaction to the situation toward the end of the 16th century is reflected in the reducciones and congregaciones which undertook to concentrate the scattered remnants of the native population in fixed localities. These measures were mainly ineffective, but they did, nevertheless, undermine native political organization. For example, native leadership was hereditary, but under the congregaciones native authorities were chosen in free election. The encomienda system, with all its disadvantages, at least tended to preserve native subsistence patterns. As Spanish colonization proceeded, however, the hacienda system developed and types of economic pursuit shifted. In general, the haciendas specialized in cash crops, such as sugarcane, or in cattle raising. Unlike the encomienda, the hacienda was operated on the basis of paid labor, much of which was imported— Indians from other areas or Negro slaves. Eventually, the hacienda system resulted in the formation of a new social group, the serf. The adverse effects of Spanish domination were not felt equally in all parts of Totonacapan. In the southeast, and along the coast, contact with the Spaniards was most intensive and most devastating. However, in the large areas where Totonac speech has survived to the present, there

TOTONAC

was little to attract the Spaniard. Transportation and communication were difficult. Exploitation would have required a major adjustment, hardly necessary when the alternative of familiar environments was so abundant elsewhere. Also, Totonacapan largely lacked the mineral resources so attractive to the Spaniards. Thus, until relatively recent years, much of Totonacapan has remained intact and isolated, and many forms of native Totonac culture have survived. According to the 1940 data on file in the census office, the number of Totonac-speakers was 90,378, about equally divided between the states of Veracruz and Puebla. Of these, 59,506 were monolinguals. The 1960 census material is still not fully available. A preliminary release gives 29,911 Totonac monolinguals in Veracruz, slightly more than reported for 1940 (Kelly and Palerm, 1952, p. 261). No corresponding figure is available for Puebla, and for neither state has the number of bilinguals been announced. In the Sierra de Puebla and on its slopes, a considerable Totonac concentration is reported in the 1940 census for the municipal units of Huehuetla (5,954), Olintla (5,600), and Hueytlalpan (4,069), although several others actually contain a far higher percentage of Totonac-speakers in relation to the total population. In the lowlands, the most populous center is the municipal unit of Papantla, with 17,722 persons of Totonac speech. According to the 1940 information, the related Tepehua language still is spoken by 3,895 individuals and is largely limited to four municipal units: Ixhuatlan (1,563), Zontecomatlan (306), and Tlachichilco (865) in Veracruz, plus Huehuetla (1,067), in Hidalgo. In 1947 ethnographic investigation of the modern Totonac was initiated by Isabel Kelly and several student collaborators, as part of a joint program of the Institute of Social Anthropology of the Smithsonian In-

stitution and the Escuela Nacional de Antropología of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia. Two seasons were spent among the lowland Totonac at El Tajin, near Papantla, and one season in the Sierra community of San Marcos Eloxochitlan, near Zacatlan, Puebla. A detailed study covering pertinent historical material, subsistence, and technology of El Tajin was published by Kelly and Palerm (1952) and a brief general ethnographic summary by Kelly (1953) covering highland and lowland Totonac. A short paper on the world view of San Marcos Eloxochitlan (Kelly, 1966) has recently been published. Except for these few works, literature pertaining to the modern Totonac is very scant. The present article is based almost exclusively on the foregoing published sources, on Kelly's field notes, and on her manuscript which is to constitute the second volume on the Tajin Totonac. Unless otherwise specified, most of the data of the present paper refer to observations made between 1947 and 1951, and to the Totonac communities of El Tajin in the lowlands and San Marcos Eloxochitlan in the Sierra. In 1963 and 1964, Kelly made further observations in the lowlands. There, cultural change has been extensive in very recent times and merits a special field study. For example, a great deal of land formerly in Totonac hands now has been purchased by Mestizos, who have cleared the rain forest. Vanilla production has plummeted to almost negligible proportions. Formerly, most of the Totonac communities of the Papantla area were connected by foot trails; now, they are accessible by car in dry weather, over roads opened in the course of oil explorations of Petroleos Mexicanos. With rural bus service now operating, Poza Rica is replacing Papantla as the urban center where the lowland Totonac sell their produce and buy the necessities which they themselves do not produce. The linguistically related Tepehua still are comparatively numerous, but they are 641

FIG. 2—LOWLAND AGRICULTURE, EL TAJIN, VERACRUZ. a, Cultivated fields interspersed with vestiges of rain forest. b, Lowland clearing. The felled timber has not burned successfully, but maize will be planted wherever possible. (Photographed by Isabel Kelly, 1947-51.)

TOTONAC

virtually unknown ethnographically, despite a short summary of the Huehuetla Tepehua by Robert Gessain. For want of data, this related group is not included in the present survey.1 SUBSISTENCE

By heritage, the Totonac are farmers. Throughout Totonacapan maize agriculture is fundamental, and both maize and squash are grown on a subsistence basis. Other crops vary in importance with locality; beans do not do well in the lowlands, nor chile in the highlands. At low elevation, maize economy is complemented by cash crops and by apiculture, poultry production, and hog raising. In the Sierra, it is complemented by limited poultry and stock production, and by wage labor and minor commercial enterprises. On the whole, animal husbandry is nowhere emphasized in Totonacapan; beekeeping is rare or absent in the highlands, and stock is of little consequence in the lowlands. Nevertheless, in both zones, hog raising on a small scale is a welcome source of income. The plow has intruded intself into highland agriculture, where terrain permits, but the traditional digging stick is still fundamental to the lowland milpas. Agriculture is more restricted in the highlands, in terms of crop diversity and yield and also in terms of relative significance within the economic system. In the Sierra the growing season permits only one harvest annually and, moreover, cultivable land is scarce. Accordingly, crop production is limited to the basic necessities— maize, beans, and squash—and these are seldom sufficient to supply the daily fare. In the off-season, many men become peddlers of the craft products of the highlands, or seek work, chiefly as agricultural laborers, in the lowlands. 1 Roberto Williams García's study (1963) of the Tepehua appeared too late to permit inclusion of his data in this article but it is listed in the References.

In contrast, among the lowland Totonac, there is little other than the milpa to compete for a man's time. Several factors— plentiful tillable land, reliable cash crops, occasional surplus of standard dietary items, and a ready local market—combine to make farming a relatively prosperous undertaking. The climate permits two maize harvests annually, and in general the yield is good. The rich crop diversity allows a farmer to exercise considerable choice in the type and proportion of plants he raises. Exclusive of fruits, more than a dozen crops are grown, including maize, vanilla, sugarcane, several varieties of bean, as well as cucurbits and a wide assortment of starchy roots and tubers. Some plants, such as the cultivated chile, are raised for use as condiments; some as native remedies; several grasses are planted for animal fodder and roof thatch. The milpa system prevails throughout lowland Totonacapan. As in most other tropical rain-forest areas under primitive cultivation, weed incursion seems to be the most restricting factor. Notwithstanding, between crop diversity and maize-vanilla rotation, the lowland Totonac manage to get more mileage out of their milpa agriculture than is usually the case, for "maize requires a clean field; vanilla requires monte bajo" (Kelly and Palerm, 1952, p. 100). When a new plot is cleared, maize (fig. 2,a) receives priority the first two to four years. From the beginning, there is a constant struggle against the incursion of monte, so that after three or four years of planting maize, the farmer capitulates, and the field is given over to monte and to vanilla. After about 12 years of continuous planting, the plot is abandoned completely and lies fallow for perhaps another dozen years. Accordingly, the full cycle comes to 20 or 25 years. A new field is cleared in the spring, between April and June. The parcel is demarcated and, with a machete, the smaller growth is slashed to a height of about 2 m. The larger trees are felled next, and the cut 643

FIG. 3—AGRICULTURE, α, "Replanting" a highland milpa whose maize clumps are deficient; note digging stick and gourd to carry seed. (Photographed by Isabel Kelly, 1947-51.) h, Lowland vanilla vine with green pods. (Photographed by Eric Schwartz, 1963-64. Courtesy, Mario Vásquez, Planeación del Nuevo Museo Nacional de México.)

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vegetation is spread evenly on the ground to dry. Meanwhile, a broad strip surrounding the plot is cleared to serve as a firebreak. Before the onslaught of the first rains, the dried debris is fired (fig. 2,b). For heavy growth, 40-50 man-days of labor may be needed to prepare a field. Most of the work is done by the farmer himself, but to cut large trees he may invite several men to assist, on a work-exchange basis. Almost every family grows maize, usually to the same extent, namely, about 1.5 hectares. Planting takes place twice yearly: in summer, between the end of June and early August; in winter, between late November and early February. Planting is man's work and must be finished in one day. Again the farmer seeks the assistance of his friends —eight or ten; more, if a new field is involved, because rows are carefully spaced at about 1.5-m. intervals, and this is a timeconsuming task. For subsequent plantings the old stalks, which are always left standing and which contribute to the disheveled appearance of a milpa, serve as guides and seed is planted between the rows of the previous crop. From the best ears of corn, which are preserved for seed, only kernels from the center are used. Occasionally, such seed is planted directly, but forced germination is most common. The shelled grains are placed in a wooden tray to which water is added. They soak for a day, then are removed to a box lined with banana leaves; similar leaves are laid on top. The container is left in the sun for a day, and the seed sprouts. In planting, a hole is made with the dibble to a depth of about 20 cm., and several kernels are dropped in and covered with soil. Each clump should produce two to four plants, and deficient clusters are replanted after a week or 10 days. Once planted, the milpa requires constant attention. Weed growth is prolific and necessitates daily cultivation, a chore shared by most members of the household, male and female, young and old. Furthermore,

during the growing season, a major clearing occurs every month or two. Friends usually are invited to assist, again on a workexchange basis. The metal coa is used to loosen the soil and shear the weeds. Interestingly, the Totonac do not heap soil about the base of the maize plants and so are concerned with high winds which might prostrate the planting. The mature corn is collected as needed over a period of several weeks. Men and women gather the ears and haul them to the granary. During the main harvesting operation, a temporary shelter is built in the milpa, where ears are accumulated until they can be removed to permanent storage. Maize is stored unshucked. Dry stalks and leaves remain in the field to rot and these, together with the ash residue from the burned debris of clearing, constitute the only fertilizer used. Maize production, with its time-consuming requirements, dominates the agricultural scene. In contrast, vanilla is far less demanding. It follows maize in the local cycle, and when the milpa is cultivated young trees and shrubs suitable to serve eventually as supports for the vanilla vine are spared. Thus, when the maize yield drops, the field already is well "prepared" for conversion to vanilla. In spring, vanilla cuttings are set in the ground at the base of suitable plants, following which the vine requires no attention for three years, when its blossoms must be pollinated. The vine blooms for about three weeks in late April and early May; as soon as a blossom opens the labellum is slit, and a small, sharp stick is inserted to relocate the pollen. Although the pods (fig. 3,b) are not thoroughly mature until December, they usually are cut green in October, to reduce the likelihood of theft. The latter is widespread and not infrequently the cause of bloodshed. During the first three or four years in the life of a given field, while maize is still the dominant crop, the milpa is the catchall for many other plants. For example, when 645

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FIG. 4—SAN MARCOS ELOXOCHITLAN IN THE HIGHLANDS, PUEBLA. a, Approach from Ahuacatlan. b, The small, level plaza of Eloxochitlan. (Photographed by Isabel Kelly, 1947-51.)

FIG. 5—TOPOGRAPHY AND VEGETATION. Religious procession enters Eloxochitlan's barrio of Tankan. (Photographed by Isabel Kelly, 1947-51.)

646

sugarcane is grown on a small scale, it is incorporated in the cornfield. Bean seed may be dropped in the same hole with the maize kernels, and various legumes, cucurbits, and chile appear between the rows of corn. Sesame and root crops may be planted along the borders, and, to add to the confusion, sweet potatoes, yams, and manioc may be interspersed in the milpa, along with a host of other plants of lesser importance. In addition to the milpa, which may be situated at a considerable distance from the dwelling, almost every family has some sort of informal garden in the house clearing. This contains a small assortment of fruit trees and a miscellaneous assemblage of plants such as manioc, sugarcane, chile, perennial cotton, and a few herbs. Most gardens include some flowering plants; flowers are greatly appreciated by both men and women for personal adornment as well as for decoration of the household altar. Throughout Totonacapan, diet is frugal and high in carbohydrates, low in protein, fat, and most vitamins. Meat (beef or pork) is eaten about once a week in the more prosperous homes; in others, often not more than once a month. Chicken or turkey in hot mole sauce is the standard

TOTONAC

dish for festivals. In the lowlands not even beans are daily fare. Maize, the mainstay, is prepared in many forms. Tortillas are the chief item of the diet and are eaten thrice daily. Various kinds of maize gruels, particularly a fermented one, are popular. So also are variants of what we should call a tamale; ingredients which accompany the maize paste vary according to what the cook has at hand—beans or other leguminosae, meat, or simply brown sugar. In the highland diet, cucurbits, beans, and wild greens seem somewhat more important than in the lowlands, where there is a much richer assortment of starches, in the form of roots and tubers, bananas, and plantains. In both areas, food is heavily condimented with chile. SETTLEMENT PATTERNS

San Marcos Eloxochitlan, the one highland Totonac community from which data are available, lies some five or six hours on foot or by horse from the provincial center of Zacatlan de las Manzanas, Puebla, and one hour from Ahuacatlan, the nearest market town. Administrative ties are with the lat-

ter. In this high country, with its deep barrancas, Eloxochitlan clings perilously to the rim of the great cleft (fig. 4,a) which rises near Zacatlan. It is downstream from the latter and on the opposite side of the barranca. A small expanse of level land is occupied by an open plaza (fig. 4,b), and here are clustered a simple, masonry church, of ancient construction; the school; a "municipal building" started in 1906 and not yet completed; and a room with cross-barred wooden doors, which functions as a jail. About this "urban" center lie the three named barrios in which are concentrated the 600 inhabitants. Rarely is a dwelling far removed from the central nucleus, and the settlement pattern is concentrated (fig. 5). Ordinarily, a ménage occupies a single building, which may shelter stored maize as well as family members. Sometimes there is a separate granary, structurally similar to the dwelling, but with raised floor. A sweat house of stones set roughly in mud mortar, a fowl house and pen, and a corral for other animals complete the domestic installations. El Tajin is a lowland community some 6

FIG. 6—LOWLAND LANDSCAPES. a, Papantla-Tajin trail, Veracruz. b, Milpas interspersed with vestiges of rain forest. (Photographed by Isabel Kelly, 1947-51.)

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or 7 km. southwest of Papantla, Veracruz, in country characterized by a continuous series of low, rough hills, formerly shrouded in tropical rain forest (fig. 6). Over 80 per cent of its 1,102 inhabitants live widely scattered, in small clearings, well hidden from view and remote from each other. The rest live in the town center, a few minutes by foot south of the ruins of El Tajin. To the south, west, and north the community is bounded by the lands of other Totonac settlements, but to the observer the boundaries are imperceptible. To the east lies Papantla, a large Mestizo urban center, from which Tajin is administered and which, traditionally, is Tajin's main link to the outside world. Despite the presence of ruins, the formal establishment of the present community is rather recent. Toward the end of the past century, the Mexican government opened a great stretch of the Papantla area to settlement. The zone was surveyed and the area about Tajin was divided into parcels of slightly more than 31 hectares each. Most of these were purchased by Totonac of the Papantla area. At this same time, each major subdivision had land set aside for a town center. The center of Tajin is toward the east end of the tract. Although government action is thus responsible for the morphology of the modern Totonac communities of the Papantla lowlands, the plaza pattern was evidently a characteristic feature in ancient Totonacapan. At least, the old centers of Cempoala and Quiahuixtlan were built around a central plaza. The distinguishing feature about the town center of El Tajin is the relative concentration of private dwellings and public buildings. Actually, even the "town dwellers" value privacy to the extent that much of the area is left wooded and the houses are secluded in small clearings. Land in the Tajin center is divided into small lots (1250 sq. m.) arranged along narrow "streets," so overgrown as to amount to no more than footpaths. Toward the north end of the cen648

ter, a large, open plot kept clear of undergrowth is the completely unadorned town plaza (fig. 19). On one side of it is a school, built through communal effort; on another side, the municipal offices and jail. Long ago there was a chapel, but it was destroyed by an earthquake, and several decades passed before it was rebuilt on a lot near the plaza, which had been reserved for such use. A few very small stores, randomly located, complete the "urban" scene. Several trails fan out from the center, connecting it with Papantla, with the more remote land parcels of Tajin, and with adjacent Totonac communities. Those who live in the center have to commute to their fields, sometimes at considerable distance. More than half of these families do not own farmland, but most are able to rent tillable acreage quite nearby. As a general rule, however, the lowland Totonac farmer prefers to live close to his field, and it tends to be the landless ones who live in the "urban" center. On the outlying parcels, houses are widely scattered and well hidden in small clearings, not visible from the trails. The original subdivision into plots of 31 hectares determines the basic spatial arrangement of the rural part of the community. In all, El Tajin is composed of 107 parcels, nearly two-thirds of which contain both dwellings and fields. Some of the remaining plots are vacant, but many contain fields, with no dwelling units. These lands are worked by people who live on nearby parcels or in the town center. Fully a fourth of the Tajin parcels are occupied exclusively by one family. The maximum number of families occupying a parcel is eight; the mode is two. When there is more than one household per parcel, these usually are related in the male line. Economic status rather than family size tends to determine whether the Tajin household inhabits a single-room dwelling or several separate ones, but clustered together. Placement of the various house units

FIG. 7—PROCESSING SUGARCANE W I T H W O O D E N PRESS, E L TAJIN, VERACRUZ. (Photographed by Eric Schwartz, 1963-64. Courtesy, Mario Vásquez, Planeación del Nuevo Museo Nacional de México.)

follows no set pattern. When separate sleeping quarters are built, they usually are somewhat removed from the kitchen, in part because the latter constitutes a fire hazard. Other factors also influence placement: local terrain, position of trees and permanent plants in the clearing, and location of pre-existing buildings. A one-room house may be partitioned into separate task areas. Sometimes the cooking space is set off by a partition and either or both the resulting areas may be used as sleeping quarters. Sometimes kitchen and living room are coterminus, separated from the "bedroom" by a partition. If there is more than one building, additional structures usually are sleeping quarters.

In addition, the house clearing normally contains various domestic structures, such as granary, sweat house, pigpen, poultry house, and laundry shade. Fences are rare, even in the town center, and their chief function is to protect the haphazard garden from wandering animals. Moreover, a clearing contains a scattering of trees, retained or planted for their shade, fruit, or flowers. A typical house complex of a well-to-do Tajin family is illustrated by Kelly and Palerm (1952, Map 9). TECHNOLOGY

Tools Most of the tools and weapons used by the modern Totonac are not of native produc649

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employed. A dibble is still used for planting. It is a straight stick, 2-3 m. in length, with one end pointed and sometimes fitted with an iron casing. The cultivating instrument is the coa, a broad, flat metal blade (Kelly and Palerm, 1952, figs. 10, 11). The highland coa is also metal, but its haft is adzlike. The plow is a common tool in the highlands, but it is considered unsuitable for the milpa agriculture of the lowlands. Processing and

FIG. 8—FIRING POTTERY IN OPEN BLAZE ON KITCHEN FLOOR, EL TAJIN, VERACRUZ. (Photographed by Eric Schwartz, 1963-64. Courtesy, Mario Vásquez, Planeación del Nuevo Museo Nacional de México.)

tion but are purchased in stores and markets. Game is scarce and little hunted, always with firearms. In the highlands timber is cut with a large, commercial lumberman's saw. In both highlands and lowlands the machete is the most versatile and important tool and weapon: an all-purpose chopping and cutting instrument, in daily use in the home and in the fields. Particularly in the lowlands, training in handling the machete begins in childhood; every man, and some women, wield it with extraordinary skill. In clearing lowland fields preparatory to planting, both a steel axe and a machete are 650

Manufacturing

In general, the Totonac give little time to processing and manufacturing. In the Papantla area, however, subconical cakes of brown sugar, for home consumption and for cash sale, are prepared from sugarcane (fig. 7; Kelly and Palerm, pp. 128-32). Here, too, vanilla pods are sometimes dried so as to command a better price. Drying requires carefully controlled exposure to the sun for about an hour a day over a prolonged period. In the lowlands candles are made for home consumption. Molten wax of the native bee is spread on a moistened tabletop. A wick, which has been dipped a couple of times in hot wax is placed on the sheet. The sheet is folded over the wick and then rolled between the palms until a candle of sorts is produced. In contrast, when candles are made of the wax of the Old World bee, various wicks are suspended from a hoop and the hot wax dribbled on them (Kelly and Palerm, 1952, p. 98). Crafts Totonac craft production has so declined in modern times that only a few hints of former talents can be gleaned from the present scene. The female arts of pottery making and weaving are those which have endured; the male crafts of basketry, woodworking, and tool and weapon manufacture have given way in the competition with commercial products. Paper making seems to have disappeared completely.

FIG. 9—POTTERY BEEHIVES, LOWLANDS, CERRO DEL CARBON, VERACRUZ. (Photographed by Carlos Sáenz, 1963-64. Courtesy, Mario Vásquez, Planeación del Nuevo Museo Nacional de México.)

In highland Eloxochitlan not even pottery manufacture has survived. There, a few nearby centers (of Mexican, not Totonac, speech) specialize in glazed ceramics and supply the entire zone. In contrast, all the elder women and some of the younger ones in the entire Papantla area make vessels for cooking, eating, storage, and other domestic needs. Although commercial containers are used extensively, most households still rely on a few homemade products, and pottery manufacture is considered a primary feminine skill. With such high

value placed on ceramic production, it is paradoxical that vessels should be of execrable quality, inferior in virtually every respect. "Tajín pottery is heavy and crude. It is poorly fashioned, poorly finished, and poorly fired [fig. 8]. The color of a single specimen may range from ochre and rosy tan to brown, gray and black; firing clouds are prominent. . . . All vessels are unglazed. Decoration is scanty . . . warping and cracks are the rule, and quite often a new vessel must be mended before it can be put to use" (Kelly and Palerm, 1952, p. 651

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FIG. 10—LOWLAND CRAFTS, EL TAJIN, VERACRUZ. a, Spinning. (Photographed by Angelina Macias, 1963-64.) b, Weaving with belt loom. (Photographed by Eric Schwartz, 1963-64. Courtesy, Mario Vásquez, Planeación del Nuevo Museo Nacional de México.)

212). Bowl and jar forms predominate, but food dishes, griddles, spindle whorls, candlesticks, and incense burners are common. One ceramic trait of considerable interest is the technique of jar manufacture. The walls are formed first, as a cylinder, and the rim is shaped. Leaves are then wrapped about the lower portion of the damp cylinder, and the baseless jar is set aside until the exposed area dries. Later, the leaves are peeled off, and the moist clay beneath is carefully drawn together to form the bottom of the vessel (Kelly and Palerm, 1952, pp. 217, 219-20). It is also of interest that among the lowland Totonac, clay pots 652

function as hives for the native bee (fig. 9; Kelly and Palerm, 1952, pp. 96-97, pl.

4,d,f).

Despite the availability of commercial fabrics, throughout much of Totonacapan women continue to weave on the belt loom. In highland Eloxochitlan, weaving is limited to the production of plain woolen material, indigo-dyed, for use as skirts by the women and cotones by the men. The skirt is supported by a woven belt—red, with characteristic motif—somewhat similar to the sashes still used by the older women of the Papantla area. Informants in both zones state that such belts are not produced by

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the Totonac but are purchased and come ultimately from Mexican communities in the Sierra de Puebla. In the Papantla lowlands weaving (fig. 10,b) is confined to production of towels; strainers for maize gruel; runners which are coiled and placed on the head to cushion burdens; and "tablecloths" to cover the contents of the wooden tray (fig. 17,b) the woman carries on her head. Occasionally specimens are of native cotton, locally grown and spun (fig. 10,a), but commercial thread is now in general use. The "tablecloths" alone bear designs, formed by lifting loops of weft on the right side of the fabric during manufacture (Kelly and Palerm, 1952, pls. 29; 30,c-g, figs. 58-61). Both technique and motifs suggest European influence. The art of basketry has all but disappeared, although evidence for it survives in several male-centered activities. In the Sierra, a carrying frame for burdens is in general use. A withe is bent to form a quadrilateral, which then is filled with liana or commercial twine in wrapped stitch.

Two such frames are united on one long and two short sides, to form a container. There is evidence that a somewhat similar frame, its filler of coil-without-foundation, formerly was used in the lowlands. Wickerwork survives in the form of poorly made sheep muzzles in Eloxochitlan, and in an occasional basket in the Papantla area, likewise of indifferent quality. In the lowlands, however, simple basketry stitches are employed in diverse situations. The upright poles which form the house walls are lashed to transverse supports by wrapped twine. Cradles and circular hanging trays for food storage are filled with coil-without-foundation. Ornamental palm figures (figs. 11,b; 15,b; Kelly and Palerm, 1952, pls. 26,b-f; 27) for altar and other ceremonial decoration and chair seats woven of palm cordage (fig. 11,a) are reminiscent of basketry techniques. Woodworking must have once been an established art, but little remains today. In Eloxochitlan craftsmen are able to cut planks from a tree trunk; in the lowlands chief reliance is on itinerant workers who

FIG. 1 1 — L O W L A N D CRAFTS, EL TAJIN, VERACRUZ. a, Weaving chair seat with palm cordage. b, Making palm "stars" for altar ornament, as shown in figure 15,b. Cf. Kelly and Palerm, 1952, pls. 26,b-f; 27. (Photographed by Eric Schwartz, 1963-64. Courtesy, Mario Vásquez, Planeación del Nuevo Museo Nacional de México.)

653

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come from the Sierra. Throughout Totonacapan, few possess or even know how to use modern European hand tools for working wood, and the machete is the allpurpose instrument. In El Tajin there is no full-time carpenter or woodworking artisan. Nevertheless, several local men know how to make particular objects, such as one-piece stools, chairs, tables, sugarcane crushers (fig. 7), bakers' paddles, stirring sticks, jar covers, trays, chests, and grave markers, as well as masks and other ceremonial paraphernalia. Housing The characteristic, and presumably ancient, Totonac house is rectangular in plan. Its gabled roof, with two long and two short sheds, rests on a forked-post frame. Its walls, of vertically set light poles, are not structural and support no weight (fig. 12; Kelly and Palerm, 1952, pp. 176-86). Materials vary with locality. In highland Eloxochitlan the thatch is grass, often combined with maize stalks; in the Papantla lowlands, the thatch is usually of palm, the walls, of vertically disposed lengths of bamboo. There have been innovations in both areas. Sometimes the Sierra house displays a shake roof (fig. 3), and the dwelling of greatest prestige has cribbed walls of squared logs or of planks, and on them, without other support, rests the roof, often of tile. This superficial approximation to our log house is popular in much of the Sierra de Puebla and is not confined to the Totonac. In the Papantla area prestige is associated with the house which has squared posts and beams, plank walls, and tiled roof (fig. 16; see also Kelly and Palerm, 1952, pl. 9,f). The dwelling is dark, for Totonac houses are windowless. Moreover, it is uncomfortably warm much of the year. In contrast, the bamboo walls of the traditional palm-thatched dwelling permit light and

air to enter between the interstices, so that this residence is comfortable in hot weather but drafty in winter. Sometimes one or more walls are mud-plastered, giving the impression of adobe construction. The palmthatched, bamboo-walled house usually has a bamboo door; the plank house, a wooden one. Several advantages favor the survival of the traditional, palm-roofed house (fig. 13). Made exclusively of local materials, it is relatively inexpensive. Much of its construction can be handled by one man, but friends are usually invited to assist. For this the host either pays them or gives each his labor in return at some future time. Buildings are owned independently of the land, and the palm house is comparatively easy to dismantle and move. Sometimes the interior is partitioned into separate task areas. Furniture is minimal. Long benches and small stools, the latter made from single blocks of wood, are standard equipment. The Sierra bench is no more than a squared trunk, supported at either end by a large stone, but that of the Papantla zone is a thick plank, with four splay legs. In both areas the stool may be simply a short length of tree trunk, sometimes cut at a fork so that, inverted, the branch stubs serve as legs. Handled and animal-effigy stools are common. Today the slatback chair with woven palm seat is used throughout the lowlands (fig. 11,a). Every Totonac house contains some sort of table; that of the Papantla zone is of cedar planks, with four legs, usually squared (fig. 15,b). Kitchen arrangements differ widely between highland and lowland. In the former area, all cooking is done on the house floor, where three or four stones constitute the hearth. The metate sits nearby on the earth floor, and the woman kneels to grind and prepare meals. Throughout the Papantla lowlands, food is prepared on the floor only when the container is extremely large and heavy—as, for example, when maize is 655

FIG. 12—LOWLAND HOUSES, E L TAJIN, VERACRUZ. a, Attaching withes to support roof thatch. (Photographed by Isabel Kelly, 1947-51.) b, House assemblage. Unused pottery stacked against house wall. (Photographed by Eric Schwartz, 1963-64. Courtesy, Mario Vásquez, Planeación del Nuevo Museo Nacional de México.)

FIG. 14—LOWLAND HOUSE KITCHEN, EL TAJIN, VERACRUZ. a, Preparing food on raised hearth. The warped griddle is homemade. b, Raised hearth with ridges to support cooking vessels. Homemade griddles in rear. (Photographed by Eric Schwartz, 1963-64. Courtesy, Mario Vásquez, Planeación del Nuevo Museo Nacional de México.)

steeped for the family tortillas and when gruel and tamales are made in quantity for guests. Other cooking is done on a raised, mud-plastered hearth, which is built against one wall or in a corner (fig. 14). U-shaped ridges support the pots; in addition, three small, homemade clay jars are often inverted and used as firedogs. The metate occupies a special table or trestle, handy to the raised hearth; here the housewife stands, both to grind and to cook. In the lowlands the commercial handmill often supplements, but does not replace, the traditional stone metate. In all of Totonacapan, a simple palm mat —not of Totonac manufacture—is spread on the earth floor as sleeping accommodation. A raised bed is known but is not in general use. Its frame of four forked posts, connected by crosspieces, supports planks in the Sierra, lengths of split bamboo in the lowlands. Nowadays, about Papantla, canvas or burlap cots and even commercial beds with springs and mattress are being adopted. Occasionally, the several types of sleeping facilities are found within a single household, in which case status hierarchy

is nicely reflected. The family head occupies the bed or cot; the sons sleep on trestle beds; the daughters are relegated to the floor. Aesthetic expression focuses on the religious altar or shrine (fig. 15), found in almost every house interior. For the most part, the altar is a colorful creation and, within the basic pattern, displays considerable individuality. Usually it consists of a clothcovered table, crowned by a tissue-paperdecorated canopy and adorned with images of Christian saints, candlesticks, vases of flowers, and assorted oddments. The area beneath the table is used for storage, not infrequently of archaeological stone "idols." Most Totonac interiors have a cluttered appearance, precisely because of scant storage facilities. "Almost every house is literally strewn with odd possessions for which there is no adequate storage space" (Kelly and Palerm, 1952, p. 192). Little-used objects are stashed in an "attic," formed by placing long planks across the rafters; from these swing forked-stick hooks, which are useful for hanging clothing and other objects. For kitchen storage, hanging shelves 657

FIG. 13—TRADITIONAL PALM-THATCHED HOUSES OF LOWLANDS, EL TAJIN, VERACRUZ. Walls of vertical bamboo. (Photographed by Carlos Sáenz, 1963-64. Courtesy, Mario Vásquez, Planeación del Nuevo Museo Nacional de México.)

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are suspended from the rafters, and about the hearth many items are tucked into the wall interstices. Pottery vessels not in daily use are stacked on wooden racks against the exterior wall of the kitchen, fig. 12,b). The sweat house, the only masonry structure possibly reminiscent of former architectural prowess, occurs throughout Totonacapan. There is, however, wide variation. The sweat house may be built at ground level or excavated into a slope. The floor plan is usually square or rectangular, rarely, with rounded corners. The earth-covered roof ranges from flat to two sheds to almost dome-shaped. In highland Eloxochitlan one corner is completely walled off to form the fire chamber, and this has a separate exterior opening; water is thrown against the heated interior wall to produce steam. In the Papantla area the hearth is within the bathing chamber. Moreover, the Papantla sweat house usually has a slightly elevated floor of planks or lengths of bamboo, but the Sierra structure has an earth floor covered with a layer of ferns or other plants. The sweat bath is still used routinely in Eloxochitlan but is losing ground among the young people of the Papantla zone. There, within the past 15 years, a new style of sweat house has been adopted. Flexible wands are stuck in the ground to form a dome-shaped frame, under which the fire is built and over which mats or blankets are thrown when the bath is in use.

FIG. 16—LOWLAND DRESS, EL TAJIN, VERACRUZ. Woman modeling 19th-century raiment. Tubular muslin skirt is handsomely embroidered in red. In rear, plank house with tile roof. (Photographed by Angelina Macias, 1963-64. Courtesy, Mario Vasquez, Planeación del Nuevo Museo Nacional de México.)

Dress and Adornment Throughout Totonacapan, the men wear a homemade, pajamalike outfit, consisting of white muslin trousers (calzones) and shirt (figs. 7; 12,a; 18; 19). The highland men add a black wool cotón, likewise homemade. Its body resembles a poncho, with rectangular sleeve pieces added. Occasionally, the lowland man wears a small wool poncho, purchased in Papantla. Commercial palm hats, usually with high crown and broad brim, are general. Many men go

barefoot. In the highlands, when footgear is used, it is the leather-thong sandal, with tire-tread sole. In the lowlands shoes are more common than sandals. For dress, many Papantla calzón-wearers use above-ankleheight shoes, with relatively high heel. On festive occasions, lowland men wear garments and hats of finer quality, and sometimes a gay-colored shirt. They bedeck 659

FIG. 15—LOWLAND FAMILY ALTARS. a, El Tajin, Veracruz. Paper-covered canopy; freestanding, three-dimensional images; chromos in shadow boxes. In front, a special table with homemade clay candlesticks; on floor, homemade pottery containers for incense. b, Cazuelas, Veracruz. Palm figures hang from rafters; space beneath altar is for storage; colorful paper cutouts are a recent innovation. (Photographed by Carlos Sáenz, 1963—64. Courtesy, Mario Vásquez, Planeación del Nuevo Museo Nacional de México.)

FIG. 17—LOWLAND DRESS, E L TAJIN, VERACRUZ. a, Small boy wears magenta rayon dress for festivals. b, Modern fiesta garb of white organdy, machine-embroidered; gold necklace and earrings. Colorful rayon parasol has replaced the old-style, black cotton one of 15 years earlier. (Photographed by Angelina Macias, 1963-64. Courtesy, Mario Vásquez, Planeación del Nuevo Museo Nacional de México.)

themselves with bright, solid-color kerchiefs and adorn their hats with fresh or plastic flowers. In the highlands Eloxochitlan and Tonalixco women wear a full skirt of black wool, home-woven and home-dyed. They say that in other villages of the area white muslin is used. The upper part of the body is covered with a white muslin quexquemitl, under which younger women use a white muslin blouse. Sierra women generally are barefoot. The everyday raiment of the women of the Papantla lowlands is a white muslin skirt and blouse (fig. 14,a), the former us660

ually gathered and tied with tapes. Older women cling to a tubular muslin skirt whose fullness is collected on one hip and secured by a red, woven belt, obtained years ago from highland traders. Over the blouse hangs a bright-colored square of cloth, which is tied at the nape and covers the chest. An apron, often of gaily flowered cotton, is worn over the skirt. On festive occasions, lowland dress is elaborate (fig. 17,b). A decorated blouse, sometimes hand-embroidered, is worn over one of white muslin, and an organdy skirt, factory-embroidered in white rayon, is used over several layers of muslin skirts. The

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square hung over the chest is of imitation silk, and an organdy quexquemitl, with lace or factory-embroidered trim, covers the head or is thrown over the shoulders. Some women wear shoes with their festival raiment. The lowland Totonac are far more clothes-conscious than are those of the highlands. They alone have special raiment for festivals and they invest heavily in it. Apparel is washed frequently and an effort is made to present an immaculate appearance. Time is lavished on toilette. Most men carry a pocket mirror for primping. Women's hair is usually braided and embellished with ribbons, combs, clips, and sprays of flowers. Gold jewelry (fig. 17,b) is esteemed and is an important part of the wedding gift. Western garb is not used by either sex in highland Eloxochitlan, but is fast being adopted in the lowlands, where prestige attaches to city-style trousers and shirt, despite the fact that the loose-fitting muslin garb is well adapted to the climate, less expensive, more easily laundered, and more comfortable for working in the fields. Many women, too, now favor Western dress, which is considerably less expensive—and less decorative—than is the organdy dress. Transportation Until very recent years, traffic throughout Totonacapan was largely pedestrian, and a familiar sight in the lowlands was the singlefile procession on the trail, with the man at the head, the women and children behind. Nowadays, a small plane reaches all important points in the Sierra and, in dry season, throughout the Papantla lowlands, settlements can be reached by car, over roads opened by Petroleos Mexicanos for oil exploration. Highland Eloxochitlan had neither pack nor riding animals at the time of our study. In 1947 and 1948, many Tajin families, however, were well provided (Kelly and Palerm, 1952, pp. 84-86), but probably

there are fewer animals today as a result of the increased availability of rural bus and truck service. In burden carrying, regional differences are evident. In the highlands, the head tumpline is commonly used by both sexes, as is the carrying frame. In contrast, the latter has virtually disappeared from the low country, where a woman rarely uses a tumpline. Instead, she carries loads—firewood, sugarcane, water jar, wooden tray—on the head; in fact, the bright red wooden tray (fig. 17,b), used to transport all manner of small items, is so ubiquitous that it qualifies as an indispensable feminine accessory. The Eloxochitlan infant is carried in a muslin sling which hangs from the mother's left shoulder, but on long trips he is relegated to the carrying frame. In the entire Papantla area there is no device—neither sling nor carrying frame—for transporting an infant. A baby is simply carried in the arms. The shoulder-borne litter is used in both regions for transporting the sick, wounded, and dead. Weights and Measures All the weights and measures used by the modern Totonac are of European derivation. Reckoning by volume, which is more easily measured than is weight, is used extensively for maize and other produce. The common unit is the cuartillo, which in the Sierra is of 2 liters; in the lowlands, of 3. Only in the highlands is there mention of the chavo, which is a quarter-cuartillo, used for small-scale transactions in chile, tomatoes, and so on. In the Papantla area, 4 cuartillos make an almud; 3 almudes, an arroba; 12 amudes, a fanega. Both almud and fanega are terms known in Eloxochitlan, but the measures are not used there, perhaps because the comparative poverty makes large-scale negotiations infrequent. In the highlands and in the lowlands, acreage is most frequently expressed in terms of cuartillos, which refers to the volume of 661

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maize required to plant the plot in question. Linear measures include the vara (yard), used in house-building and sometimes in sewing. Smaller units are the codo (elbow), calculated at half a vara and used in connection with locally woven textiles. The cuarta and jeme are the standard Spanish units, used likewise for fractions of the vara. A traditional linear measure in the Papantla zone is the garrocha, of 12 cuartas (each of 20 cm., hence 2.4 m.). A plot of land 50 by 50 garrochas is the destajo, which amounts to nearly 1.5 hectares. Nowadays, the garrocha deliberately is being reduced to 10 cuartas, so that a destajo by such reckoning is the equivalent of an hectare. Many now use the two latter terms interchangeably. Contact with city markets, especially in the lowlands, brings increasing use of the metric system. Some merchandise is reckoned by the piece. In Eloxochitlan 60 bundles of thatching grass constitute a tercio. This term, in the Papantla area, applies to 50 units, such as sugarcane, or withes, poles, or thatching bundles for house building. Here, 2 tercios make a carga, and both terms are applied to firewood, but with definition less fixed. Liquid measures, for honey and alcoholic beverages, are the 5-gallon tin, demijohn, wine bottle, and liter. In the highlands, a beverage is sold by the topo, said to be a fifth of a liter. In the Papantla area brown sugar is marketed in parcels containing two subcorncal cakes, placed butt to butt and wrapped in cornhusk. This unit is called the mancuerna, and its weight varies from less than a kilogram to about 1.5 kg., according to the size of the sugar mold used. ECONOMY

In general, the highlands are not as selfcontained economically as are the lowlands, and only in the latter area may the Totonac be considered relatively prosperous. In the highland community of Eloxochitlan land is scarce and produces but one annual harvest, and frequently that is in662

sufficient to meet family needs. In marked contrast, throughout much of the lowlands, land has been plentiful and reasonably productive. Except for middle-elevation Olintla, where coffee production is important, the highlands have no cash-producing crop to match the vanilla or sugarcane of the Papantla lowlands. Of necessity, in the slack agricultural season, the Eloxochitlan highlander seeks other means to supplement his slim income from farming, and so must depend on wage work or some small-scale commercial enterprise—both of which take him to other areas. The Papantla Totonac, however, has no such need and seldom leaves his home territory. His comparative prosperity is visible in many ways: in the prevalence of pack or riding animals; the opulence of festive raiment; the expense of a wedding, on which the groom's family may spend between 2000 and 3000 pesos; and in the not infrequent occurrence of polygyny. Division of Labor;

Specialization

In the economy of the modern Totonac, in theory, a division of labor along sexual lines prevails. In actual practice, however, very few family or household-centered activities are exclusively performed by one or the other sex so that the division of labor, which, although explicitly conceptualized, is by no means rigidly followed. The Totonac man of the Papantla area devotes himself primarily to the care of the milpa: clearing, planting, cultivating, and harvesting. He markets his crops and does whatever processing may be necessary, such as drying vanilla or preparing brown sugar. He cares for any pack or riding animals he may have and is responsible for the construction and upkeep of his house and its wooden furnishings. He keeps his tools in working order; does what little basket making and weaving of tumplines may be required; makes palm ornaments for the domestic shrine; and attends to a host of other small tasks.

TOTONAC

There is little economic specialization. Nearly all men are maize farmers, and even the storekeepers, barbers, and carpenters in El Tajin derive most of their income from the milpa. By request, many men make articles for sale to neighbors, such as casting nets, sugarcane presses, belt looms, chairs with woven seats, and dance masks. Within the context of spare-time activity, therefore, limited craft specialization is evident. The lowland woman cares for the children and runs the household. She cleans, cooks, hauls water, launders, feeds the fowl, cares for the small garden, and gathers wild plant products, such as chile and the miniature tomato. She makes pottery, weaves, makes and mends clothing. She sells the pots and textiles she herself makes. She also sells eggs, poultry, and such produce as sweetpotatoes, manioc, chile, and wild tomatoes when small quantities are involved. Some responsibilities are shared. The thoughtful husband returns from the milpa with a load of firewood, but not infrequently his wife has to forage for it. Most women and girls work daily in the maize field and participate in all aspects of local agriculture except clearing and planting. Widows, in particular, may take full responsibility for the milpa, hiring laborers as needed. Both sexes care for the bees and the hogs, haul cane to the crusher, and bake wheat bread. In case of emergency, a man may help his wife by preparing tortillas or even hauling water, but such endeavors amuse the neighbors, and men less frequently than women depart from their defined roles. Curers and healers include both sexes but only old women are midwives. The division of labor is more marked with respect to activities which are not familycentered. Large-scale commercial transactions are the province of the man. Only he is storekeeper, although his wife normally assists. Men alone butcher and prepare cracklings and are part-time barbers and carpenters. All public offices are held by men and they alone participate in the com-

munal labor program; women have no voice whatsoever in local government. Only men represent the church and are religious singers. They also are the secular musicians and the dancers. The pattern in highland Eloxochitlan agrees on the whole, but there are some differences. Because the land yields but one harvest a year, agriculture is less time-consuming and less rewarding. Some men devote considerable time to cattle—buying, selling, trading—but there is no dairying. When the harvest is in, many men turn peddlers or day laborers. In fact, in one highland Totonac community, "Tepango de Rodríguez, commercial activities are probably more important than is agriculture" (Kelly, 1953, p. 176). Dedication to crafts is negligible, but the Totonac trader sells objects producted in Mexicano-speaking communities of the Sierra de Puebla. The Eloxochitlan woman seldom works in the milpa, but she helps harvest and shell corn. If the family has sheep, she and her children herd them. She makes no pottery, but she prepares the wool (purchased in Ahuacatlan) and weaves the man's cotón and the material for her skirt. An adolescent girl, still unmarried, presents herself at the church each Monday before dawn, to receive instruction in religious doctrine and to help sweep the church. Upon occasion, all young, unmarried girls and all widows are required to work in a communal labor force, but under the religious rather than the political authorities. They are given the "lighter" tasks, such as hauling sand and lime. Property There is a shortage of cultivable land in highland Eloxochitlan and, to make matters worse, residents of adjacent mestizo and Mexicano settlements have been trying aggressively to purchase local property. In 1951, officially, Eloxochitlan was an ejido, but in reality it was composed of small private holdings. Only five or six persons, con663

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sidered the wealthiest, had 25 or 30 not very productive hectares—somewhat less than the size of Tajin's standard parcel of land. Twenty years ago, comparatively good land was abundant in the lowlands and most Totonac farmers were property owners. Even then, some ejidos had been established in the Papantla area, but El Tajin was not among them. Recently, in the nonejido communities of the lowlands, the situation has changed dramatically. Mestizo investors have purchased Totonac property and have cleared vast tracts of forest, primarily for the purpose of establishing grazing land. Today, Tajin has many landless families, and in another generation the situation will be acute. Theoretically, in Eloxochitlan children inherit on an equal basis, but sometimes the widow receives all the property. As a rule, an aging couple summons local officials and witnesses and in their presence specifies the desired division of property, denying a son or daughter who has been neglectful. The dwelling usually goes to a son. Reputedly, disputes over inheritance are common. In El Tajin the situation is quite different. Patrilineal inheritance of land, houses, and other property predominates, perhaps owing to the fact that a daughter often marries outside the community and goes to live with her spouse. Until recently, many land parcels in Tajin were held by the descendants of the original owners, who purchased in the latter part of the past century. In fact, title often remains in the name of the purchaser, long since deceased. To avoid the bother and expense of having title transferred, the heirs have continued to pay taxes in the name of the earlier owner. Production and Consumption Unit Throughout Totonacapan, the economic unit is the household. Its composition varies from a single nuclear family of three or four persons to a large patrilocal extended family, composed of several nuclear families 664

and representing three or even four generations. This domestic group is both the production and the consumption unit and is linked closely to the local pattern of subsistence agriculture. In highland Eloxochitlan there is no surplus, and all families must buy maize and beans long before the new harvest. In the lowlands, in spite of crop diversity and good yield, there is a tendency to plant only a sufficient amount for home consumption. Thus, in 1940, of 518 Totonac households in several communities of the Papantla area, only one dedicated itself exclusively to growing a cash crop, and nearly half the others planted no cash crop at all (Kelly and Palerm, 1952, pp. 99-100). To some extent, this may reflect the fact that vanilla and sugarcane do not do well everywhere in the lowlands. The lowland Totonac household tends to be self-sufficient in that it grows most of its food staples. Certain other necessities, such as pottery, special kitchen utensils, furniture, and clothing are produced by members of the domestic group or by neighbors. Inasmuch as most lowland families sell some produce—even if it be no more than wild tomatoes and chile—many small items which might otherwise be made in the household are purchased from neighbors or itinerant traders, or are bought in the stores or market of the nearest urban center. There is a considerable amount of cooperation within the household. In accord with the division of labor as described above, some tasks are allotted to each sex, some are shared. The woman's participation in the milpa is most important economically and tends to encourage polygyny. From an early age, children learn to help, thus lightening the parents' load and at the same time preparing themselves for adult responsibilities. In part, because children are genuinely helpful, parents are sometimes eager to remove them from school. However, in recent years, in the lowlands, there is increasing interest in academic preparation, and some

TOTONAC

Totonac families, at considerable expense and inconvenience, send their children to school in Papantla. Throughout Totonacapan an adolescent girl is reasonably skilled in basic feminine responsibilities, and, by the age of 16, a boy is practically able to do a man's work. Trade and Markets; Labor Export Despite the persistence of a subsistence economy, the Totonac are becoming increasingly dependent on a cash market. Objects of native manufacture have been or are being replaced by commercial products (see Technology). In the lowlands, storebought beds and other furniture (e.g., rocking chair), as well as city-style clothing, enjoy prestige. Probably every Totonac community has a small internal market for produce such as maize, eggs, or even hogs and other animals; some, in homemade pottery, textiles, and other spare-time manufactures. As far as we know, there is no sizable native market controlled by Totonac, although the surrounding Totonac communities are often the mainstay of the Mestizo-Mexicano market of the nearby municipal center. From the latter comes the meager merchandise stocked by the so-called "stores" in the rural area. Large-scale coffee production by the Totonac of middle-elevation Olintla probably gives that district a distinctive and profitable economic cast. In highland Eloxochitlan there is no real cash crop and no excess of any staple. Here the Totonac often operate as middlemen. Many men and women go on foot to villages at slightly lower level, where they buy fruit and chile for resale in the Ahuacatlan or Zacatlan markets, both of which are predominantly Mestizo and Mexicano. Men who work part of the year as itinerant peddlers go to the lowlands to hawk Sierra craft products—such as metates, glazed pottery, glass objects and, until recent years, woven belts for women and carved images of Christian saints—none of

Totonac manufacture. The vendor returns with a cargo of small, hot chile from Papantla, to be sold in the Sierra. Other highlanders go to the coast to cut timber for a price or to hire out as agricultural laborers. In the lowlands the Papantla market is a Mestizo institution whose prosperity depends largely on sales to the Totonac of the rural hinterland. No Totonac man sells his produce in the market, and even the women dispose of their minor products on a houseto-house basis. The men deal directly with the important Mestizo merchants in Papantla or Poza Rica. At times, and in the case of vanilla alone, they sell to intermediaries and to "the agents of the big dealers in Papantla [who] infest the trails, trying to persuade passersby to sell to them" (Kelly and Palerm, 1952, p. 125). Vanilla lends itself to such traffic, for it can be marketed in small quantity in varying states of maturity. Moreover, early sale is advisable to reduce the danger of loss through theft. Wealth and Its Uses The highland Totonac of Eloxochitlan is in no position to amass wealth. Moreover, he must spend—sometimes trifling amounts, sometimes staggering sums—for ceremonies and offerings which amount to payment of perennial blackmail to various supernatural beings (Kelly, 1966). If he fails in these obligations, the offended deities inflict illness, death or other disaster on the family. To make matters worse, five mayordomías are associated with the Catholic church. These change hands yearly, and the recipients are obligated to spend on such a scale that normally they must borrow money, mortgage or sell their land. In short, in an area where bare subsistence presents a problem, the harried Totonac is under constant pressure to spend for matters related directly or indirectly to religion, be it his old, native pantheon or the Catholic Church. The Totonac of the Papantla lowlands is in more comfortable circumstances, and his use of wealth is very different. In Tajin al665

FIG. 18—THE IMAGE OF SAN JOSE VISITS EL TAJIN. A cantor heads the procession; in the rear, women and chil dren with flowers and lighted candles. (Photographed by Eric Schwartz, 1963-64. Courtesy, Mario Vásquez, Planeaciór del Nuevo Museo Nacional de México.)

most nothing remains of native religion, and adherence to Catholicism is quite perfunctory. To be sure, a man may give a festival in honor of a visiting Christian saint (fig. 18), in the conviction that his harvest will benefit, but ordinarily spending is secular rather than religious. Some do not stint on festival raiment, although it is thought prudent to avoid ostentation and thus reduce the danger of theft. A wedding represents a considerable expense for the groom's family. Large sums are spent in connection with death, starting with hospitality at the wake and continuing for friends who foregather the 80th day after death, in honor of the deceased. Annually, at Todos Santos, the 666

Days of the Dead, every family spends generously for the pleasure of its demised relatives. Finally, a man in comfortable circumstances may gain prestige by becoming the financial sponsor of a group of musicians or dancers. SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

Family and Kinship The basic structure of modern Totonac society shows relatively little regional variation. A thorough-going bilateral organization prevails, but within this frame there is emphasis on the paternal line, resulting from the rule of patrilocal residence and, in

TOTONAC

the lowlands, of patrilineal inheritance of property. The patrilocal extended family presumably is the traditional unit; it still exists but today, by actual count, the independent nuclear family is dominant. Within the family, considerable emphasis is placed on the conjugal relationship, and in general, women enjoy high status in the society. Outside of the immediate family, kinship plays a reduced role in social relations. Rather, individuals are linked together as ritual kin and by almost formalized friendship ties. Marriage is a focus for considerable elaboration and seldom is casually contracted. Marriage arrangements are negotiated between the respective families and often these negotiations stretch out over a long period of time. Initiative is taken by the groom's parents who, in the course of four formal visits, arrange the betrothal with the girl's family. Most of the expenses associated with marriage are assumed by the groom's family and, in the lowlands, the costs can be sizable. Frequently, before their betrothal, the young couple is not acquainted. In the highlands, in particular, girls frequently marry very young, sometimes before the onset of their first menses, and the first overture toward marriage is often made when a boy is barely 9 or 10 years old, the girl a year or so younger. Allegedly, there is a shortage of females and it is thought that a bride may not be available should one delay. In this region, formal betrothal may "precede marriage by several years" (Kelly, 1953, p. 181). In the Papantla lowlands formal betrothal seldom is arranged more than a year prior to marriage, and the couple may even be slightly acquainted prior to the initiation of proceedings. There, also, marriage takes place at a somewhat more advanced age, and proof of virginity is normally required. Some contrasts in practices relating to marriage between the highland and lowland Totonac reflect economic differences which

distinguish the two regions. In the lowlands, polygyny occurs to some extent, whereas strict monogamy prevails in the Sierra. In the former, a man's agricultural output may be limited only by the amount of assistance that he can muster from his family, so that a second wife and expanded family can be economically advantageous. Likewise, in the lowland communities, there is greater instability in marriages. In the highlands marriage between cousins, especially second cousins, is said to be fairly common. In Tajin, however, cousin marriage is rare and the practice is condemned. In both regions, the levirate and sororate are widely practiced. There is no barrio organization in the lowland communities, but a bride will usually be selected from a nearby community, and hence local exogamy tends to be the dominant pattern. In the highlands, where barrio organization exists, exogamy is usual but not obligatory. Marriage between ritual kin is prohibited in both areas. Although, in both regions, marriage arrangements are formally negotiated by the parents of the future spouses, in the lowland Tajin community the couple may be slightly acquainted through chance meetings, and the prospective groom reasonably certain of acceptance before he asks his parents to make formal request. It is during the fourth and last of their visits to arrange the betrothal that the girl's parents state their terms. Some request music and dancing at the wedding festival. A few of the stipulated gifts are standard: a painted calabash shell to use as a drinking cup (fig. 17,b), a wooden chair, a woven palm mat, and a painted wooden tray (fig. 17,b). If the boy's family is moderately prosperous, the following are also stipulated: a gold necklace (fig. 17,b), gold earrings, two or more gold rings, an organdy skirt, blouse, and quechquemitl, hair ribbons and other hair ornaments, perhaps shoes, plus an umbrella (fig. 17,b) to be used as a parasol on trips to Papantla. Once the gifts have been agreed upon, 667

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commercially available items are then purchased in Papantla by the boy's family and are delivered the following Saturday, when a feast is served by the girl's family, using food provided in advance by the boy's relatives. The next day the families meet to set the date of the wedding, taking into account aspects such as the age of the couple and the church calendar. During Lent, for example, weddings are prohibited. Throughout the waiting period, normally less than a year, the boy supports his prospective bride and delivers firewood and food to her parents' home weekly. Following the civil and religious ceremonies in Papantla, which are attended by relatives and friends of both families, the wedding party returns to the house of the groom's family for the festival. For large weddings, the returning procession can be very picturesque. It winds along the trail, single file, headed by the groom, followed by the bride in her white veil, then the parents, godparents, and finally the other guests. A few men on horseback bring up the rear. Almost everyone is dressed in gleaming white. To this, a touch of color is added by the bright-red wooden trays which the women balance on their heads. The green forest forms a backdrop. The wedding feast is lavish and is followed very often by a whole night of music and dancing. Throughout these festive hours, the bride and groom remain solemnly seated, side by side, without exchanging a word. Consummation takes place the second night and in the morning the bride is expected to produce evidence of virginity. The same morning, she must be the first in the household to arise, and she presents a cup of maize gruel to her parents-in-law, as a gesture of respect and submission. Despite the emphasis upon virginity, the costs involved in sponsoring a traditional wedding are such that a boy's family may encourage him to attempt seduction of his prospective bride or elopement with her to avoid the expense. In either instance, the 668

girl's family loses its bargaining power and must be satisfied with any gifts proffered. Elopements, in the Papantla lowlands, are by no means rare, especially if the boy's family is poor and a good chance exists that any formal overtures toward marriage might be refused. Following the wedding, the couple lives with the husband's parents, even if the groom has the means of building his own house at the time. Later, a separate dwelling is built, generally on land provided by his father and close by. The result is a cluster of dwellings whose occupants are related in the male line. Secondary marriages are contracted with a minimum of formality. Before a man takes a co-wife, consent of the first wife is indispensable. Should she protest, he risks losing her; if she complains to the authorities, he may have to make a property settlement. Often, however, a woman will urge her husband to take a second wife. The latter assists in the milpa, while the first wife runs the house. Sometimes, polygyny is simply inspired by a desire for more children. Selection of a second wife follows no set pattern. There are a few cases where a man has taken as co-wives his wife's grown daughters by a previous marriage. There are also instances in which the co-wives are sisters or distant relatives of one another. Widows, especially, are frequently taken as second wives. According to individual circumstances, co-wives may share the same house or occupy separate establishments. A widow or widower must wait a period of 80 days before remarrying. In the highland community of Eloxochitlan no expensive and elaborate gifts are given at the time of marriage. The bride's family supplies her with new clothes, and the groom's family does the same for him. Later, his parents or those of both may give the couple two or three hens to start their poultry stock. Here, likewise, the expense of the civil and religious ceremonies and of the marriage feast is borne by the groom's par-

TOTONAC

ents and the godparents, and the latter are selected by the groom's father. Native kinship terms are rapidly disappearing from the current of everyday speech throughout Totonacapan. For the most part, usage of Spanish terms represents a form substitution rather than a conceptual or semantic shift. That is, the Spanish system of kinship terminology is similar to the Totonac system, particularly in regard to terms for consanguineal relations. Insofar as native terms can still be elicited, there appear to be no major diflFerences within the Zacatlan-Papantla dialect. Terms in southeastern Totonacapan may differ somewhat and nothing is known of those from the northern dialect. Briefly, cousin terms are of the Eskimo type, and speaker's sex and relative age are both recognized in sibling terminology. The criterion of sex is recognized in the terms for all lineal relations except grandchildren. It is also recognized in the terms for parents' siblings, but for other collateral relatives, such as cousins and siblings' children, it is ignored. Unfortunately, little is known of the extensions of these terms. For affinal relations, child's spouse and spouse's parents are terminologically equivalent and the term applies to both sexes. There are separate terms for spouse's siblings, and these are distinguished according to sex. It is within the context of the localized family that kinship terms are most used. One's spouse's immediate family may also be designated by kinship terms, but for more distant relatives, personal names are used. As a gesture of courtesy and affection, kinship terms may be used in addressing nonrelatives. Whereas kinship plays a small role in social relationships outside of the immediate family, individuals are linked in almost formalized friendship ties and in ritual kin, the two categories overlapping. During adolescence boys and girls, but particularly the former, establish a few close friendships with agemates of their own sex; as they

grow older, these friendships continue to constitute some of the closest affective ties outside of the immediate family. Friends visit one another and give mutual aid in economic pursuits and in financial crises. Close friends may become ritual kin. Between compadres, there is great "respect," exchange of gifts, and considerable economic assistance. In highland Eloxochitlan compadres are acquired for certain church rites: baptism, confirmation, first communion, and marriage. In addition, a compadre is sought when one purchases the image of a saint for the domestic shrine. Interestingly, compadres are sought in connection with two major native ceremonies: the appeasement rite for the Owner of the forests, following the construction of a new house, and the definitive celebration to satisfy the Mothers of the hearthstones (Kelly, 1966). There are four compadres of the house, who participate in the construction and, with their wives, in the ceremony following; there are eight or more for the hearthstone ceremony, and they and their spouses donate the large amount of new raiment received by the individual for whom the rite is held. There is also an impressive array of compadres in the lowlands. Those associated with church rites are substantially the same as in the Sierra. In addition, if a visiting saint comes to Tajin and a family decides to give a festival in his honor, the host seeks compadres to help with expenses. There are also compadres of the cross, which is set up in the graveyard 80 days after death. If one goes to the coast for his first bath in the waters of the Gulf, he seeks a compadre. Sometimes a new cane crusher or a new fishing net has such sponsorship (Kelly and Palerm, 1952, p. 81). Territorial, Political, and Religious Organization At least some highland communities have barrios. Eloxochitlan, for example, is composed of three named barrios, which are 669

FIG. 19—THE EL TAJIN VILLAGE PLAZA IS CLEARED THROUGH COMMUNAL LABOR. (Photographed by Gabriel Ospina, 1947-51).

usually exogamous but not invariably. A man normally belongs to his father's barrio, and as a consequence there is comparative stability of the male component. There is a marked feeling of barrio loyalty, but if a man so desires he may assign his son to one of the other units. Occasionally, an adult man shifts barrio affiliation—if he has squabbled with fellow members, and sometimes if he or his wife has inherited property elsewhere. Nevertheless, simple change of residence does not alter barrio membership. A woman belongs to her father's barrio until she marries, whereupon she is considered a member of her husband's barrio. Apart from its exogamous aspects, the barrio organization figures principally in connection 670

with the communal work group. It has no association with the mayordomías. It is principally in the highlands where some of the ancient political and religious structure appears to have survived. In Eloxochitlan, despite formal administration from the Mestizo municipal center of Ahuacatlan, the local political hierarchy is rather elaborate, and almost every adult male either holds or has held public office. Here, too, community activities of church and state, so to speak, are intertwined in the election of the mayordomos and in the whole matter of communal labor. The organization of the public labor force in Eloxochitlan is intricate. When barely adolescent, the individual begins his service,

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under the aegis of the church. The church continues to supervise communal labor given by unmarried girls and widows, but when a boy marries or when he reaches the age of 18, he shifts to the secular labor force, which is administered by political authorities. In El Tajin the political structure is far less complex and seems to be rather simple and democratic in operation, with considerable local autonomy, despite oflBcial subordination to the Papantla municipal seat. The institution of faena, public labor (fig. 19), is prominent, but only married men are recruited and women are fully exempt. Apart from the demonstrable material benefits to the community, the communal labor program brings together periodically the male heads of households, in a situation not unlike a town meeting, so that news is exchanged, important issues discussed, elections held, and a community feeling generated. Such a function is of extraordinary importance to a community with a dispersed settlement pattern. RELIGION AND WORLD VIEW

Many traits of the old religion survive in the Sierra. Despite four centuries of indoctrination, Catholicism appears in Eloxochitlan as an overlay, adapted to native patterns rather than the reverse (Kelly, 1966). Fragments of myths relate to the classic Mexican sequence of the four "suns" or worlds. The present era begins with the rising of the Sun. Subsequently and paradoxically comes destruction by flood, with one human and a rabbit the lone survivors. Some informants anticipate the next "cleansing of time" in the year 2000. Accounts of the appearance of the Sun and Moon and of the flood may give explanations for natural phenomena: why highland and lowland differ; why a certain bird has a red head; why the dog "speaks with its tail"; why the ant has a constricted waist; why cucurbits are watery. The Eloxochitlan Totonac designate the

pre-Sun world as that of the "ancient ones." Illuminated by stars alone, it is inhabited by tiny people, who are hunters and gatherers. The Sun-elect is conceived when a woman inadvertently swallows a brilliant trinket which she finds in the water. She dies giving birth, and the infant Sun emerges from her navel. In four days (or four years) the Sun is a large boy; in another four, a grown man. He plants a milpa, engaging peons who survive today as the animals who eat the planted seed corn. His conversion into a heavenly body follows that of a wellknown tale: he builds a great fire, throws himself on its coals, and thereupon soars heavenwards as the Sun. The Moon-elect, an inveterate woman-chaser with scant prestige, falls into the hot ashes. He also rises, but not as high as the Sun, and he gives less light. With the appearance of the Sun, the people of the ancient world are converted into "stones, trees, all the animals, the metates, and the cooking pots." Eventually, when the Sun terminates, these objects will resume their former identity and eat the present population—a notion reminiscent of beliefs reported in the Popol Vuh and for several modern Maya groups. Even now the stones present a hazard. Mindful of their earlier existence, they try to move. Such an enterprising stone is "shot" by a falling star, drawing blood. Dangerous snakes are similarly dispatched by stars. The universe is divided into horizontal layers (Kelly, 1966), with difference of opinion concerning the number. The Sun and the "principal saints" are in the highest level of the sky, the Moon and lesser beings below them. Beneath the earth are four bearers. With the assistance of four hills, they support our world on a litter-like platform. To either side of the earth is water. Beyond, both east and west, where the Sun rises and sets, is land inhabited by "the short ones," tiny people who take refuge underground each day, when the hot Sun approaches. When the Sun and Moon quar671

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rel, an eclipse occurs. When the earth bearers shift their burden, there is an earthquake. The Sun, identified with the Santísimo Sacramento, is the supreme deity. There is no hint of the benevolent "goddess," wife of the Sun, and of their son, reported in the old sources for the lowland Totonac of Cempoala. The several manifestations of the Virgin seem to be considered separate beings, without evident native counterparts. Old Thunder is older than the Sun and tries daily to impede the latter's rising. The Thunder beings—usually called the Sanmigueles in Eloxochitlan—are of a less important category but are the direct producers of thunder, rain, and wind. There is an Owner of the underworld, and various other "owners" are associated with nature: the Owners of the soil and the planting, of the harvest, of the cliffs, of the forests, and of the water. Most of these are identified with Christian saints. The Owner of the underworld and the spirits of the dead are responsible for much illness, but the other beings also are malevolent. They exact certain deportment, ceremonies, and "substance" or offerings, and the same is true of the 14 Mothers of the hearthstones (spirits of deceased midwives). As a consequence, the impecunious Eloxochitlan Totonac lives in a state of chronic blackmail by supernatural beings (Kelly, 1966). Illness also results from sorcery, in which case a witch may persuade the spirits of the dead or one of the several "owners" to act on his behalf. There are various kinds of shamans, male and female, each type designated according to specialty and techniques used. The transforming witch, or nagual, is well known, but allegedly from neighboring communities only. A curing shaman diagnoses illness through consultation with the Mothers of the hearthstones: "he asks with his soul" and reads the reply in the smoke of the incense. The most common specific cause of illness is loss of the soul which re672

sides in the head (see Life Cycle). Intrusion of a material object is less common, as is damage to one of the 12 "companions." Inasmuch as illness, death, crop failure, and bad luck in general result from supernatural intervention, appeasement of the beings considered responsible is the only logical recourse. Major ceremonies which are predominantly native include: the placation of the Mothers of the hearthstones shortly after birth and again after reaching adulthood, observances connected with planting and harvest, and those which follow the construction of a dwelling. In the harvest and house-dedication ceremonies, a turkey is slaughtered and the blood dripped on copal. Moreover, in the dedication rite, a young male turkey is buried alive beneath the floor. Other ritual elements recur generally in native observances: censing with copal; offerings of entire copal bars; libations with various alcoholic beverages; extensive ceremonial drinking; use of wax and of both wax and tallow candles; offerings of tobacco; fairly elaborate food offerings, including tamales of various kinds, coffee, bread, and alcohol. The ceremonial use of a sedum (Sedum batteri Hemsl. det R. T. Clausen) is prominent. Four is the common ritual number, but 7, 9, and other numbers crop up. No such wealth of native lore survives in the Papantla lowlands, but vestiges suggest there once may have been considerable resemblance to the Sierra. Specific similarities are seen in the account of the rising of the Sun and Moon; identification of the latter as a male, addicted to women; conversion to stone of the inhabitants of the pre-Sun world; survival of a rabbit following a flood. Likewise, certain tales explain natural phenomena, such as topographical details, the peculiarities of various animals, and the production of two ears or less by each maize stalk. Anecdotes refer to the Thunder beings, to the Old Man of the forest (Eloxo-

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chitlan's Owner of the forest), and to encounters with specters and transforming witches. There is no mention of a laminated universe; the earth is flat, the heavens domed. Daily the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, passing beneath the earth and emerging in the morning from an opening at the east. At the western extremity of the world is "Jerusalén," the abode of the spirits of snakebite victims, dancers, musicians, midwives, and childbed casualties. Of the ancient pantheon, the beings which survive vigorously are the Owner of the forest, the Great Thunder, the Thunder beings, and the 12 Old Women (Eloxochitlan's 14 Mothers of the hearthstones). There are vague references to the Owners of the earth, of the water, and of the harvest, suggesting somewhat the same assemblage reported for the Sierra. As in the highlands, the supernatural beings may be responsible for illness, primarily through soul-loss. Other causes are: contact with the spirits of the dead, sorcery, fright, and the evil eye. Witchcraft occasionally takes the form of disease-object intrusion. Diagnosis is through descrying: a practitioner peers into a container of water, adjacent to which is a lighted candle. Sometimes small stones are placed in the liquid. In diagnoses and curing, Catholic prayers and intervention of Christian saints are emphasized; sometimes the Thunder beings collaborate. Treatment involves "cleansing" by stroking with flowers, foliage, or candles; for the evil eye, with an egg. Censing with copal is standard procedure. So, also, are libations of cane alcohol at the "four corners," either of table or of house. Sometimes the individual is sprayed with alcohol from the mouth of the practitioner. Occasionally, an ailing person seeks treatment in a spiritualistic center in Papantla or with one of the physicians there or in Poza Rica. Current ceremonies which seem native are those connected with postnatal observa-

tions and the 12 Old Women (see Life Cycle). Elements of ritual which overlap with those just mentioned include, in addition, use of the wax of the native bee and a food offering in the form of a special, oversized tamal. Palm "stars" are made for certain ceremonial occasions, particularly Christian festivals, when the family altar is decorated (fig. 15,b; Kelly and Palerm, 1952, pls. 15,a; 26,b-f). The most common ritual numbers are 4 and 7, but 8 and 12 also occur. Reference to 20- and 80-day periods strengthens the assumption that the Totonac shared the Mesoamerican calendar. AESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL PATTERNS

Arts and Crafts The early sources indicate that the Cempoaltecan Totonac were highly skilled craftsmen, but little remains of such a tradition (see Crafts). Although the culture provides little scope for artistic expression, some young men in both highland and lowland have marked skill in drawing. Occasionally, a Tajin boy will sketch a design which one of his womenfolk will use as an embroidery pattern. In nearby Cerro del Carbon one unique house has a façade of whitewashed planks, on which sprightly animal figures are painted. Music and Dance Totonac music awaits study. Except for Catholic chants, vocal music seldom is heard. Probably the cane flute and gourd rattle used in certain dances are native, but other instruments—including, presumably, the double-headed miniature drum—are Old World. In highland Eloxochitlan essentially indigenous ceremonies are accompanied by violin and guitar. Informants consider the music Totonac, but the opinion of a specialist is needed. Musical talent is manifest; many men in highland and lowland play acceptably by 673

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ear. Bands and "orchestras," each with a financial sponsor, are established institutions in the Totonac communities of the Papantla area. Members meet regularly for practice, using written music, and the groups are engaged to play at certain festivals, locally and in neighboring settlements. The principal native ceremonies in Eloxochitlan involve dancing, presumably of indigenous style, with both sexes participating. Two more formal, named dances, by men alone, are performed during the January festival (see Annual Cycle). These are the Negritos and the Españoles, Moros y Tocotines. The Volador dance is well known in Eloxochitlan but, in 1951, it was said that the last local performance had been in 1930. No standing organization is associated with the named dances, and there is no performance outside the community. It is said specifically that individuals who have not danced in recent years are under civic obligation to do so in January celebrations. Costumes are rented in Ahuacatlan, where the same stock is accessible to Totonacos, Mexicanos, and even Mestizos. Lowland dancing is focused on the established, named dances. As with musicians, a group is organized by an individual who advances funds for equipment and who contracts for performances. Tajin dances include: Negritos, Moros y Españoles, Santiagueros, Guagas, and Voladores. Except for the last-named dance—now publicized and commercialized—groups usually have a semisacred mask, to which they make "the promise." This stipulates avoidance of women for four days prior to performance, under threat of illness or death of one of the group. Barring this feature, lowland dances seem to have lost whatever esoteric associations they once may have had. Both music and dance are significant in the lowland social fabric. Not only may a prosperous person gain prestige through sponsorship of either kind of organization, but the latter also functions somewhat like 674

a men's club, whose members have common interests and responsibilities. Through regular practice and occasional performance there is social intercourse between men who otherwise might have scant contact, and this network not infrequently cuts across village boundaries. Some groups are stable and endure for years, with occasional replacement of an individual, but others are fluid and disband and reorganize because of death, illness, differences of opinion, jealousy, or other conflict. Humor, Games, and Gossip Humor is similar in highland and lowland. A play on words—in Totonac, Spanish, or both—is frequent and much appreciated by men, particularly if there is sexual connotation or reference to bodily functions, such as urination or evacuation. Women claim to regard such puns as indelicate. Minor mishaps which cause personal discomfiture and loss of dignity are considered amusing by both sexes. There is little in the way of organized, competitive games. Some 20 years ago, baseball gained a tenuous hold in the lowlands. Intermittently, Tajin has a team which plays those of neighboring communities. A favorite game among Eloxochitlan boys and men consists in trying to toss a coin inside a small circle drawn on the ground. Children throw simple palm figures into the wind and, from fresh cane, make a projectile-type toy. Occasionally, a devoted Eloxochitlan father fashions a rough, onepiece wooden doll for his young daughter. Lowland children also have few toys. Little boys make clay dolls and animals and bake them on the cooking hearth. They also manufacture popguns and tops. Girls wrap sticks with rags to form dolls. Most play is imitation and make-believe: domestic chores such as hauling wood or grinding maize, playing "store" or "school," riding "horseback," and so on. In the lowlands, gossip is the spice of

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life. News and chat are exchanged the day of communal labor, when men from farflung parcels congregate at the community office. The small stores—which sell soft drinks, beer, and cane alcohol, as well as staples—tend to be social centers, where men congregate to talk and drink. Sometimes a drunken lowlander becomes contentious, squabbles, and draws his machete. In this connection, it may be noted that the local rate of homicide is very high. Women do not loiter in stores nor do they have an institution parallel to public labor, but among neighbors there is a certain amount of casual visiting. In conversation, details concerning weather, crops, and domestic animals loom large, but of most interest are vital statistics: births, seductions, marriages, and domestic rifts. Patterns of Etiquette In highland Eloxochitlan, no reunion— social, political, or ceremonial—is complete without consumption of alcohol, and drinking involves considerable etiquette. Irrespective of age and presumably of social and economic status, a woman usually is addressed as "nana," a man as "tata." As a particular sign of respect, there is token hand-kissing: a man may clasp his comadre's hand, bow, lift it, and deposit the kiss in midair. Handshaking characteristically consists of slight and fleeting contact of the palms, but with outsiders contact is more substantial. If a stranger approaches, ordinarily he is not asked to enter the house nor is he offered a seat. Although alcoholic consumption is less formalized in the lowlands, there, too, a certain amount of etiquette is associated with drinking. Formerly, it is said, kinship terms were used in address, even among persons not related. In reference, teknonymy is still important. Until recent years, a child who approached an elder person ducked his head, anticipating a benediction and the sign of the cross. Hand-kissing scarcely ex-

ists. Handshaking, of the slight-contact type, is common. Lowlanders have had far more contact with outsiders and to visitors seem more urbane than their highland relatives. Guests commonly are invited into the house and are offered seats, sometimes atole or other refreshment. In many ways, the lowland Totonac are thoughtful, considerate, and generous hosts, and when a guest leaves, he may be given a small gift—an egg, a bit of fruit, a spray of flowers. Perhaps because houses are so dispersed, one has the impression of less visiting than in the Sierra. If a man comes to call and finds the host not home, he is expected to depart immediately. Strict lines of deportment apply to women, especially nubile girls. The latter must not be left alone in the house or go forth unaccompanied, even to gather firewood or haul water. It is bad form for anyone, but especially a man, to ask concerning the feminine members of another household. Narcotics and Stimulants Eloxochitlan men smoke sparingly, usually leaf tobacco, occasionally commercial cigarettes. An unmarried girl does not use tobacco, but during pregnancy it may be a craving. Elderly women often smoke. As in the Papantla area, tobacco is thought to protect one from snakes and the spirits of the dead, and it forms part of the offerings for the supernatural being associated with the forests. In the lowlands, both sexes smoke, often commercial cigarettes. Men sometimes prefer cigars, home-rolled, of leaf tobacco purchased in Papantla. Several decades ago a pipe was current (Kelly and Palerm, 1952,

fig. 18).

Practically every gathering in Eloxochitlan involves social or ceremonial drinking (Viquiera and Palerm, 1954). Favorite occasions for drinking include a simple trip to market, performance of communal labor, any and all dealings with political or judicial authorities, and virtually all ceremonies, 675

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including those ostensibly associated with the church. On some occasions, such as a house dedication, all participants, of both sexes, are expected to become tipsy. Most women drink, particularly the elderly. The standard beverage for secular and ceremonial use is cane alcohol (refino), which is sold in Eloxochitlan. For important occasions, scheduled to permit advance preparations, "tepache" is manufactured by treating pulque, purchased in Zacatlan, for eight consecutive days with additions of brown-sugar syrup and refino. Other beverages mentioned are mescal, mistela, a commercial anise drink, and beer. In the lowlands tippling is predominantly a male diversion. Young women seldom drink, but a few elderly widows are confirmed alcoholics. Drinking patterns differ markedly from those of the Sierra, where consumption of alcohol not only is socially sanctioned but is obligatory. The Tajin man drinks on special occasions, such as a trip to Papantla, festivals and funerals, and the gathering for communal labor. Unlike Eloxochitlan, where authorities provide refino from public funds for those of the labor force, in Tajin a man engaged in communal labor purchases a drink at his own expense, in one of the little stores. In addition to refino, a potent local beverage—homefermented cane juice, known as pulque de caña—sometimes is available. Refino seldom is offered to a woman. At feasts, two commercial liquors—jerez (theoretically sherry) and an anise drink—are provided for the ladies. Fiesta Patterns There are two distinct fiesta patterns in Eloxochitlan: certain church festivals in which the public at large participates, and private or family celebrations which touch comparatively few people.

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Most, but not all, the church festivals are financed by the respective mayordomos, who often mortgage or sell property to meet their obligations. However, the feast of Santos Reyes, the first week of January, has no mayordomo and is the responsibility of the community. Similarly, two days of the Corpus Christi observances are at community expense, and every inhabitant, including women and children, pays a fixed quota. These major church festivals last several days and follow a set routine: the priest comes from Ahuacatlan to celebrate Mass, and the religious images in the Eloxochitlan church are carried in procession through the village. On the secular side, fireworks, feasting, and generous consumption of refino and tepache provide entertainment. Family festivals are quite different. In them elements of ancient ritual predominate and a shaman presides. Observations which precede planting of a milpa and those designed to cleanse the hearthstones shortly after birth are not festive. Rather, they are prophylactic ceremonies, to avoid the ire of certain supernatural beings. Attendance is extremely limited. There is wider participation, but by invitation, for the definitive cleansing of the hearthstones during adulthood, for the maize or harvest ceremony, and for the dedication of a new house. Besides the shaman, two musicians attend and from four to 15 married couples participate. There is dancing by both men and women and elaborate offerings, with feasting and imbibing. Following civil and religious marriage ceremonies in Ahuacatlan, a wedding party returns to Eloxochitlan for a feast which has a few native ceremonial survivals. Food and drink are provided for invited guests, and the scale of entertainment depends on the financial standing of the godfather and the groom's father.

FIG. 20—DAYS OF THE DEAD, EL TAJIN, VERACRUZ. a, Altar (left) and offering for the dead (right). Small colored balloons are an innovation. Split-stick candlesticks are set in floor in front of offering. Offerings include food on altar and table, and on the latter are new ribbons, handkerchiefs, maguey-fiber bags, and towels. b, Three cantors kneel to chant in front of offerings. (Photographed by Eric Schwartz, 1963-64. Courtesy, Mario Vásquez, Planeación del Nuevo Museo Nacional de México.)

ETHNOLOGY

The Tajin social season has two established peaks, one in spring, one in fall. The first is to celebrate the annual visit, for several days, of the image of San José (St. Joseph, fig. 18), borrowed from the neighboring community of Joloapan. The saint is received with great respect and is feted extensively in the hope that, thus gratified, he may send rain. One or more families in comfortable circumstances receive the image in turn, and each sponsors a feast attended by perhaps a couple of hundred local residents. Musicians and dancers may offer to perform in the saint's honor, particularly if someone of the host family belongs to such a group. In the fall, the Days of the Dead are the occasion for widespread feasting. Then, every family prepares an elaborate offering (fig. 20,a) for its deceased members—invariably including tamales, white rolls in fanciful forms, chocolate, and fruit, as well as handkerchiefs, hair ribbons, and similar items for the pleasure of the spirits. Cantors are engaged to chant (fig. 20,b). Later, after the visiting spirits have withdrawn, relatives visit one another and exchange food gifts. Corpus Christi is not observed in lowland Totonac communities, but most families go to Papantla at least once to attend the secular fair held for several days at that time. At the insistence of municipal authorities, dancers from outlying Totonac settlements perform in Papantla at Corpus. Weddings are important family festivals. Some are lavish, with feasting, drinking, and music. Expense is borne by the groom's family and the godparents, and attendance is by invitation. Death and some mourning observances involve so much feasting and entertainment that they might well be considered festivals. LIFE CYCLE

Three events in the life of a Totonac are marked by ceremony: birth, marriage, and death. There are also suggestions that once puberty may have received more formal 678

recognition than today. Marriage is treated elsewhere (see Family and Kinship). In highland Eloxochitlan, prophylactic observances follow birth, the timing dependent on the family's economic condition. A cantor offers candles, copal, and cane alcohol to the Christian saints, so they may protect the infant from the spirits of the dead, known as the "evil airs." Later, when funds permit, a shaman is engaged to appease the Mothers of the hearthstones (see Religion and World View). He offers candles, copal, and cane alcohol to cleanse symbolically the firedogs of both dwelling and sweat house. The house is swept and the accumulated rubbish deposited in the mother's sleeping mat, together with the broom and a piece of copal. The resulting bundle is placed high in a tree and left to disintegrate. In the lowlands, interesting survivals appear in birth observances. When the umbilical cord is cut, the infant must be "married," to avoid illness. The fictitious spouse is selected by the baby's parents, without prior notification—any person of the opposite sex, not a relative, qualifies. Either four or eight days after birth, a gift of food is presented as formal notification, and the recipient sends the newly acquired "spouse" a return gift, usually a cake of soap and swaddling rags. There is no further obligation. If the infant cries constantly, presumably the ritual mate is not satisfactory and another is selected. The major postnatal ceremony, however, is held on the eighth day following birth. It also is prophylactic, to protect the mother and child from the displeasure of the midwife and the 12 Old Women, who are the spirits of the deceased midwives of all time. A special tamale is prepared and cut in 12 pieces. A ceremonial table is spread, with further food offerings, accompanied by candles, copal, and cane alcohol. All who had close contact with the birth are sprayed with alcohol from the mouth of the presiding midwife and censed with copal. Alcohol is

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poured on the floor, and sweepings from the birth area are abandoned in a field or in the forest. Every Totonac of highland Eloxochitlan, male or female, must be the central figure of a ceremony for the definitive cleansing of the hearthstones. Ideally, this takes place when the person is 15 or 16 years old, thus suggesting relationship to puberty. However, because of cost, the rite may be deferred for many years. Eight to 15 godfathers, each with respective spouse, are sought to help defray expenses. A shaman is summoned to make offerings to all the saints in the church and to the Mothers who reside in the hearth. In addition, there is praying, feasting, and drinking. The godparents present the individual with new clothing, following which he or she dances in turn with each godparent of the opposite sex. Then, the hearth Mothers "are happy," for they have been cleansed and have received their offerings or "substance." No ceremony is associated with puberty in the lowlands. When a boy reaches about age 15, however, it is thought that his "voice is heavier." For a girl, the onset of puberty is more sharply defined. She is removed promptly from school, is given a metate, and the family decides if she is to continue with Western-type dress worn by young girls or if she is to shift to "native garb," a muslin blouse and full skirt, with white organdy for festivals. During her first menses, the girl's mother sees that precautions are taken to avoid swelling of the hands and feet, and the girl may not launder nor carry a heavy burden at this time. Afterwards, she is never left alone in the house nor may she leave home unaccompanied. A variant of the "tonal" concept is current in highland Eloxochitlan. Every human has 12 "companions," usually animals, of which four are the principal ones. If one of the four is injured or killed, the person suffers correspondingly (Kelly, 1966). Moreover, every human has two souls, one in the head and one in the heart. The former par-

ticipates in one's dreams and sometimes is "grabbed" by the evil airs. At death, both souls leave the body. Those of children go direct to the sky, to be born anew. Those of adults go to the underworld, which is precisely like our world, but with day and night reversed. After some time elapses, most souls rise, for rebirth. However, murder victims and anyone who died by drowning or in childbirth are not reborn. They remain for all time with Old Thunder—the women as his wives, the men as his agricultural workers. No adult may present himself in the afterworld without a spouse, and in the coffin of a young betrothed person of either sex is placed a candle, which has been blessed by the priest. In the hereafter, the candle is accepted as a substitute for a mate. A corpse is bathed, dressed in new raiment, and his used clothing is deposited in the casket, together with seven tortillas, a bottle of water, and 14 copper coins. The family tries to provide a wooden coffin, otherwise, in the afterworld, the demised will live in a house with a leaky roof. Food and alcohol are provided guests who attend the wake, and a serving is placed on the altar for the deceased. Some days later, the cantor is summoned, and food is prepared for him, the grave diggers, and other guests. There is no 80th-day celebration, as in the lowlands. The Tajin Totonac say that the spirit of the dead does not leave the house for nine days, perhaps not definitively, for 80 days, at which time food no longer is served for the deceased. Concerning the destination of the spirit after death, there is confusion. In special instances it goes west, to accompany the sun (see Religion and World View). Infant spirits are reborn. As in the Sierra, an unmarried person is buried with a candle, which latter substitutes for a spouse. In the casket are placed 12 miniature tortillas, a cane containing water, and a crayfish or so. Family and friends are fed at the wake and alcohol is provided. The fourth day after death, a spe679

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cial food oflFering is prepared, from ingredients solicited among friends and family. Then the cantor receives 12 tamales, following a purification rite for members of the immediate family. There is another ceremony, with guests and feasting, the ninth day after death, and still another the 80th day. ANNUAL CYCLE

The Sierra agricultural season occupies eight or nine months of the year. Planting is in March or April; the first cultivation, in May; the second, in June; the harvest, in November. Harvest is followed by several months without agricultural chores. This time, in particular, is when a good many men go forth to seek work elsewhere (see Economy; Trade and Markets). Animal husbandry is somewhat desultory and does not interfere with their departure. In contrast, a woman's work is less seasonal and she is occupied throughout the year with routine domestic chores. The Eloxochitlan ceremonial calendar includes several church festivals, which do not fall entirely within the months of agricultural activity. In chronological order, the major observances are: Santos Reyes (Holy Kings, Epiphany, January 6); Santo Patrono, or San Marcos (St. Mark, April 25); Corpus Christi, or the Santísimo Sacramento (movable; celebrated full scale once every three years); Virgen del Carmen (July 16); San Salvador (August 6); and Virgen del Rosario (October 7). In addition, prior to planting and, if funds permit, following the harvest, essentially indigenous rites are performed by a shaman to insure good crops. These are sponsored by private individuals and do not involve community participation. Other family festivals—birth, marriage, definitive cleansing of the hearthstones, and dedication of a new house—are independent of season. In the Papantla lowlands, agricultural activities are continuous throughout the year, 680

and there is no month in which one crop or another is not planted, tended, or harvested. Maize, for example, is planted twice yearly, from November through January, and from late June through early August. The summer planting is harvested in December and January; the winter planting, in June. Beans may be planted any time of the year, often with indifferent success. Spring is the busiest season, and time must be carefully allocated. The milpa must be weeded. Vanilla cuttings must be planted and blossoms on mature vines individually pollinated. Cane planted in October is cut in May and made into brown sugar. A bean crop may be harvested and another planted. Under the fallowing system followed in the lowlands, a spent field is allowed to return to forest, and in spring, a fresh field is cleared to replace it. At this time a man needs additional agricultural hands and, in turn, must lend assistance to others. Even communal labor may be suspended in spring to permit maximum time for personal agricultural demands. By fall, the pressure is relaxed. Apart from routine cultivation of the milpa, considerable time is spent simply guarding the vanilla crop against theft. In winter, vanilla vines are trimmed, granaries repaired, maize and beans harvested. The agricultural cycle affects the man's activities directly, but the women who work in the milpa experience parallel periods of pressure and relaxation. Even if a woman does not help in the fields, the agricultural schedule is reflected in her program, for she is responsible for feeding the neighbors and friends who come to assist in clearing, planting, and harvesting. Furthermore, every spring the women normally give a hand in pollinating vanilla. The socio-religious calendar is tied, in part, to agricultural demands, for in the spring the image of San José (St. Joseph) visits the settlement, to be feted in the hope of breaking the drought. The chief social event of fall focuses on the Days of the

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Dead (November 1, 2), when every household prepares food and other offerings for its demised members. Scattered throughout the year are family-centered celebrations, such as weddings and mourning observances. These may call for decoration of the household altar, for which the men make palm ornaments, and for the services of musicians and of religious singers (fig. 20,b).

A few other activities may be noted. In spring, the arroyos often dry; then the women must go farther from home to haul water, and the men take advantage of the low water to fish. Pottery making is concentrated between the Days of the Dead and mid-March, when temperature and humidity favor slow drying of the vessels.

REFERENCES Cook and Borah, 1960 Gessain, 1953 Kelly, I., 1953, 1966 and Palerm, 1952 Viquiera and Palerm, 1954 Williams García, 1963

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34. The Otomi

LEONARDO

O

TOMI FAMILY is a term which designates a linguistic group whose components have had a highly diverse history and cultural tradition. An ethnographic description of them will probably indicate as many differences as similarities, in spite of the relative homogeneity which the Indian groups of central Mexico have recently attained through "national culture." The Otomi family comprises today seven languages: Otomi (proper), Mazahua, Matlatzinca, Ocuiltec, Southern Pame, Northern Pame, and Chichimec Jonaz. The Matlame, which according to Mendizábal and Jiménez Moreno (1937) belonged to the same family, disappeared, probably during the 16th century; the Southern Pame is now spoken by less than ten persons. The degree of kinship and the external relationships of the languages of the Otomi family may be consulted in Volume 5, Article 7G (Manrique, 1967). The classification of an individual as a member of a particular group often depends on the Indian language he speaks. In the case of the Otomi family this criterion is in-

682

MANRIQUE

C.

sufficient; there is a large number of Indians who neither speak nor understand the language of their ancestors. Nevertheless, they consider themselves Indians and they share a series of cultural traits, some of which existed prior to contact with European culture, while others were acquired early during the colonial period. For this reason it is very difficult to compute the size of the population of the groups since the census, for various reasons, does not supply sufficiently dependable data; the figures in Table 1 should be taken as approximate. HISTORY

According to Kirchhoff and to Driver and Massey (1957, map), Otomi family groups occupied a greater area when the Spaniards arrived in Mexican territory than they do now (figs. 1-3). J. Soustelle (1937b) states that the Otomi proper were then in a period of expansion at the expense of the nomadic populations ranging to the north. In the 16th century the Spaniards aided Otomi (proper) expansion already begun, so as to insure themselves of a sedentary, agricultural, and submissive population in a

FIG. 1—PREHISPANIC DISTRIBUTION OF THE OTOMI FAMILY. (From Driver and Massey, 1957.) Shaded area, Mesoamerican groups. Outlined area, Non-Mesoamerican groups.

FIG. 2—PRESENT DISTRIBUTION OF THE OTOMI FAMILY. Shaded area, Descendants of Mesoamerican groups. Outlined area, Descendants of non-Mesoamerican groups.

region then subject to raids of the nomads. The most important townships founded at that time with Otomi settlers and small groups of Spaniards were: Queretaro, San Juan del Rio, Toliman, San Miguel Allende, Xichu, Tierra Blanca, Santa Maria del Rio, and San Luis de la Paz; in this last place the Chichimec Jonaz adopted a sedentary life and settled in La Mision, where they still live. Also during the 16th century the mines of San Luis Potosi and Zacatecas were discovered, giving rise to the policy of establishing friendly townships in hostile territories which resulted in Tlaxcalteca Indians being taken to San Luis Potosi.

During the 17th century the need to offer security to the pack trains loaded with products from the mines led the Spaniards to try to control the nomadic Pame through the founding of missions such as Cadereyta, Maconi, Jalpan, Rioverde, Ciudad del Maiz, and Gamotes. But the bands which were not subdued constantly attacked the new outposts, maintaining a state of endemic war. Constant hostilities and lack of a regular agriculture provoked uprisings among the recently established Indians; the new settlements frequently disappeared and had to be founded all over again (Soustelle, 1937b, 508-10).

TABLE 1

Otomi Mazahua Matlatzinca Ocuiltec Southern Pame Northern Pame Chichimec TOTALS

Estimated Population

Number of Speakers of Native Language

300,000 70,000 500(?) 1,500 300 2,500 600

250,000 65,000 500 400 8 2,000 400

375,400

318,308

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FIG. 3—PRESENT DISTRIBUTION OF THE OTOMI FAMILY. (Adapted from J. Soustelle, 1937b.)

During the 18th century the interests of the new cattle ranches joined those of the mining industry and gave the policy of subjection a purely military character. At this time, economic control passed from the hands of the Spaniards into those of Mestizos. The "civilized" Indians (some of whom were important as collaborators in colonization during the two preceding centuries), as well as those recently made sedentary, were relegated to an inferior position, dispossessed of their lands in favor of the ranchers and compelled to work in the mines. Many missions were destroyed and the Indians persecuted despite the efforts of 684

the missionaries, and in their place military posts (presidios) were established. The nomadic Pame, faced with the alternative of submission or extermination, often selected the latter. The territories which up to that time had been exclusively or predominantly Indian were occupied by an increasing number of Mestizos. The War of Independence and the liberal period of the Reforma changed the political status of the country, but they actually worsened the situation of the Indians by accentuating the differences and consolidating the gente de razón (the non-Indians) against the inditos or naturales (Indians).

OTOMI

FIG. 4—SHADED RELIEF MAP OF OTOMI AREA

During the 19th century the groups which had remained more or less nomadic or constantly rebellious and which had escaped extermination quickly adopted Mestizo techniques in farming and assimilated Mestizo culture, losing a large degree of their distinctiveness. The groups which had been sedentary for a long time (Otomi, Mazahua, etc.) were also assimilated in the north; in the central and southern zones they retreated from the cities (sometimes forming neighborhoods on the periphery). The invasion of Otomi lands by Mestizos caused some of them to infiltrate the Pame of the Sierra Gorda. After the Revolution of 1910 the Indians obtained endowments or restitutions of their lands in the form of ejidos. At the same time increased communications and rural education intensified the move toward

"national culture" begun the previous century. Today all groups of the Otomi family present, at first sight, a quite homogeneous aspect and similar to that of other Indian groups in central Mexico. HABITAT

The habitat of the Otomi family (figs. 3-5) is restricted to the Central Plateau of the Mexican Republic to approximately between 19° and 23° N. latitude. They never inhabit altitudes under 1000 m. above sea level nor, except in a few places, are they found at elevations less than 1500 m. The differences in terrain and vegetation distinguish various regions (figs. 6, 7). A. Sierra de las Cruces, west of the Valley of Mexico, is a mountainous region of over 2500 m. Rainfall is relatively heavy. In the forested areas ocotes (Pinus), abetos 685

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FIG. 5—PRINCIPAL RIVERS AND OROGRAPHIC FEATURES OF OTOMI AREA

(Abies), and encinos (Quercus) predominate. The terrain is very irregular. This region is populated by Otomi, but in the south where it joins the Sierra del Ajusco and descends toward the Balsas Basin, are San Juan Atzingo and Toto, the only Ocuiltec settlements. B. Meseta de Ixtlahuaca-Toluca, a flat region west of region A, lies approximately 2300 m. above sea level. Precipitation is regular during the summer, but in the dry season the plains are covered with gray dust. In the very few places not planted, bushes and a resistant grass grow. The southern part of this region, where the Lerma River originates, has lagoons a few centimeters deep. The Otomi inhabit the region east and north of the city of Toluca, the Mazahua inhabit the remainder, and the only town which retains some part of Matlatzinca (San Francisco Oztotilpan) is at the foot of the Nevado de Toluca. 686

C. Western escarpment of the Mesa Central is of irregular topography, and has regular humidity and milder temperature than region B. The vegetation is subtropical. Culturally it is a prolongation of region B. D. Plains of Queretaro and Hidalgo is a region a little less than 2000 m. altitude, its scant humidity and precipitation making it a semidesert steppe during most of the year. Pasture predominates, with some cacti and few bushes. Riverbanks are always green; in the rainy season the land is covered with crops or with a grass of short season duration. In the central part, the Sierra de Toliman runs from north to south. It is highly fractured and of like climate, although cooler and more humid than the plains. It constitutes the habitat of an Otomi group. E. Sierra Gorda, geographically, is a part of the monocline which forms the Sierra Madre Oriental, bounded by the Moctezuma River to the south and the Santa Maria to the north. Since, however, its topography, climate, and vegetation are similar to other parts of the Sierra Madre which extend farther north and which are inhabited by the Pame, the term is here applied to the entire region. Its altitude ranges from 1000 to 2000 m. In the valleys the climate is temperate, rainfall rather scant, and vegetation poor, lacking large trees. In the south it is inhabited by Otomi who extend from region D, and by the Southern Pame, of Jalipan and Pacula; in the north the Northern Pame range in scattered groups. The regions previously mentioned are more or less contiguous, but there are four other isolated regions. F. Valley of the Rio Laja is similar geographically to the plains of Queretaro, but with the advantage of permanent water in the river, which makes small-scale irrigation possible. It is inhabited by Otomi. G. Plains of Guanajuato, in topography and vegetation, are a prolongation of the plains of Queretaro, but there is no contin-

OTOMI

FIG. 6—VEGETATION ZONES, OTOMI AREA

uous Otomi occupation between the two regions. Region G contains the only Chichimec settlement and some Otomi settlements. H. Sierra de Puebla is similar physiographically to the Sierra Gorda, but precipitation is much greater, and consequently vegetation is high-altitude subtropical. Otomi live in some regions of this Sierra. I. Ixtenco is a single Otomi town in the state of Tlaxcala, at the foot of Malinche, in elevated plains (over 2000 m.), with regular humidity and rains in the summer. ETHNOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS

The ethnographic description in this article has been limited to the period from 1900 to 1950. Descriptive works for this period are scant or deficient. The most complete one is by Jacques Soustelle (1937b), who describes the habitat and component lan-

guages of the family and establishes their relationship. His description of the material culture, however, especially refers to the Meseta de Ixtlahuaca-Toluca; he ignores the groups which inhabit other regions. He hardly takes into consideration social organization or spiritual culture, but he oflFers a good historical basis which, for the period preceding contact, has been described by Carrasco (1950). We have descriptions of Otomi groups in other areas—the Valle del Mezquital (Sejourné, 1952), San Gregorio (Jenkins, 1946), and San Pablito (Christensen, 1953a)—but they are very short and emphasize the more conspicuous local aspects, neglecting others less notable but nevertheless important for the ethnologist. The Instituto Indigenista Interamericano has in its library unpublished reports by its investigators on other Otomi groups (R. 687

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FIG. 7—OTOMI FAMILY CULTURAL REGIONS. A, Sierra de las Cruces. B, Meseta de Ixtlahuaca-Toluca. C, Western escarpment of the Mesa Central. D, Plains of Queretaro and Hidalgo. d, Mezquital. E, Sierra Gorda. F, Valley of the Rio Laja. G, Plains of Guanajuato. H, Sierra de Puebla. I, Ixtenco.

G. Guerrero: 1950a,b; Morales, 1950). The students of the Escuela Nacional de Antropología have recently studied San Pablito (Montoya and others, 1961). Maza published a description (1947) of the Northern Pame of Santa Maria Acapulco that suffers because the writer was not a specialist at that time, although his other works on the history of the same group (1953) are of high quality. Nothing similar had been recorded on other members of the family at the time of writing, except for two works of great importance: an ample and highly detailed study on the Chichimec of San Luis de la Paz (Driver and Driver, 1963), and a short but complete description of the Ocuiltec (Rodríguez Gil, 1907). All the work mentioned, as well as the field notes of R. J. Weitlaner (1958a) and Manrique, 1957, 1959), have contributed to the present article. 688

SUBSISTENCE SYSTEMS AND FOOD PATTERNS

The subsistence of the Otomi family is based primarily on agriculture and secondarily on domestic animals. Only in a few places do hunting, fishing, and gathering have some importance; here they constitute an occasional supplement or emergency substitute rather than the source of a regular supply. Agriculture Agricultural techniques vary according to acculturation and terrain. There is also a close correlation between techniques and crops. The most acculturated Indians, when they have good lands (sometimes irrigable on a small scale), plant commercial crops (wheat, barley, coffee) with non-native techniques; these they do not consume except in small quantities. The other Indians, who are the majority, plant only maize, or

OTOMI

FIG. 8—SUBSISTENCE FEATURES. a, Pointed planting stick, coa. b, Corncrib. c, Olotera for shelling corn. d, Wooden plow with metal share. e, Instrument for scraping center of maguey. f, Tinacal for fermenting aguamiel. g, Milling stones (metate and mano).

maize, beans, and squash in the same field, according to the ancient Mesoamerican techniques. MAIZE AND INDIAN TECHNOLOGY. Maize is planted, almost exclusively, with the coa or planting stick, or with their modern substitutes (crowbar, steel shovel with pointed handle), although sometimes the plow is used. The coa is made of wood and has a flattened end and a pointed one (fig. 8,a). First, the underbrush which has grown during the fallow season is cut and burned, and stones and other debris are thrown out of the field, using the flat end of the coa. Second, after the first rains have fallen (generally between April and May) comes the sowing (siembra), in which a man, with the pointed end of the coa, makes a hole

at each step, followed by a woman (Otomi from the Meseta de Toluca) or a boy (some Pame, Chichimec), who drops from three to five seeds of maize in each hole and fills it with earth with the foot. In some holes may be dropped also bean seeds, in others, squash seeds, but never the three together. Seeds are carried in separate little sacks hung from the shoulder. In certain places the planter both makes the holes and drops the seeds. The Chichimec and some Otomi use the pointed end of the coa a few days after planting to make a hole near where the seeds have been dropped "to help the plant shoot forth." The third stage is the care of the plants when they reach some 60 cm. high (the 689

ETHNOLOGY

limpia or chapaleo). The flat end of the coa (or a hoe, among the western Mazahua) serves to clear underbrush and to hill up earth around each plant, to prevent damage from the wind. Effort is made to retain humidity if there has been little rain, or to drain water if it has rained heavily. This procedure may be repeated when the plants are higher. The third stage is almost exclusively men's work, but among the Northern Pame women and children may help. The agricultural cycle is closed with the harvest, which may come from September to December, according to the variety of the corn and the particular year. The elotes (tender maize) are gathered between July and October. The harvest is gathered in many parts with the aid of a short stick, which may end in an iron point, and which the harvester carries tied to his arm so as to pick it up again easily when he lets it go to use both hands. The cut ears are thrown into an ayate, which hangs from the harvester's neck, or into a basket suspended from his back (Chichimec). Women and children often take part in the harvest, in addition to men. The storage of the ears for complete drying before shelling is variable. The Mazahua and Otomi of the Meseta de Toluca build every year a corncrib of sticks, whose crib walls permit free circulation of air (fig. 8,b). The corncrib is disassembled when the maize is shelled. Among some Northern Pame, the ears are kept in a similar construction (chapil), but it is erected in a corner inside the house. The Southern Pame store ears in tapancos (see Housing); the Otomi of the Sierra de Puebla, in granaries built identically to dwellings. Other groups use variations of these methods. When the maize is well dried, it is shelled. The Otomi prefer to do it by scraping the ears against an olotera (fig. 8,c), a bunch of corncobs bound together; in other parts, two ears are scraped against each other. In the Meseta de Toluca the grain is stored in a structure made of clay inside the house 690

(see Housing); the Southern Pame store it in tapancos, or in sacks kept in a corner of the dormitory. The stubble is left standing until dried completely, then cut down with a machete and stored. To keep it out of the reach of animals, the Otomi erect a platform on four poles, on which the stubble is kept; the Chichimec pile the stubble inside a circular stone fence; and in other places it is hoisted into the forked branches of nearby trees. WHEAT AND MEDIEVAL EUROPEAN TECHNOLOGY. Wheat and barley are two com-

mercial products widespread in the plains. For cultivation their plow, of the Spanish medieval type, made out of wood with a metal share (fig. 8,d), is pulled by oxen. Sometimes the underbrush is burned beforehand. The seeds are broadcast, generally in the dry season in the same fields where maize has been planted. After sowing, a harrow which levels the terrain and covers the seeds is pulled over the field. When the plow is used in the cultivation of maize, the land is prepared in the same way as for wheat; the seeds are not broadcast but planted, from three to five grains, at each step in furrows a meter apart. The seeds are covered by plowing again, not with the foot. Wheat does not require special care during its growth, except for sufficient irrigation. Maize is cultivated by hand or with the plow, and earth is piled up at the foot of the plants by passing the plow first in one direction (to make the rayas) and then in another (to make the surcos). Wheat is harvested by grasping a bunch of spikes in the left hand and cutting a few centimeters below with a sickle. The spikes are placed on the roof or across the house to dry, then threshed by being scraped against a coarse stone or stamped under animals' feet. The seed is stored the same way as the corn. The stubble is left standing until it dries, then cut and heaped into piles. MAGUEY. Maguey (Agave) is useful in

OTOMI

its wild varieties as well as in its cultivated ones (maguey manso or blanco), but here we focus on cultivated magueys as a source of food. Its other uses are considered in the sections on Housing and Crafts. Maguey is grown not from seed but from cuttings of small plants growing at the base of large plants. In some places special plots are assigned exclusively to maguey, but commonly the new shoots are planted on the border of paths or on the boundary of the plots. Each plant takes from five to seven years to mature, when a woody stem (quiote), which carries the flower at its terminal, issues from its center. The maguey's fermented sap provides a beverage (pulque) common to all the Otomian family except those who inhabit the north half of Sierra Gorda. The first step in the manufacture of pulque is to cut off the quiote and scrape the center of the plant with a special instrument (fig. 8,e) to form a cavity where the sweet sap (aguamiel) accumulates. The aguamiel is extracted by using the fruit of a cucurbit (acocote) as chemists use a pipette, and is transported to the place of processing in leather bags or small barrels of special shape (castañas). When pulque is made only for family consumption, the aguamiel is put in large pots, but when it is made in great quantity, it is fermented in tinacales, cowhides suspended from rectangular wood frames (fig. 8,f). Fermentation is induced by a starter of excessively fermented pulque. Pulque is consumed in various degrees of fermentation (and of correspondingly alcoholic concentration), but in general it is preferred not too fermented. In the same areas where pulque is common, mescal is also concocted. The center of the maguey is roasted in an underground oven, making a fibrous, sweet mass which is sucked as a tidbit. OTHER CROPS. Nowadays beans are also planted in separate fields (mateado or de tabla beans). Other products are almost always commercial. For example, the Otomi from Sierra de Puebla cultivate peanuts

(Arachis hypogaea), coffee, and plantain (Musa paradisiaca); the Southern Pame grow common vetch, tomato, chickpea. Fruit trees are not an important source of food and they receive little attention. The Otomian area, however, does grow capulín (Prunus capulí), tejocote (Crataegus mexicana), zapote blanco (Casimiroa edulis), and oranges. Domestic

Animals

Domestic animals do not contribute an important part to the diet, for their meat is consumed only during festivities or ceremonial meals (see Food Habits). Cattle are very scarce and are mainly used to pull plows, but when they grow old they may be killed and eaten. Cows are milked only occasionally for children and sick people (Maza, 1947; Driver and Driver, 1963). Sheep are common in the highest and coldest zones, such as the Sierra de las Cruces and the mountains of the state of Hidalgo, but some are found in nearly all towns. Although sometimes sacrificed and eaten, sheep are raised especially for the wool used in wearing by the Indians themselves, or for sale. Goats are more abundant in the places which are warmer and somewhat dry, where sheep are not raised. Generally the Indians sell the meat to Mestizos; they themselves do not eat it except occasionally and in very small quantities. In Ciudad del Maiz goats are sold on the hoof to merchants who take them out of the region. The Chichimec also use the milk of the goats (Driver and Driver, 1963). In all the towns one or several hogs are kept by each household. Generally their meat is sold to Mestizos and their lard used in the kitchen, but in some towns they are sold on the hoof to merchants outside the community. Pork is consumed almost exclusively during ceremonial meals (see Food Habits). Although chickens and turkeys are seen in all communities, Indians hardly ever eat 691

ETHNOLOGY

(fig. 19,b) in two Northern Pame communities (Agua Puerca and Ciudad del Maiz) and among the Chichimec. Hunting

FIG. 9—CRAWFISH NET, LERMA

eggs but sell them instead to Mestizos. Chicken is occasionally consumed; turkey is a regular part of ceremonial meals. In the Otomi town of San Pablito, in the Sierra de Puebla, chickens are raised exclusively for their use in witchcraft (Christensen, 1952b; Montoya and others, 1961). Among the various domestic animals that do not provide food are horses, burros, mules, dogs, and cats. The most common is the dog, always one or two in each house; they are guardians and pets of the home and sometimes assistants in the hunt. There are not many burros, and it is very difficult to find mules or horses. They carry burdens and occasionally riders, but never pull (except among the Chichimec, who yoke burros to plows). Still rarer are cats and bees. The former have been reported only among the Chichimec (Driver and Driver, 1963). We have information only on one or two beehives 692

Game animals have long disappeared from the most densely and continuously populated zones, and now are found only on the escarpments of the Mesa Central, especially in the Sierra Gorda. Hunting today is mainly a form of amusement for Mestizos and for the few Indians who can afford shotguns or rifles. The animals hunted most frequently are deer and rabbits. The former are hunted at night, when they are dazzled with a flashlight before being shot, and provide much appreciated skins and meat. Rabbits are taken during the day with shotguns; usually only the meat is used. Toward the end of the last century, deer were hunted at Ocuilan and south of the Sierra Gorda, as well as other animals in the latter region and at other places, for their skins. Now the Indians crudely tan, to keep or sell, the skins of animals which are hunted only when they have attacked the smaller domestic animals (coyotes), the fowl (foxes and cacomixtles), or the crops (badgers, gophers). The same thing is done with the skins of these and other animals (skunks, snakes) which are killed when seen by chance. The Chichimec trap a wild variety of rat whose meat is considered to be very good for women who have just given birth (Driver and Driver, 1963). Fishing The habitat of the Otomi family is so poor in fishing resources that fishing is important in only two places: the lagoons at the head of the Lerma River (Meseta de Toluca) and San Pablito (Sierra de Puebla). Fishing in the lagoons is limited to the women's work of catching crustaceans (acociles) by nets (fig. 9) which are laid in the bottom and lifted when full of crawfish.

OTOMI

In the Sierra de Puebla, men fish in groups when the river is running low, poisoning the water with poison made from plants. When the river is running high, they use a hook or fishing net (Christensen, 1933b). Crabs are taken at night by attracting them with lights.

which rises to the top in the form of gum. The pieces are then ground and made into dough for tortillas, tamales and atole. The only insects whose gathering is worthwhile are the larvae which attack the magueys; they are eaten raw, toasted, or fried.

Gathering

Food Habits

There are three wild plants useful for the entire Otomi family: nopal, maguey, and quelite. There are domestic varieties of all three, but their use is the same and less abundant (except the maguey) than that of the wild ones. Nopal (Opuntia) offers meaty leaves which are stripped of thorns, cut into little segments, and cooked with condiments; its fruits (tunas) are eaten raw, but the Chichimec and some Northern Pame also boil them to make desserts (miel and queso de tuna). Popularly the numerous varieties are distinguished by such names as cardón, duraznillo, nopal blanco. The leaves of quelites are eaten cooked with condiments. Some varieties offer tender spikes (huautzontli) which are cooked like the leaves, or seeds, which, when ripe, can be used to prepare a dessert. The gathering of other plants has a limited distribution. The Ocuiltec and some Otomi groups of the Sierra de Hidalgo gather various kinds of edible fungi. The Chichimec eat raw the fruit of the biznaga (Echinocactus); they make atole with the seeds of the pirú (Schinus molle); they cook the flowers of the izote (Yucca brevifolior); they eat the fruit raw and make soup out of the flower of the garambullo (Lemirocereus); and they grind the fruit of the mesquite (Prosopis) and roll it into balls which are dried in the sun and may be eaten that way or made into atole (see Food Habits). The Northern Pame gather the poisonous fruit of the chamal (Dioon edule Lindl.). They cut the fruit into little pieces and boil them with lime water, separating the poison

Almost all the communities have three meals a day: the first one taken by the entire family between 7 and 8 in the morning, before the men leave to work in the fields; the second one by the women and children who stay at home, between 1 and 3 in the afternoon (the men eat earlier in the fields); the third meal by everyone at sundown. The Ocuiltec are in the habit of having two meals a day, the first between 7 and 9 in the morning, the other at 6 in the afternoon (Rodríguez Gil, 1907), although today many have become adjusted to the general practice. The Chichimec have only one meal a day (Driver and Driver, 1963). Tortillas and beans seasoned with chile (Capsicum) are eaten at every meal, along with pulque or coffee sweetened with piloncillo (dark sugar). In some places a rice or commercial noodle soup has been introduced into the midday meal. Cooking is an exclusively feminine chore. To make tortillas, nixtamal (corn cooked in water with lime or ashes) is first prepared, then washed to remove the cuticle, and ground several times to make a smooth and homogenous dough. Today the first grinding is frequently done at home with a hand grinder or the corn is taken to the mechanical grinder found in almost all the towns, but the last grindings are always done on the metate or milling stone (fig. 8,g). Small pieces of dough are slapped between the palms of the hands until a disc is formed which is cooked on a flat clay surface (comal). The tortillas are flexible and 2-5 mm. thick, according to local custom and the use to be made of them. 693

FIG. 10—DISTRIBUTION OF HOUSE TYPES

OTOMI

The beans are cooked in water and are seasoned with chile or herbs. Each person is served on a plate a portion of beans which he takes up with pieces of tortilla and puts into his mouth. The most common daily beverage is coffee, but it may be substituted by drinks from other plants. In the dry lands pulque is drunk instead of coffee. Beverages are served in individual jugs. The monotony of this daily diet is broken once in a while by nopales, quelites, some other gathered plants, elotes (tender corn) baked or boiled, eggs, meat, tamales and atole. Tamales are made by wrapping a piece of maize dough with lard and a little chunk of pork in cornhusks and steaming them. Atole is prepared by dissolving maize dough (or chickpea flour, pirú, etc.) in water and boiling it. In the ceremonial meals of baptisms, weddings, and mayordomías, beans and mole are eaten. Mole is prepared with turkey or pork and a highly seasoned sauce made with tomatoes and various kinds of chile. Pulque, bottled beer, and hard liquor are drunk on those occasions. For the ceremonial meals at funerals, tamales and mole are made. The Pame of Agua Puerca (San Luis Potosí) prepare beef broth for this occasion. Narcotics and Stimulants Pulque is the intoxicating liquor most favored by the Otomi family. To the northeast its use is less and less frequent, until at the northern extreme of Sierra Gorda it is completely replaced by rum. Another beverage common to the entire area is beer. Men gather at the stores to drink and talk, and frequently they become intoxicated; women drink to inebriation only at festivities. Aside from the beverages, tobacco is the only general stimulant. Factory cigarettes are commonly smoked, but some Pame buy

tobacco leaves which they tear up and roll in wrappings of cornhusks. There are some data on the use of narcotic fungi (as part of the magical ceremonial) among the Otomi of the mountains surrounding the Valle de Toluca. In the region of Santa Ana Hueytlalpan, Hidalgo, a few sorcerers take the seeds of ololiuhqui to foretell the future (Weitlaner, personal communication; according to his description it could be a sort of Ipomoea). SETTLEMENT PATTERNS AND HOUSING

Settlement

Patterns

These are quite varied. According to Soustelle (1937b), the general trend is to live in dispersed towns, as long as the availability of water permits it. But it seems more probable that settlement patterns are a result of historical accidents: some Mesoamerican groups kept their semidispersed pattern of one house inside of each lot (Ocuiltec, certain Otomi, Mazahua, and Matlatzinca), while others were compelled to concentrate in towns or on the periphery of Mestizo centers, adopting the Spanish standard of a compact hamlet surrounded by cultivated fields. The congregated nomads sometimes adopted the Spanish hamlet, but at other times they formed dispersed or semidispersed districts or groups of huts in the environs of towns (Mision de los Chichimecas, near San Luis de la Paz, Guanajuato; group of houses of Agua Puerca, near La Palma, San Luis Potosi). These basic patterns have been altered by the plundering of Indian lands, and the consequent further concentration or dispersion. Today settlement shows a hierarchy. Here we describe four levels of the hierarchy; the first two are purely Indian, the other two are not but are included to show the relationship of Indian towns with the rest of the country. ISOLATED HOUSES AND RANCHERÍAS. Each house, frequently 500-1000 m. from its 695

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FIG. 11—OTOMI HOUSES, a-c, Adobe house with flat roof, Mision de los Chichimecos; α, detail of roof construction; b, plan. d,e, Adobe house with slanted roof, near Toluca.

neighbor, is surrounded by a plot for cultivation. Very often the plots have unowned areas between them. Administratively they depend on a town and do not have their own authorities. They produce for their own consumption and for a slight surplus to exchange for items they do not manufacture (tools, footwear, metates). There are no established shops; purchases and sales have to be made in the town, some 4-8 km. away. There are no religious buildings, but in some rancherías there might be a room set aside for "the school." The rancherías surround the town and thus have closer relations with other nearby rancherías and with the town itself than with rancherías lying on the far side of the town. INDIAN TOWNS AND INDIAN NEIGHBORHOODS IN MESTIZO TOWNS. Houses, 50-200

696

m. apart, lie within ample contiguous lots (separated by paths) which are frequently cultivated. In addition plots of cultivated land lie outside the town. Politically and administratively they depend on a town or on a Mestizo center; they have their own authorities, but these are of a low level (jueces auxiliares). Although a large part of production is for internal consumption, specialized craftsmen often supply the markets of the rancherías, of the Mestizo nucleus, and even of other towns (for example, the serapes of the Mazahua town of San Andres Jilotepec, Mexico, the arpilla of the Barrio of San Jose, Ciudad del Maiz, San Luis Potosí; see Crafts). There are shops which supply articles of daily use (soap, sugar, coffee). It is not infrequent for the neighborhoods—less than 3 km. from

OTOMI

downtown—to have a chapel and a school; the towns farther away from the Mestizo center almost always have one or more chapels, a school, and a building for the local government. MESTIZO CENTERS AND TOWNS. These are settlements of the Spanish type. The lots are smaller, the houses closer together. There are streets, a central square, religious buildings and schools, and a municipal building. Production is to a large extent for the market, supplying the dependent neighborhoods and towns. Commerce is more active and diversified; generally on a given day of the week the Indians take their merchandise to the tianguis (market) and buy what they need from the stores. Often these towns are the seat of municipal government (see Political Organization). They are connected by roads and more or less regular bus service with the regional urban centers and, through them, with the whole country. REGIONAL URBAN CENTERS. They are typically urban, although modest in size. The regional centers are the foci of concentration and distribution of Indian products (agricultural and artisan) and the direct suppliers of Mestizo centers and towns. Administratively and politically they are also the limits of Indian activity; the natives who transcend permanently these regional confines ordinarily lose a large part of their indigenous way of life and become assimilated into the population of the cities (as masons, peons, laborers, housemaids).

FIG. 12—PLANK HOUSE WITH GRASS ROOF, JILIAPAN

Housing The house types of the different Otomi groups reflect their cultural history as well as adaptations to climate and to available materials (fig. 10). There are seven common types. The adobe house with slanted roof (fig. ll,d) is characteristic of the Meseta de Ixtlahuaca-Toluca. The foundations are stone; the walls are adobe; the roof is shingle or, more commonly, tile, laid on a structure of beams; the floor is earthen. The win-

FIG. 13—SHINGLE HOUSE, SAN JUAN ATZINGO

dows—in the few instances—and the door are wooden. A single structure contains bedroom (with interior granary), kitchen, and corridor. Its annexes are the granary for corn (fig. 8,b), a platform to store stubble, and an oven for tiles. In Alaquines (San Luis Potosi), Ixtenco, and part of the Sierra de las Cruces, the 697

FIG. 14—APSIDAL HOUSE FRAMINGS. a, Jiliapan. b, La Palma.

FIG. 15—HOUSE WALL TYPES, a, Vertical planks, b, Vertical rods, c, Interwoven sticks.

structure is a single rectangular room which serves as dormitory. The kitchen is separate. The adobe house with flat roof (cuarto; fig. 11,a-c) is found only as a dormitory among the Chichimec. It has an earthen floor, stone foundations, adobe walls, stick roof over roof beams covered with clay. There are no windows; the door is of wood. Annexed to it is a kitchen with walls of stone or adobe and a slanted roof of vege-

table material (izote or maguey leaves or both). The plank house with grass roof (fig. 12) is typical of the Sierra de Puebla and the western watershed of the Mesa Central, although also sometimes found in the south of Sierra Gorda (Jiliapan and Pacula). The basic structure is of six posts, one at each corner and two to uphold the ridge of the roof. The walls (without foundations) are

698

FIG. 16—APSIDAL HOUSES. a, Juniper-bark roof, Jiliapan. b, Walls of vertical sticks, Jiliapan. c, Ciudad del Maiz.

FIG. 17—HOUSES, VALLE DEL MEZQUITAL. a, Stone walls, maguey-leaf roof. b, Zacate thatch.

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FIG. 19—CHICKENCOOP (a), ALAQUINES, AND BEEHIVES (b), AGUA PUERCA

FIG. 18—STEAM BATH (TEMASCAL), JUAN ATZINGO

adze-hewn planks, tied to three horizontal beams (fig. 15,a). The roof (which has two larger slopes and two smaller ones) is covered with zacate (herbaceous plants) or— in some houses of Jiliapan—bark from enebro (Juniperus; fig. 16,a); it is affixed with pegs to the beams. The floor is earthen. Usually the tapanco, a horizontal partition covering only part of the room area and placed at the lowest point of the roof, divides the upper area into a kind of loft. Used for storage, it is reached by a tree trunk with carved steps. 700

SAN

In San Pablito, Puebla, three of these structures are used as bedroom, kitchen, and granary, respectively. Besides these there is almost always a steam bath and an oven for toasting peanuts. In Jiliapan they are only used as bedrooms. The shingle house (fig. 13) is characteristic of San Juan Atzingo, where walls and slanted roof are made of shingles. A single structure, without foundations or windows, serves as bedroom, kitchen, and warehouse. Some houses have a steam bath on the same lot.

FIG. 20—HOUSE FURNISHINGS. α, European-type table. b, Chairs. c, Storage tray (zarzo). d, Stool. e, European-type bed. f, Native bed (tapesco). g, Outdoor forked stand with water jar, La Palma.

The apsidal house of sticks (casa de culata) (figs. 14-16) is found throughout the entire Sierra Gorda. It may have two apses or, infrequently, only one. It has an earthen floor. Mostly the walls are vertical sticks driven into the ground and tied to horizontal crossbeams (fig. 15,b), but they may also be horizontal sticks interwoven with vertical poles (fig. 15,c). The height of the walls varies according to local custom (from 1 m. in Ciudad del Maiz to 1.7 m. in Jiliapan). The thatched roof sometimes comes down almost to the ground. In some places (Ciudad del Maiz, Jiliapan) each house consists of two structures, used as bedroom and kitchen respectively; in others (Agua Puerca) it is more common to use a single building as both kitchen and dormitory, separating the two areas by interior walls about the height of the exterior ones. Annexes (oven, corrals) are infrequent. The stone house (fig. 17,a) is common where wood is not abundant. It has a rectangular ground plan, earthen floor, stone

FIG. 21—NATIVE STOOL, JILIAPAN

FIG. 22—CHILDREN'S PUERCA

HAMMOCK,

AGUA

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FIG. 24—STONE MORTAR (a) AND POTTERY GRATER BOWL (b)

FIG. 23—HEARTHS AND CONTAINERS. a, Three-stone fireplace on floor, Agua Puerca. b, Batea, pottery jars, and metal pail, Ciudad del Maiz. c, Platform hearth, Ciudad del Maiz.

walls without mortar, slanted roof made from zacate or maguey leaves. Houses of zacate and of maguey leaves (fig. 17,b) are found in the Valle del Mezquital, Hidalgo, where walls are made of the same combination of maguey leaves or of bunches of zacate as is used for the roof. These houses are rectangular, with earthen floor and slanted roof. In Cardonal the maguey leaves are interwoven, giving the house the aspect of a large basket. Men build their own houses, shortly before or after getting married, and repair them when needed. Communal work is not used, salaried work rarely. Imitation of Mestizo houses and use of new materials (for example, zinc sheets for the roof) have produced infinite variations. Among the annexes is the steam bath (temascal), almost always a semisubterranean structure (fig. 18), of airtight walls and roof. A fire burning inside for several hours heats the interior and the special stones. The ashes are then taken out, the 702

floor is covered with green leaves, and cold water is poured over walls and stones to produce steam. The Pame of Alaquines, San Luis Potosi, erect chickencoops with pole walls, slanted roofs, and floor made of sticks, raised some 50 cm. above the floor (fig. 19,a). Beehives are lodged in hollowed tree trunks (fig. 19,6). Furniture and Kitchen Utensils In the entire area small European-type tables and chairs are common: one in the living area and one in the kitchen (fig. 20,a). There are also from two to six chairs (fig. 20,6), and even more low stools carved from a section of tree trunk (fig. 21) or made of a round or oval board with three legs fitted into it (fig. 20,d). Mats are always used to sleep on. In many places they are placed directly on the earthen floor and during the day kept rolled in a corner. In Sierra Gorda they are placed over European-type beds (fig. 20,e) or over

OTOMI

FIG. 25—POTTERY. a, Making a comal, coiling method, Agua Puerca. b, Making a water jar Agua Puerca. c, Open firing, and d, Pulling out a fired jar, Jiliapan.

tapescos (beds made from sticks placed over forked branches driven into the floor, fig. 20,f). The Ocuiltec place the mats on a wooden platform 2 m. square, 40 cm. above the floor, on which the whole family sleeps. Small children almost always sleep in ayates suspended from the walls like hammocks (fig. 22), but the Otomi of central and eastern Hidalgo suspend the ayate from a rope which may be hooked to a crossbeam

(olla),

or the branch of a tree, or from a mecapal (tumpline). Valuable or infrequently used clothing and small objects are kept in wooden trunks or in commercial cardboard boxes set on the floor or on chairs next to the walls. Food supplies are stored in pots and tins on shelves suspended from the lowest part of the roof; they are also kept in zarzos, small square platforms made of sticks and hung 703

FIG. 26—CHARACTERISTIC POTTERY SHAPES

FIG. 27—WICKER BASKET

FIG. 28—BASKET (a) AND MAT WEAVING (b), AGUA PUERCA

OTOMI

from the ceiling (fig. 20,c). Water is stored in large pots in a corner of the kitchen. The Pame of Ciudad del Maiz place the pots outside on three forked branches driven into the floor (fig. 20,g). Everywhere hearths consist of three stones set directly on the floor (fig. 23,a); here tortillas are cooked before each meal and the pot of nixtamal boils for many hours. Commonly other dishes are cooked on a second hearth either like the first or, especially in Sierra Gorda, made of three stones on a platform made of sticks covered with clay (fig. 23,c). The stones are sometimes replaced by burners made with the same clay. In every kitchen are pots, pans, jugs, and plates of all sizes, made locally, plus knives and plates commercially manufactured. There is at least one metate—generally of Middle American type (fig. 8,g) but without legs and with a short mano (huilanche) among the Northern Pame—and a mortar, the most common made of stone (fig. 24,a). In some Otomi areas (central and western Hidalgo) they use pottery grater bowls (fig. 24,b). Now one finds in almost all houses, metal pans, buckets, and spoons made in factories. Large, shallow wooden containers (bateas or canoas) are used for washing clothes; smaller ones are used for making maize dough (fig. 23,b). TECHNOLOGY

Crafts This section is limited to a brief description of the most frequent techniques and their specific characteristics. POTTERY. Ceramics are made in numerous towns. The most common technique consists in mixing the clay with a temper of finely ground gypsum or lime, letting it settle for some time, and building the object by coiling (fig. 25,a,b), smoothing it with a piece of cloth and with a polisher of hard stone. The Otomi wash the interior with litharge

FIG. 29—SPINNING WITH SPINDLE WHORL (MALACATE)

to make them impermeable; the Pame only burnish them. The decoration (generally phytomorphous motifs) is done with commercial varnishes when the objects are glazed, and with kaolin (white), ocher (red), and sugar (black) when they are not varnished. The pottery is fired in adobe ovens by the Otomi, and in open fire by the Pame (fig. 25,c,d). The most characteristic shapes are shown in figure 26. Indian pottery is exclusively women's affair; the potter's wheel, operated by men, is a Mestizo innovation. BASKET WEAVING. In the Meseta de Toluca wicker baskets exactly like European ones (fig. 27) are made. The Chichimec make conical handbaskets from common reed-grass. The Northern Pame follow the pre-Hispanic technique to make tenates (fig. 28,a) and mats (fig. 28,b). Various Otomi groups, such as those of the Mezquital, weave coiled baskets. Many families throughout the area make hats by braiding four strips of straw into a band which is then coiled and sewn into the desired shape. The woven, waterproof capes (Soustelle, 1937b, pp. 69-70) are falling into disuse as a result of the competition from the low-priced industrial products. 705

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FIG. 31—CARDS FOR WOOL

FIG. 30—TWO-BAR BACKSTRAP LOOMS. a, For weaving ayates, San Jose del Sitio. b, For weaving decorated bands, San Felipe, Mexico. (Photographed by Jacques Soustelle, 1937b.)

TEXTILES. The pre-Hispanic technique of weaving, exclusively by women, is retained only among the less acculturated Otomi and very sporadically among the other groups. The products are almost always for family consumption. Wool, cotton, and ixtle (see Cordage) are spun by hand with the aid of a spindle whorl (malacate; fig. 29). Weaving is done on simple two-bar (backstrap) looms when ayates are woven (fig. 30,a) and with a more complicated system of heddles to create different sheds for more elaborate weaving like bands and small bags (fig. 30,b). For weaving ayates and the narrow strips of cloth used for skirts two warps are raised together; for more elaborate work the warps are raised separately (Soustelle, 1937b, pp. 77-85). Weaving with European techniques is

706

FIG. 32—STATIONARY LOOM, CIUDAD DEL MAIZ

done exclusively by men. Wool—the only fiber used—is combed between two wooden cards with steel teeth (fig. 31); spinning is done with a distaff. A stationary loom is used for weaving; the hoists for the warping threads are operated by treadles. With this procedure only serapes to be sold are manufactured. A similar loom (fig. 32) is used in Ciudad del Maiz to make arpilla, a loose fabric made from ixtle with which shopping bags are made. The Indians of the nearby towns prepare the ixtle from wild plants and sell

OTOMI

FIG. 34—SCRAPING IXTLE FOR CORDAGE FIG. 33—SPINNING MAIZ

IXTLE,

CIUDAD

DEL

it to Mestizo merchants of the downtown area, who give it out to the Pame of Barrio San Jose to be spun (fig. 33) and woven. CORDAGE. Everywhere men make threads and cords from ixtle, mainly for their own use, although sometimes for sale. Ixtle is obtained by slightly baking the leaves of different magueys (Agave) and scraping them over an inclined board to eliminate the pulp. Generally the scraper is a blade of metal or stone with a special handle (fig. 34) and the board is placed high up, but the Ocuiltec rest the board on the floor and scrape with a long wooden spade. The fiber is washed and bleached in the sun. The fibers are twisted two-ply between the palms of the hands, one end held by the big toe. The thread, which only has four fibers, is used to sew hats; the cords are

FIG. 35—CONVERTIBLE ΑΧΕ-ADZE. a, Blade. b, Hafted adze. c, Hafted axe.

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FIG. 36—JILIAPAN MAN

made by repeating the twisting process until the desired weight is obtained. OTHER CRAFTS. In the places where there are adobe houses, the builder makes the adobes with rectangular molds. In many houses of the Meseta de Toluca clay tiles are made in wooden molds, colored by being baked with alternate layers of clay and flowers (Soustelle, 1937b, pp. 61-62). Net making is men's occupation wherever fishing is done. The Otomi of the forest zones (Sierra de las Cruces, Sierra de Tollman) derive income from manufacturing charcoal, carving beams and planks with axe and adze (the Ocuiltec used a convertible tool, fig. 35), and splitting shingles with wedges. The women of San Pablito, Puebla, manufacture paper for witchcraft from the bark of certain trees (Ficus, Morus and 708

FIG. 37—OTOMI WOOLEN BAG, TOLIMAN. (Photographed by Jacques Soustelle, 1937b.)

Garrya?), pounding it over a board with a stone beater (Christensen, 1953a). Other crafts include carving tecomates (fruit of Lagenaria), making leather bags, making metates and mortars from volcanic stone, but their distribution in the area here is too irregular and scarce, and their techniques are too complicated to warrant description here. In many Indian towns specialists use the tools and the techniques imported from Europe during the colonial period. DRESS AND ORNAMENT

Dress ranges from garments almost identical to those of pre-Hispanic times (women of San Pablito, Puebla) to those of the Chichimec which are not distinguishable from clothes of the poor people in the cities. The common native shirt of coarse cotton

OTOMI

FIG. 39—OTOMI WOMAN'S EMBROIDERED SHIRT, SAN FELIPE

FIG. 38—LEATHER KNAPSACK, JALPAN

has a round collar and long sleeves; it is sometimes open the whole length of the front, with buttons (fig. 36), sometimes open only in the upper part. It is being replaced in many areas by colored shirts bought ready-made. In the past, the Chichimec wore a short garment made of coyote leather, the Ocuiltec one made from deerskin, but both disappeared some 60 years ago. The majority of the Otomi wear coarse cotton trousers held to the waist by a band and tied to the thigh. The other groups and some Otomi have adopted the commercial trousers made of light tweed or drill cloth. When the leather garment mentioned above was worn to cover the chest, the Ocuiltec and Chichimec also wore pants of the same material. Hats are often made at home but now increasingly bought in stores. Sandals have soles of leather or old automobile tires. The woolen serape is frequent. The Otomi of San Pablito use an ayate made of cotton with embroidery in the corners; those of

Sierra de las Cruces wear one made from ixtle. Almost always a small woolen bag (fig. 37) or an ixtle or leather knapsack (fig. 38) is taken along to carry food and small objects. The Ocuiltec carried in it pebbles for the sling. Nowadays the hair is worn short, without ornament. Earlier the Pame of the south and the Chichimec wore their hair long. The latter painted their teeth black. Women wear a shirt of coarse white cotton with embroidery on the collar and on the short sleeves (fig. 39). Otomi women may wear the shirt with nothing over it when they are in the house, but outdoors they add a kind of poncho, quechquemitl (fig. 40,a; Soustelle, 1937b, pp. 91-95; I. Weitlaner, 1953, pp. 241-57). Around Toluca a colored shirt of shiny cloth has been adapted from the catrina cloth of the latter 19th century (fig. 40,b). Other places have a similar shirt but made from cotton print, with sleeves to the elbow but no pleats. Indian skirts are fashioned from a piece 709

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 41—MAZAHUA WOMAN'S WOOLEN BAG. Length of scale at top, 5 cm.

FIG. 40—WOMEN'S DRESS. a, Ocuiltec woman wearing quechquemitl, San Juan Atzingo. b, Mazahua woman.

of handwoven wool almost 5 m. long, the ends sewn together to form a tube. The material is pleated around the waist, to which it is held by a sash. Now ready-made skirts and blouses or whole dresses are increasingly popular. An apron seldom accompanies an Indian skirt but is never absent when another type of skirt is worn. Head and feet are almost always bare, but where the footing is thorny or stony, 710

women wear sandals. For going out, the shawl (rebozo) is almost invariable when the quechquemitl is not worn. Throughout the area women wear their hair long, almost always combed in two braids, sometimes interwoven with wool cords. The only ornaments, besides the cords for the hair, are silver earrings and necklaces of glass beads. Fifty years ago, Mazahua and Ocuiltec women carried large woolen bags (fig. 41). Very young children wear a small shirt and diapers, and a cap on their heads. Later on they wear clothes similar to those of their parents, but simpler. CARRYING DEVICES, TRANSPORTATION, AND COMMUNICATION

Small objects, seeds for planting, and food

OTOMI

for the men who go to the fields are carried in small woolen bags (fig. 37) or knapsacks made from ixtle or leather (fig. 38). Larger objects go into baskets in the Meseta de Toluca, and, throughout the area, into ayates or guangoches, which are rectangular cloths made from loosely woven ixtle, the opposite corners bound to form a bag which is hung from the shoulder or the back. For loads the ayate cannot accommodate, cribbed boxes (huacales) are used in the central and southern regions (fig. 42,a); semicylindrical or semispherical structures covered by a net (huajacas), in the north (fig. 42,b). Heavy loads are suspended from the back by a tumpline (mecapal), which the man rests against the forehead, the woman against the chest (fig. 43). In the central part of the area, water is carried in large, three-handled jars (cántaros) suspended from a tumpline. Elsewhere women carry a cántaro or a tin can on the head (fig. 44) or supported on the hip. Men suspend vessels from a shoulder pole. The most frequent way of carrying children is to straddle them over the back and support them with a shawl which is bound over the breast; some Otomi carry them on the ayate itself which serves as a cradle (see Furniture and Kitchen Utensils). The Chichimec carry them on huajacas. Most travel is on foot, even for long distances. There are very few beasts of burden and they are almost never ridden. At Lake Lerma flat-bottomed canoes are used. Motor vehicles are more and more frequent, both buses which have scheduled service and trucks which offer occasional service. Today the mail keeps those who live in the towns in touch with their relatives who have emigrated to the cities. The resolutions of the local authorities are communicated verbally through policemen or government messengers (topiles). To call an urgent meeting (for example, when a fire occurs) church bells are rung in some localities. The Ocuiltec use special

FIG. 42—CARRYING DEVICES. a, Cribbed box, (huacal) for heavy loads. b, Frame and net huajacas.

FIG. 43—TUMPLINE (MECAPAL). a, Man carrying a huacal. b, Ocuiltec man carrying lumber. c, Woman carrying a huacal.

711

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Some items are sold by docenas units) and by gruesas (12 docenas).

(12

ECONOMY

Division of Labor,

FIG. 44—WOMEN CARRYING WATER, LA PALMA

shouts and whistles; they announce a faena (see Units of Production and Consumption, Forms of Work) by beating a drum, and announce fiestas by beating a teponaztle which is kept chained in the sacristy of the church (Rodríguez Gil, 1907). WEIGHTS AND MEASURES

The metric system is in common use, but some units of weights and measures of the colonial period, now current for lesser transactions, still survive. They vary slightly in local usage, but the most common are: Weight: libra — 0.5 kg. arroba = 12.5 kg. quintal = 46 kg. Volume: cuartillo = 0.5 liter fanega = 55.5 liters carga = highly variable Linear: vara = 85 cm. legua = 4 km. The monetary system is that used throughout Mexico, in addition to the denomination reales (12 centavos). 712

Specialization

In all communities men are in charge of farming, building and repairing the home, repairing footgear, caring for cattle, making cordage, and carrying heavy loads. Wherever nets are made, hunting is done; and where European textile techniques are followed, men are in charge of these tasks. Feminine chores common to all groups are housecleaning, washing and repairing clothing, cooking, caring for children, caring for domestic fowl, carrying light loads, fetching water (fig. 44), buying and selling. Weaving by Indian technique and pottery making are also feminine tasks. Basket weaving (except hat making) is women's work in Sierra Gorda, but elsewhere is entrusted to men. Women fish in the lagoons of Lerma, men in San Pablito, Puebla. Specialized work, such as carpentry, fabrication of metates, and the weaving of waterproof capes, is allotted to men. Children of both sexes are entrusted with herding and with helping their fathers to carry firewood, their mothers to fetch water (see Socialization). Practically the entire population is fundamentally agricultural. The specialists noted (see Crafts) devote only half-time or less to their specialty; other crafts, such as pottery and cordage, are mastered by all families. Units of Production Forms of Work

and

Consumption,

The basic unit of production and consumption is the nuclear family, even when there are aspects of an extended family. Production is mainly for family consumption, either directly or by acquisition through exchange of a small surplus of the production.

OTOMI

The most frequent work unit is the family. Each family head, with the cooperation of his wife and unmarried children, cultivates the land which supports them. Cooperation in the nuclear family is basic to the division of labor by sex and age, and to certain artisan productions. For example, in Santa Maria Acapulco, San Luis Potosí, men gather the palm leaves with which women make mats (Maza, 1947). For some agricultural tasks that must be attended to promptly, and for house construction sometimes the cooperation of relatives and friends is sought. This help is compensated by reciprocal assistance and occasionally by money. Obligatory communal labor (tequio or faena) serves common needs such as construction or repair of roads and public buildings like schools or chapels. Wage labor is scarce in these communities and is very seldom expended on agricultural work, even less for artisan work. More frequently Indians work as peons in Mestizos' agricultural enterprises to supplement family income. Export of labor also adds to family income. A temporary export of male labor comes when fields do not require care and the men go to work at the nearby sugar mills (Sierra Gorda), or as peons to the cities, and sometimes as day laborers to the United States. The export of female labor is usually a permanent emigration of women to the cities as servant girls, who send part of their earnings back home. Property and Land

Tenure

An individual is the owner of his personal effects and the house which he has built and occupies. When he dies, the youngest son or daughter inherits the house, and the rest of the property is divided equally among the descendants, men or women, and the widow. Generally, all married males have a piece of land which they cultivate. The two most common forms of tenure are the ejido and

the small property. Ejido land belongs to the community, but in many cases titles of plots for individual use are granted. Lands producing firewood and pasture are common to all. The small property, purchased or inherited, is generally distributed among the male descendants; by law, title to the ejido plot is inherited by one son. Commerce and Markets Commercial activity in the area is related to the hierarchy of settlements described under Settlement Patterns. Goods produced in the smallest communities go directly to the nearest centers and from there to those next in the scale; goods that come from outside follow the same route in reverse. These products are distributed through various shops and the tianguis, a market held in the Mestizo centers or towns on a given day of each week. Wealth and Its Uses From the position Indians occupy in the total Mexican society, differences in wealth among them are not great. Wealth consists of monetary capital, normally used to acquire prestige by paying the cost of a mayordomía (see Religious Organization). SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

Family and Kinship The basic family unit is the nuclear family, many of which form part of an extended family with loose ties (Manrique, 1961). Kinship terminology is mainly Spanish but occasionally Indian. The entire Otomi family has a bilateral system, although Chichimec, Mazahua, and Otomi apply the system of generations (relative age) in limited form to the generation of ego. Terms for father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, uncle (consanguineal and by affinity), aunt (consanguineal and by affinity) do not distinguish paternal or maternal descent. There are different terms for brother and sister, which among Chichimec, 713

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Otomi, and Southern Pame are extended to cousins; the Ocuiltec, Northern Pame, and an alternate Chichimec term do not distinguish the cousins' sex. Other terms are not common to the entire region but only to the majority of the groups. The same word is used for the brother of husband or wife and the husband of the sister, another for the sister of husband or wife and the wife of the brother. There are words for son, daughter, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law. Usually, the sex of grandchildren and children of the cousins is not distinguished. Paternal and maternal surnames are inherited; all persons know their two surnames, but frequently use only the paternal one. Maximum family authority is in the hands of the father or, in an extended family, the oldest man—grandfather or uncle (Manrique, 1961). It is thought that children should help and obey their parents, brothers should help each other, and cousins should be regarded somewhat as brothers. If children become orphaned, their grandparents, uncles, or godparents are supposed to take them in. The strongest and most universal relationship of ritual kinship is the one established through baptism. The parents of a child ask a married couple, selected from among their friends, or relatives in some cases, to be baptism godparents. When the ceremony takes place (see Fiesta Patterns), a kinship is established between godparents and godchild, ritually considered the same as that between parents and children, and also between parents and godparents who now call each other compadres. This prohibits marriage between them and theoretically bestows on the godparents the obligation to treat the godchild as a son. In fact, however, this entails merely giving small gifts, supplying clothes for the marriage of their godchildren, or paying for their funeral. There are also marriage godparents (frequently the same as the baptism ones) and 714

confirmation godparents, in accord with the Catholic ritual, as well as godparents de reliquia (in San Pablito, Puebla) and of de evangelio (Ocuiltec), according to a magic ritual. None of these relationships confers the same obligations as the baptism godparentship. Local and Territorial Units Frequently rancherías (see Settlement Patterns) are formed by groups of houses of nuclear families that form one or more extended families. Similarly in many towns and neighborhoods the houses of an extended family tend to group together in favor of patrilocal residence. Political Organization The municipal political organization, varying slightly as to the Constitution of each state, is the same everywhere. Generally, it includes a presidente municipal and four or five regidores, for the political center, and as many jueces auxiliares as there are settlements outside the center. The presidente municipal directs and coordinates the tasks of the other members of the council and is in charge of the civil registry wherever an official specifically charged with keeping it does not exist. The regidores are in charge of various aspects of municipal administration. The jueces auxiliares, representing the superior authorities, arbitrate small local problems or refer serious ones to the authority at the center. These members of the council, who do not receive a salary, are elected by their constituents in their own settlements for periods of one to three years. Normally the jueces auxiliares, the highest authority in the Indian communities or neighborhoods, require the approval of the predominantly Mestizo council of the center. Besides, there are various aides (policías, topiles, alcaldes) who serve as messengers. All men of a community are expected to serve as messengers at least once (for one year); there is one for each section or neighborhood.

OTOMI

In communities where there is an ejido, a Comisariado Ejidal (president, vicepresident, secretary, committee members, etc.) functions side by side with the constitutional council. It controls and directs the agricultural work of the members of the ejido and administers bank credit, thus constituting a second political force. Various northern Pame communities still retain a Gobernador de los Indios, whose functions are now more religious than political. Each year he is named by popular election. Religious

Organization

The vast majority of the Indians are nominally Catholic, but there are also some who call themselves Protestants. There is no permanent priest or pastor in any Indian community. In this respect the neighborhoods, because of their proximity to the center, are in a better situation, but generally religious instruction and observance are very slack. Each community celebrates annual fiestas for certain saints. One or more mayordomos are appointed, who pay for the expenses of the fiesta (decoration, priest's services, music, ceremonial meal) and take care, for a year, of the altar and the image of the saint being honored. Since the mayordomía confers prestige, it is very often expressly requested. The Otomi and Mazahua of the Meseta de Ixtlahuaca-Toluca have private family chapels which are demolished and rebuilt every so often. Each new building is accompanied by conspicuous consumption of food and drink (Soustelle, 1937b, pp. 543-47). Certain communities (Otomi from Santa Ana and Toliman, Ocuiltec from San Juan Atzingo, etc.) have chapels with apparently Catholic brotherhoods, but their purpose seems to be, rather, an exchange of gifts among the brothers. Nowadays there is no longer a relationship between the political hierarchy and the religious organization, as in parts of Oaxaca or Chiapas, since the Gobernadores de los

Indios have lost political power. The two or three cases in which political authority has a direct role in the few religious activities are definite exceptions. RELIGION AND WORLD VIEW

Myth and Ritual As yet there is no serious study on the religious ideas of the present-day Otomi, but certainly most beliefs coincide with the teachings of the Catholic Church, either deriving from them or reflecting their influence. The legends on the origin of the world are more or less complete versions of the biblical narration; and in the story of the deluge, mention of Noah is almost never omitted. The identification of pre-Hispanic deities with Catholic ones goes all the way from calling Christ and the Sun by the same term, or the Moon and the Virgin Mary (Northern Pame), to making offerings of evident pre-Hispanic origin to Catholic images. Supernatural beings which lie outside the Catholic framework will be dealt with in the section on Folklore. For Catholic supernatural beings ceremonies have been established by the church, such as the Mass celebrated by the priest (see Fiesta Patterns), but as long as they are identified with pre-Hispanic deities, appropriate offerings are made to them: double ears of corn, cigarettes, maize, wax candles, etc. Pagan ritual has more manifestations in San Pablito, Puebla, than in any other place; there it takes the name of costumbre. In the costumbres, figures are cut out of paper manufactured in this locality, and frequently a black chicken is sacrificed (Christensen, 1953a). These propitiatory ceremonies are principally dedicated to the fields—to protect the sown fields and to obtain abundant crops—to the waterhole so that the water should not be harmful, to the water-spirit if it has not rained or if it has 715

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rained too much, to any dead person so that he should not return, to the steam bath so that it should heal the sick (see Sickness and Curing), etc. In other places ceremonies are fewer and simpler. In Jiliapan, Hidalgo, the only procedure is to play music, shoot skyrockets, and adorn the waterholes on Easter Saturday, so that the water should be abundant and pure. Propitiatory rituals more in accord with Catholicism seem to exist. If it does not rain, an image of the Virgin Mary is carried through the fields; if it rains too much, the priest is asked to bless a wax candle which is taken to be buried in the field; if locusts are to be driven away, some are caught and, after the priest has blessed them, set free so that they may escort their companions elsewhere. Folklore SUPERNATURAL BEINGS. Throughout the area they speak of brujas who come during the night and suck blood, especially of young children and old people. Although details vary, it is thought that for flying they turn into turkeys or rid themselves of their eyes and legs. They may be seen as fireballs, because of the light they keep lit, in the head or in the abdomen. Elsewhere are non-evil brujas, who fly and perpetrate some mischief but who do not suck blood. Everywhere, except in the far northeast, it is known that nahuales exist, and these may take the form of any animal or object. Some persons say that they steal people, and that if their relatives look for the abducted one, he is turned into a chair, a stool, or an animal so that he may not be recognized, but they do not cause the victim any other harm. In other parts it is said that they make tamales with the meat of the abducted person (especially a pretty girl), and that if anyone eats one of those tamales, he also turns into a nahual. The Chichimec talk of little dwarfs who lock people in caves in the mountains but

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do not harm them. Their relatives may rescue them by excavating from the outside. They also know of a personage who has the head of a horse, dresses in black, and rides a black horse. The Otomi of San Pablito say that there are various spirits (of the water, of the steam bath), semillas of plants and animals (beans, maize, tomato, plantain), and good souls and bad souls. All these beings have a special form in the paper figures for magical ritual. The Chichimec have a powerful water spirit, called chart, who frequently takes the form of a great serpent; it is he who bestows power on medicine men. In some zones it is believed that each class of animal has a patron or owner (dueño). For example, the deer's is San Onofre. STORIES AND LEGENDS. AS there is no compilation of the legends of the Otomian family, very brief summaries of the most interesting are presented here. 1. A newlywed girl did not want to eat anything which her husband ate, but instead she wanted to go to her parents' house "to eat that to which she was accustomed." At first the husband would not let her go, but finally one day gave her permission. When the girl arrived at her mother's house, she asked her for blood. The mother had none at the time so allowed her to "suck a little from her father," but the girl sucked too much and the father died. There are many other legends about brujas, ascribed to specific persons, but their content only illustrates what has already been said about brujas. 2. One night two friends passed a place where they had always seen a rock but this time found a store. One of them went in, and at that moment the store disappeared and the rock closed, leaving him inside. The other friend was blamed for the murder of the first one and was thrown into jail, but he remembered the date and a year later asked to be taken to the rock. He found his friend and set him free.

OTOMI

3. Various persons know the enchanted caves which hold huge treasures and which open for one day each Easter Saturday. Anyone may enter them, but if he takes part of the treasure, he cannot leave and stays a prisoner an entire year. There are many variations on this story about enchanted caves. 4. The Chichimec tell that San Luis de la Paz was founded on the spot where an eagle stood, and that this happened with many other cities, including Mexico. 5. The Ocuiltec say that there used to be two teponaztles in their town, but that one day the older went to Tepoztlan, Morelos, where it now is. That is why they chain the other one, which is kept in the sacristy of the church, so that it should not escape and go with its mother to Tepoztlan. TRADITIONS

REGARDING

OLD

CUSTOMS.

Aside from actual memories of customs decades ago, some places have legends regarding the ancestors. For example, the Pame of Jiliapan have traditions regarding cannibalism, nomadic life, etc. (Manrique, 1961). SICKNESS AND CURING

Sickness has many "causes" and cures. 1. Witches produce illnesses by introducing foreign objects (thorns, stones, animals ) into the body. The only effective cure is to have another witch extract the object. 2. Brujas who suck blood may even cause death. There are no therapeutic methods, but prophylactic measures may be taken. Any kind of small seed can be broadcast around the outside of the house, and the bruja takes so long picking it up that it does not have time to enter the house. 3. A strong, sudden emotion may cause espanto (some places distinguish less severe degrees: susto and asombro). It is cured with a limpia or barrida, which consists of passing over the body of the sick person aromatic plants, wax candles, eggs, or black chickens which pick up the illness, to the accompaniment of music and singing

(San Pablito) or prayers (elsewhere). The variety of procedures is almost infinite. 4. Ojo, or evil eye, is produced by the stare of a person who has "strong sight." It may be cured with a limpia or the application of holy water. 5. Belief in "cold" or "hot" objects which might cause sickness or make difficult its alleviation, is similar to that found throughout Latin American. It appears to be of European origin. 6. Some illnesses are attributed to the aire and are usually cured with limpias. 7. In almost all settlements there is at least one midwife. She usually gives the mother a steam bath in the temascal (sometimes improvised) before the parturition, another one after. She also massages the abdomen "to arrange the child." The temascal is also used for other cures. 8. Many people have a knowledge of curative herbs and how to set dislocations and fractures ("to fix the bones"). It is not uncommon for one person to have several of these specialties. An Indian rarely consults a doctor, but regularly takes analgesics and pharmaceutical preparations against coughing. Sanitation is generally precarious. Although waterholes are fenced against animals, there is no prevention of contamination through infiltration. There are no latrines; body needs are relieved in the field or between cultivated fields. Bathing is not very frequent (once every week or two), but face and hands are washed upon awakening in the morning and before each meal. The mouth is rinsed after each meal. Houses do not offer adequate protection against wind and cold (except those of adobe), but these are sometimes too humid and poorly ventilated. AESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL PATTERNS

Plastic Arts Products of the textile art, such as Otomi bands and bags, are among the most beau717

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which they wear long satin garments of brilliant colors with rows of applied beads, headdresses of feathers bound with a cloth band, and a bow (fig. 46,b). The secular dance is usually a sort of clog dance, in which the man does not touch his partner. Song, Poetry, Narration,

FIG. 45—LOS MALINCHES DANCER, LA PALMA

tiful because of their color and infinitely varied decoration. Ceramics, famous for their decoration more than for their shape, frequently have great beauty. Music and Dance The most common instruments are the violin and the guitar, played simultaneously, but larger ensembles may include wind instruments and drums. Phonograph records are being played more and more. The music throughout the area is clearly European in origin, generally sones. Music is always played to enliven fiestas and for the final dance. In some places music accompanies funerals, especially those of children. In San Pablito it is an essential part of curing ceremonies. Religious dances are very infrequent. The Northern Pame perform the dance of Los Malinches, attired in ordinary clothes but with a crown on the head (fig. 45), a rattle in one hand and a bunch of feathers in the other. In Ciudad del Maiz Los Caballitos is danced, with the figure of a horse attached to the belt to indicate riding (fig. 46,a). The Chichimec have a dance in 718

Conversation

In the region of Ixmiquilpan-Zimapan, Hidalgo, the sheepherders sing while watching over their flock. Themes deal with love or with deserted husbands. Most compositions have two, three, four, or six distinct verses (Soustelle, 1937b). Around Santa Ana Hueytlalpan, Hidalgo, women almost always sing when they have had quite enough to drink at parties. There is no defined melody nor verse. In other areas the little singing is exclusively as couplets to the sones that are played. Poetry, found only in the region of Ixmiquilpan-Zimapan, is simply the recitation, without music, of the lyrics of the songs (Soustelle, 1937b). It is common for men and women to gather in small groups in front of the houses to converse and gossip. Men get together at the stores to talk, drink a little, and play cards. Women converse when they meet at the places where they wash clothes. Games Boys make slingshots, throw a ball at each other without rules or score, and compete in long-distance racing and in climbing trees. Girls play matatena (jacks), hide-and-seek, and play with dolls. Adolescent boys play adult games or practice basketball at the backboard in the school yard. The most common adult entertainment is the game of cards. Etiquette There are established forms of greeting and leave-taking, in Spanish as well as in

OTOMI

Indian languages. When two people who know each other meet, they stop to greet; people who do not know each other greet but without stopping. As a sign of respect, godchildren kiss their godparents' right hand. The Chichimec have a ceremonial greeting by which the visitor deposits a kiss between the host's hands placed together, palms up. It is customary to invite the visitor to take a seat; if he should arrive at mealtime, he is also asked to dine. Custom dictates that emotions be concealed, that indifference be feigned, except when one is drunk. Fiesta Patterns Religious fiestas are generally begun in the morning, with Mass celebrated by the priest, who has come for the occasion. At noon a meal is offered by the mayordomos (see Food Habits, Religious Organization). During the afternoon a game of horsemanship or some competition may be organized, in which Mestizos take part, almost exclusively. At sundown the musicians, who have been playing intermittently throughout the day, transfer to the place where the secular dance is held. There the entire town meets, young people to dance, old people to look on and converse, and children to run around everywhere. There are almost no celebrations which are entirely secular. Baptisms, weddings, and deaths all have religious undertones; private festivities on these occasions are less ostentatious, but they follow more or less the same pattern: religious ceremony, meal, dance. LIFE CYCLE

Birth The pregnant woman should abstain from eating foods considered "cold." During delivery she is helped by a midwife or another woman. Kneeling or squatting, she holds

FIG. 46—DANCERS, a, Los Caballitos, Ciudad del Maiz. b, Chichimec dancer.

on to a rope hanging from the ceiling, her waist strongly girded. A few days after parturition, the child receives a warm bath, the mother a steam bath in the temascal. Baptism is celebrated in accordance with Catholic ritual and with a ceremonial meal, when the priest comes through town (see Family and Kinship and Fiesta Patterns). At first the mother's diet is limited to toasted tortillas and atole but soon includes other nourishment until it returns to normal. 719

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The newborn is fed on mother's milk; at six months he begins to take very diluted maize-dough water, then adds bean broth and tortilla chunks, until he eventually eats the usual diet. At this time (about one year) he is weaned, often by putting bitter substances on the nipple. Socialization Begun about the time of weaning, toilet training is completed when children are three years old. For the next two or three years they have much freedom and few duties. At age five or six both boys and girls begin to tend the family's animals, but still play a good deal while they work. When seven or eight they must also help in fetching water (girls) and firewood (boys), thus beginning the division of labor by sex. Between eight and 10 years of age, boys begin to help their fathers with agricultural chores, girls their mothers in household chores. When 12 or 14, girls are capable of assuming charge of the household, and boys are able to cultivate the fields by themselves. When boys reach between 14 and 18 years of age, according to the place, they begin climbing the ladder of administrative posts by serving as topiles (see Political Organization); that is, they commence to fulfill adult status. Ideally, to be elected to a higher office, a man is supposed to have occupied all the lower ones, but today this is not essential. At approximately the same age (14 to 18 years) women are also considered adult and therefore marriageable. Formal Education Some children, between seven and 14 years of age, go to school (which follows the official program of rural schools throughout Mexico). Most schools go only to third grade, a few to fourth or fifth. They are scarce, and many Indian communities lack them or a teacher. If they have no teacher, 720

they pay a Mestizo to teach the children Spanish, and reading and writing, almost always with very poor results. Marriage Young people of marriageable age have a chance of talking to each other when the girls go to fetch water. When they have agreed on getting married, the groom's family asks for the girl, sometimes via special petitioners. Usually the petition is repeated from three to five times, always on a given day of the week; this is required by custom, since on the first visit the girl's family ordinarily refuse consent or wish to discuss the matter with relatives. Each time gifts of cigarettes, liquor, and food are taken. If an agreement is reached, the date of the wedding is set. When a civil registry exists and a priest is nearby, the civil and religious ceremonies are commonly performed, but seldom in remote places. The most important part of the wedding is the ceremonial meal, in which the couple's parents or grandparents give them advice and admonish them. Today, the robo de la novia is more and more common and takes various forms. If a young man does not obtain the girl's consent, he sometimes resorts to abduction. If two young people wish to marry but their parents do not approve, they elope. If the families are in agreement but wish to avoid the considerable expense, an abduction is simulated. In all these cases, it is common for the youngsters to return when the first child is born; they are then admitted into the community as if the standard marriage had taken place (Manrique, 1961). Among the Pame of Agua Puerca, San Luis Potosí, trial marriage allows a girl to live for three months at the house of a young man. If they get on well, they continue to live as man and wife; if they don't get on well, the girl simply returns to her home. The trial may be repeated several times. Sexual relations outside marriage or be-

OTOMI

fore it are exceptional, unless in the trial marriage. The family, generally, is quite stable. Residence is, almost without exception, patrilocal. At first the newlyweds live in the kitchen of the boy's parents' house, but soon afterwards build their own house (see Local and Territorial Units). Death When a person dies, the news is announced verbally to relatives and neighbors, or bells are specially rung. Commonly the deceased is dressed in his best clothes (often the same ones he wore for his wedding, deliberately kept for the funeral) and placed in the center of the room, on a table under which is a cross painted with lime. In some localities an altar, bearing the family santos (almost always printed images), is erected next to the wall, near the corpse's head. Relatives and neighbors immediately get together. The men take aguardiente and cigarettes and the women food, placing it near or on the table on which the corpse rests. These items are consumed by all while they keep vigil for the rest of the day and an entire night. Next day, before starting for the cemetery, the corpse is placed on the bier (or wrapped in a mat, as in Agua Puerca) along with some of his tools and a little food, water, and a few coins, as if for a trip. Burial generally takes place in the afternoon. Children (and often adults) are accompanied with music all the way to the cemetery, where prayers are said by a professional rezandero, and the corpse is buried with a fairly complicated ceremony (Rodríguez Gil, 1907).

A rosary is said for nine nights. At the end of the novena the lime-painted cross, left throughout the vigil, is taken to the grave; at the same time a wooden cross is erected on the grave. On November 2nd an altar is prepared in all the houses to receive ceremonial food and drink, cigarettes, and candles as offering to the dead. In many places, the offering is prepared on November 1st for dead children and remains the following day for dead adults. The offerings are consumed on November 3rd, some of them frequently given friends, relatives, and visitors. The Pame of Agua Puerca observe complicated ceremonies and repeat the offerings from November until the end of the year. ANNUAL CYCLE

The annual cycle throughout the area is conditioned by agricultural chores and religious festivities. Soustelle (1937b) has described the rhythm of building and tearing down the granaries for drying maize, and the platforms for stubble in the Meseta de Ixtlahuaca-Toluca. Where these customs do not exist, the rhythm is less marked but quite regular. It is impossible to describe a calendar of religious fiestas, for they are different in each place. The most important ones are held for the town's patron saint, Easter, and Christmas. There are no Indian calendars in use today although Indian names for the months and days of our calendar have been recorded, almost always translations or hybrid words (Manrique, 1957).

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REFERENCES Carrasco, 1950 Christensen, 1953a, 1953b Driver and Driver, 1963 and Massey, 1957 Guerrero, R., 1950 Guerrero, R. G., 1950a, 1950b Jenkins, 1946 Manrique Castañeda, 1957, 1961, 1967 Maza, 1947, 1953 Mendizábal, 1947a, 1947b and Jiménez Moreno, 1937

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Montoya, Montes Vázquez, and Morales, 1961 Morales, 1950 Muñoz, 1950 Rodríguez Gil, 1907 Sejourné, 1952 Soustelle, J., 1937b Starr, F., 1899b Weitlaner, I., 1953 Weitlaner, R. J., 1958a Williams García, 1950a, 1950b

35. The Tarascans

RALPH L. BEALS

C

ONTEMPORARY TARASCANS OCCUpy

the west-central section of northern Michoacan, Mexico. They mainly occupy an area (fig. 1) extending from Lake Patzcuaro on the east to the line of the railroad to Los Reyes on the west. The northern boundary lies roughly along the highway from Lake Patzcuaro to the railway with some settlements north of the highway in the lake area; the southern boundary lies slightly north of an east-west line through the volcano of Tancitaro and Uruapan. This region may well coincide approximately with the area of Tarascan speech before the expansionist period of the so-called Tarascan Empire (Kirchhoff, 1956). CULTURAL AND LINGUISTIC DISTRIBUTIONS

At the time of contact, Tarascan speech and presumably Tarascan culture extended from Lake Chapala in Jalisco to south of the Balsas River and from slightly west of the Tepalcatepec River into part of Guana-

juato (figs. 2, 3) (Brand, 1944; West, 1948, Maps 7, 8). This distribution is somewhat more extensive at the north than Brand shows and follows the 1750 distribution of Tarascan speech given by West (figs. 4, 5). Unless evidence for a resettlement of Tarascans in Guanajuato is discovered, the West distribution is more likely. It should be noted that at contact the area of Tarascan speech included enclaves of Matlazinco and Nahua speech; it is probable that the area of Tarascan political domination included additional areas of non-Tarascan speech. Since contact times the area of Tarascan speech has shrunk considerably, a process that is still continuing. (As late as 1850 Tarascan persisted in Tierra Caliente near the Balsas River.) Tarascan place names, however, remain, and elements of Tarascan culture are found beyond the region of modern Tarascan speech. Aspects of colonial and modern Tarascan architecture appear in many of the Mestizo towns of the area, and in places Tarascan architecture 725

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terminates with a fairly sharp boundary, for example, along the south shore of Lake Chapala. Tarascan culture at contact was a distinctive version of the basic Middle American culture of the Mexican highlands. Linguistically the Tarascans were equally unique. Few suggestions of affiliation with other speech families have been proposed. Recently, on the basis of lexicostatistics Swadesh (1960) has suggested a remote relation with his Macro-Mixtecan with a minimum separation date of 64 centuries. Tarascan speech apparently has been remarkably homogeneous, and only minor dialectic variations occur today. GEOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

The principal area of contemporary Tarascan culture lies in the so-called Sierra region and in several adjacent valley and lake-basin areas, the principal ones being the basin of Lake Patzcuaro and the adjoining regions to the north and northeast, and the Cañada, a valley along the main highway between Zacapu and Zamora. Virtually all are in Tierra Fría. The Sierra region (figs. 6-9; see also Vol. 1, Art. 2, fig. 6) is a high volcanic plateau containing large composite volcanoes of Tertiary age, numerous more recent cinder cones and lava flows, and more or less level depressions, cols, and basins filled with ash and cinder fall and aeolian and alluvial deposits. Because of the porosity of the soil, the Sierra has very few perennial streams or permanently flowing springs. Water therefore is a problem for most Sierra Tarascan settlements except those situated near lakes. Town elevations in the Sierra range from 1,580 m. (Atapan at the extreme west) to 2580 m. (Cruz Gordo in a detached portion of the Sierra region east of the capital city of Morelia). Several volcanoes reach elevations of over 3050 m.; Cerro de Tancitaro at the west and Cerro de San Andres at the east are over 3810 m. Many of the volcanic 726

slopes are too steep for cultivation. Slopes of the younger cinder cone formations are very loosely consolidated and too porous to retain moisture, but the crater floors of many of the more accessible cinder cones often are cultivated. Most cultivated soils are fairly level alluvial fills forming extensive plains or flat valleys, often with no exterior drainage. Extensive areas, however, are covered by lava flows of varying age. The majority of these support only forest growth, but occasional joyas or "holes" in the lava where older surfaces are exposed are prized agricultural land. Most Sierra Tarascan settlements are within or near the region of coniferous forest, mostly pine but some fir. The Sierra contains some 60 per cent of present Tarascan-speakers. The lake region consists of the islands and adjacent shores of Lake Patzcuaro and the smaller lake Zirahuen to the south. Closely surrounded by Sierra type of terrain, the lake communities are actually at higher elevations than are some so-called Sierra villages. The lake levels fluctuate but in 1942 the surface of Lake Patzcuaro was 2,034 m. and that of Lake Zirahuen 2,089 m. Minor climatic and subcultural (economic orientation, dress, architecture) differences are the main justification for separating the lake people from the Sierra. The region contains 19 per cent Tarascan-speakers living in 13 pueblos and 13 ranchos. The Cañada, through which runs the Patzcuaro-Zacapu-Zamora highway, is a unique valley about 2 km. wide and 10 km. long, ranging in elevation from 1,785 to 1,939 m. Rich alluvial soils, abundance of water, and sheltered position have made this a highly productive orchard and wheatraising area. Often called the Once Pueblos (today actually nine), it contains 9 per cent Tarascan population. The remaining modern Tarascan-speakers are found in scattered islands, mostly south of the main areas of concentration, including two towns, Caltzontzin and Villa Silva,

TARASCANS

settled recently with refugees from the area devastated by the volcano of Paricutin. A few Tarascan-speakers are in predominantly Mestizo towns such as Uruapan, Zacapu, Zamora, Coeneo, and Patzcuaro. In a number of former Tarascan towns Spanish is today the predominant speech. In a few places, such as Tzintzuntzan and the Sierra pueblos of Paracho and San Juan Parangaricutiro (destroyed by the volcano of Paricutin) the majority of the residents appear to be of Mestizo origin. (Most of the preceding information is from West, 1948). MAJOR POSTCONTACT EVENTS

The Tarascans remained neutral during the siege of Tenochtitlan, despite efforts by the Spanish and the Aztec to obtain their support. Following the fall of Tenochtitlan, save for one minor military clash, relations were formal. The one Spanish display of force was the Olid expedition in 1522. In 1525 Fr. Martín de Coruna destroyed all the temples and idols at Tzintzuntzan and the Caltzontzin ("king") invited a permanent religious establishment. In 1526 the first two Franciscans arrived and established a convent in Tzintzuntzan. Other establishments followed quickly, first about the Lake Patzcuaro region but eventually extending from Uruapan to Zinapecuaro (Ricard, 1933, pp. 93, 96). The Augustinians established their first convents in 1537 at Tiripitio and Tacambaro, ultimately occupying most of the area north and west of the Franciscans and on into the Balsas drainage (ibid., pp. 94, 97). Nevertheless, in the early years there were probably never more than five or six missionaries in all Michoacan (ibid., p. 99). The relatively orderly and peaceful development of Spanish-Tarascan relations was broken by the expedition of Nuño de Guzmán in 1529. The "king" Caltzontzin was tortured to death for his supposed hidden treasure, heavy food levies were imposed, and thousands of Tarascans were forced to accompany the expedition as por-

ters. Relatively peaceful relations were soon re-established, although the diocesan headquarters, established in 1536, were moved first to the new town of Patzcuaro and finally to Morelia (the present state capital) because of the persisting hostility in the neighborhood of the ancient capital of Tzintzuntzan. The effects of the two missionary orders on the Tarascans require additional study, overshadowed as they are by the attention given the first bishop of Michoacan, Vasco de Quiroga. The Augustinians in particular seem to have paid considerable attention to the development of handicraft skills, building on local patterns. Whatever the source of influence, the introduction of hat-making techniques, the encouragement of woodworking and lacquer work, and attempts to rationalize the native market system are fairly evident even from analysis of the present-day handicraft and market system. Study of the effects of the encomienda and repartimiento in this region is also lacking. Many Tarascan town names do not appear in the list given by Cook and Simpson (1948) for about 1565. Although some of these towns are of later establishment, the Cook and Simpson list does not contain many names given in the Relaciones Geográficas of 1579 and in other sources of about the same date (West, 1948, p. 25). By far the most important influence on the Tarascans in the 16th century was that of the first bishop of Michoacan, Vasco de Quiroga, who took office in 1537-38 and continued to 1565, and who was one of the group of humanists associated with the first bishop of Mexico, Zumáraga. These men saw in the New World an opportunity to revive the virtues of primitive Christianity. Following closely the ideas of Sir Thomas More's Utopia, Quiroga's first and bestknown undertaking was the establishment of the famous Hospital de Santa Fe in the Valley of Mexico. This served as the model first for the second Hospital de Santa Fe on 727

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the shores of Lake Patzcuaro and then for hospitals in all the villages of Michoacan (Ricard, 1933, p. 190). A new social and religious organization centered on the hospital, new rules of conduct affected every aspect of life. The effects of this program are evident in many phases of contemporary Tarascan life, and it is clear that the Michoacan experiment resulted in the most far-reaching acculturation of perhaps any group in Mexico. Modern Tarascan life shows fewer survivals or adaptations of aboriginal ways of life than possibly any other persisting Indian group in Mexico. (See various works by Zavala, especially 1937 and 1941 for discussions of Quiroga and additional bibliography.) Nevertheless, heavily influenced by European culture and missionary administration and teaching as the Tarascans were, their modern culture is neither a 16th-century fossil nor a modification of contemporary Mestizo culture. In the period since the 16th century, Tarascan culture, although far from isolated from its cultural surroundings, has acquired an integration and dynamic of its own and is highly selective in its reaction to and acceptance of stimuli from the industrial civilization developing around it. Events affecting the Tarascan area since the 16th century have been little studied. Hacienda systems developed in places, particularly along the northern edge. The War of Independence must have been heavily felt, for important routes between Guadalajara and the Bajio and the Balsas Basin crossed Tarascan territory from north to south, and a route to Colima crossed from east to west. In the 19th century the Maximilian intervention evidently made a substantial impression, for it formed a memory timemarker for a few elderly persons as late as 1940. Late in the century a commercial lumber industry developed and brought railroads into parts of the Sierra, accelerat728

ing Mestizo penetration of such towns as Nahuatzen. Nahuatzen, although in appearance a typical Sierra Tarascan town with predominantly Tarascan style of dress and noted as a center for characteristic "Tarascan" textiles, especially embroidery, nevertheless contained few Tarascan-speakers in 1940. The most catastrophic event of the present century was the revolution and its aftermath. The Tarascan territory was long the center of conflict between agraristas and cristeros. Cheran, in the heart of the Sierra, was burned to the ground twice during this period, and other towns suffered similarly. Starvation was common; thousands of Tarascans migrated to the United States in the disturbed period beginning in 1916 or possibly earlier, many never to return. Others returned only after the onset of the depression of the 1930's. In the 1940's one met at every hand persons who had been born in the United States, or had been long resident there, or had relatives still living there. It is evidence of the vitality of Tarascan culture that the majority of the returnees reassimilated rapidly. The cultural effects of the migration seem surprisingly small. Following the revolution, establishment of the Federal rural school system accelerated the spread of Spanish speech. Cultural effects seem less, for certainly as late as 1940 the rural educational system was more designed to facilitate the emigration of Tarascans than to prepare children for the rural life of most Tarascans (Beals, 1946, p. 175). The period of the cristero revolt and the subsequent conflict between church and state in the 1930's was one of considerable tension. Many communities supported the church and clandestinely arranged and financed the secret performance of sacraments in private homes. Despite the strongly Catholic sentiments of most Tarascans, considerable conflict exists with the clergy over efforts to modify or eliminate folk as-

FIG. 7—PHYSICAL LANDSCAPE, TARASCAN AREA. a, Lake Patzcuaro, looking north; note volcanic islands in middle of lake and the Uranden Islets immediately offshore. b, Mixed pine-oak forest at edge of maize field, Charapan. c, La Cañada, looking west, or down valley. (From West, 1948, pl. 1,

d,e,f.)

pects of Tarascan religion. More recently it has polarized about the agrarian and sinarquista movements (Beals, 1946, pp. 11920, 134-36; Carrasco, 1952). The completion of the Mexico City-Guadalajara highway and its branch to Uruapan in the late 1930's and early 1940's also had significant effects on many parts of the Tarascan area. The highway traverses several parts of Tarascan-speaking territory, including the heart of the Sierra region. Construction of truck roads and dry-weather roads into many communities accompanied the highway development. Not only were many Tarascans exposed to a flood of new influences, but visits to major urban centers

became a commonplace, especially for younger men. The Tarascans also have been the object of many recent governmental programs designed to stimulate culture change. The earliest was undertaken in the Cañada by Moisés Sáenz (1936; Basauri, 1928b). The region about Paracho in the heart of the Sierra was the setting for the first experiment in teaching the elementary grades in the native language (Swadesh, 1940; Barlow, 1948; Castillo, 1945). In more recent years the CREFAL (1959), a UNESCOsponsored training project, has operated from Patzcuaro with several extensions affecting lake and nearby sierra Tarascan 729

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FIG. 8—THE NORTHWEST BARRIO O F C H E RAN. A highway curves along the edge of the barranca. Typical cultivated fields slope gently up to the cinder cone, which rises 1000 feet above the town. (From Beals, 1946, pl. 1, lower left.)

towns. Efforts of numerous Mexican government agencies and officials have resulted in improved water supplies, health projects, resettlement of victims of the Paricutin volcano eruption, and agricultural reforms. All too frequently these enterprises involved illinformed attempts to change the body of custom recognized by the Tarascans as los costumbres and thus created unnecessary resistance and hostility toward all types of change. Despite acceptance of some technical innovations and some increase in the recognition of the value of education, the main core of Tarascan culture seems to have suffered little change. POPULATION

The slow drift toward Mestizoization of many Tarascan towns, particularly in pe730

ripheral locations, and the gradual decline of Tarascan speech, make discussions of Tarascan population difficult, further hampered by changes in the criteria used in the various Mexican censuses. The aboriginal population of all the diocese of Michoacan has been estimated at 200,000 by Mendizábal (1939), the figure used by West (1948, p. 12). This figure included the non-Tarascan populations of Michoacan as well as Colima and seems absurdly low when it is considered that the Tarascans held their own against the pressures of the Mexica and were expanding their own imperial system. Cook and Simpson (1948, p. 29) believe a figure of 1,000,000 may be an underestimate. West's (1948, pp. 11-24) review of the data presents some problems. For 1750 he had a total of 55,000 Tarascans, but only 6700 for the Sierra. Between 1750 and the present, Tarascanspeakers became restricted to Tierra Fría, mainly the Sierra; for this region he shows a figure in 1900 of 41,368, more than the total of the official census for all Tarascans. From 1900 to 1921 all sources show a decline in Tarascan speech: 33,598 for official census figures, 32,262 for population of the Sierra area according to West's calculations. Whatever the magnitude of the decline in this period, most of it can be attributed to the effects of the Revolution and the large migration to the United States associated with it. The downward trend was reversed following the 1921 census. Official census figures show 44,350 for 1930 and 53,795 for 1940. Later figures are based on such different criteria as to be unusable. West's figures for the sierra for 1930 and 1940 are 40,002 and 43,243. West (1948) also provides detailed figures by settlement for the number of Tarascan-speakers and the distribution of monolinguals. Tarascan-speakers in various communities range from 0 to 100 per cent. The census data for 1940 indicate that 38 per cent of the Tarascan-speakers were

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monolinguals, but most field observers believe that this is too high and that the percentage of monolinguals may be as low as 30. The areas of high monolingualism are mostly in the more isolated parts of the Sierra. An exception is La Cañada where, despite a position on the old Camino Real and the modern highway, nearly 60 per cent were monolingual in 1940. It should be noted that the relation between the number of Tarascan-speakers and the number of monolinguals is quite variable. In some of the western Sierra towns that show 100 per cent Tarascan speech or percentages approaching this figure, more than 75 per cent are monolingual. On the other hand, Cheran with 88 per cent Tarascan-speakers or Sevina with 99 per cent each has less than 25 per cent monolinguals. In less than 50 per cent of Tarascan settlements do all the residents speak Tarascan whereas nearly 25 per cent of the population in the area are Mestizo. The percentage distribution of Tarascans by region has already been given in the section on geography. HISTORY OF ETHNOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION AND SOURCES

The Tarascans were virtually ignored between the 16th century and the late 19th century. Beginning in the 1880's Nicolas León concentrated on the group. Most of his works dealt with archaeological or ethnohistorical subjects but he also wrote several short notes on the contemporary Tarascans (1887a, 1887b, 1889a, 1889b, 1902b, 1906, 1934). Bourke (1893) published a short note on distillation processes, Starr (1899a) includes some Tarascan objects and Lumholtz (1902) makes brief observations. After another period of obscurity, folkloristic notes began to appear by writers such as J. Alvarado (1939), Alcaraz (1930), Francisco León (1939), Adrián León M. and Contreras (1944), Toor (1925), Storm (1945), and Zuno (1952), mostly at a popular level. Serious studies in cultural geography began in the latter 1930's with Stanis732

lawski's analysis of town "anatomy" (1950) and political geography (1947) and Brand's historical and modern geographical work (1943, 1944; Brand, 1951). Shortly before these dates several general surveys appeared in Mendieta y Núñez (1940). To a large extent these studies rest on government statistics and reports, popular materials, and superficial surveys; none involved intensive modern ethnographic work. Intensive and extensive ethnographic work began in 1940 with the formulation of the Tarascan Project, a cooperative enterprise of the National Polytechnic Institute, Mexican Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the University of California (Rubín de la Borbolla and Beals, 1940; Paul Kirchhoff took an active part in the planning, although his name does not appear in the published description). When difficulties developed in financing, parts of the project were carried forward by the Institute of Social Anthropology. Results included monographs on a large Sierra Tarascan community, Cheran (Beals, 1946), which included comparative notes from a number of other communities collected by student collaborators; on a Mestizo-Tarascan community on Lake Patzcuaro, Tzintzuntzan (Foster, 1948); on a Mestizo town, Quiroga (Brand and Corona Núñez, 1951); a general survey of Sierra Tarascan house types and house use (Beals, Carrasco, and McCorkle, 1944). Out of the field work related to these studies came articles on games (Beals and Carrasco, 1944), pottery (Pozas, 1949; Foster, 1960b), ritual (Rendón, 1950), diet and nutrition (Beals and Hatcher, 1943; Rendón, 1947), a review article (Foster, 1946) and, based on later field work not directly associated with the project, an important study of folk religion (Carrasco, 1952b) and another of social structure (Foster, 1961). Significant articles unconnected with the project included studies of Tarascan art (Medioni, 1952), analysis of changing dance functions (Kaplan, 1951), and lac-

FIG. 9—TZINTZUNTZAN, MICHOACAN, FROM THE AIR. This view, looking south, shows the eroded slopes of Yahuaro (left center), and Tariaqueri (right center) hills, between which the village nestles on the lakeshore. Most of the lake is out of sight to the right; its southern extremity reappears (middle upper right), beyond which lies Patzcuaro town. (Courtesy, U.S. Army Air Force and Mexican Army Air Force. From Foster, 1948, pl. 3.)

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quer work (Zuno, 1952). A number of studies connected with applied programs have ethnographic interest, the most important being Aguirre Beltrán (1952) on problems of the Indian population in the basin of the Tepalcatepec River, where a major development program is under way. The studies listed are generally of good quality and have removed the obscurity surrounding Tarascan culture before 1940. Nevertheless, much more could profitably be done. No village in the western part of the Sierra, where a high incidence of Tarascan speech and monolingualism is found, has been reported on even superficially. The one study of a predominantly Tarascan village of the lake region is only partly reported (Carrasco, 1952b). Indeed, the only extensive published ethnography of any of the 60 Tarascan pueblos and 55 ranchos listed by West (1948, p. 1) is Beals' monograph (1946) on Cheran. The extended and complex regional market and trading system has been examined only fragmentarily. Recent studies are only partially reported (Friedrich, 1958; Kaplan, 1960). Problem-oriented research that makes use of the easily accessible Tarascan communities is likewise minimal. The relatively abundant popular accounts of the Tarascans have only minor and occasional ethnographic value. They are not included in the references listed at the end of this article. SUBSISTENCE SYSTEMS AND FOOD PATTERNS

Tarascan subsistence systems are complex and must be viewed regionally (Beals, 1946, and West, 1948, are the main sources for this section). No one community shows all the characteristics here described. Farming, the major enterprise, produces not only a substantial part of the basic food supply but also surplus and special crops for cash sale. The same is true of livestock raising. These activities are supplemented by fishing (fig. 10), forest exploitation, handicrafts, wage labor, and trading. Trading activities are of

two types: a lively internal market system, linked with major markets in Mestizo towns, especially Patzcuaro (fig. 34) and Uruapan, and an external trading system. The market system provides for the sale of products and the purchase either of necessities produced in other villages or of articles drawn from the national economy. The external trading system may include some sale of local products outside the area but mainly concerns the purchase of products of either local or distant origin, their transport (often over long distances), and their resale. Probably a majority of Tarascan families buy a significant part of their food supply for cash. The principal subsistence crops are still the aboriginal American trio of maize, beans, and squash. Several varieties of maize are grown (Anderson, 1946; West, 1948, pp. 34-35) depending on elevation, soils, and food preferences. Communities differ in their preferences for white or yellow field maize, the major food. "Black" (actually dark blue) and red maize is usually cultivated in garden plots and is reserved for foods for special occasions or eaten fresh. In a few places, e.g., Nahuatzen, black maize is field grown fairly extensively. In most communities growers consume their own maize. Surpluses often go toward fattening animals, especially swine, but in good years may be sold. Only a few specially favored districts at lower elevations around the fringe of the Sierra are regular maize exporters. Maize is always stored on the cob, never in grain. Maize fodder is important for feeding animals. Most if not all Tarascan communities are self-sufficient in the production of squash. Three types of cucurbita are known, C. pepo, C. moschata, and C. ficifolia. Moschata may be a post-Spanish introduction. Two varieties of ficifolia, usually called chilecayote, command first preference, in contrast to most of Mexico. They are sun cured for two or three weeks and then 733

FIG. 10—LAKE PATZCUARO FISHING SCENES. Top, Drawing in the seine. Bottom, Seine stretched to dry; the man holds the tip of the bolsa. (From Foster, 1948, pl. 8.)

TARASCANS

stored. They are ordinarily planted not in the same hill with maize but on field borders or in gardens. Although all Tarascans grow some beans, an important element in the diet, many communities are not self-sufficient. Especially in the Sierra, where beans often do not grow well or require too much labor, they are commonly imported. Some 20 varieties of Phaseolus vulgaris are cultivated; all but a few appear to be modern introductions. P. cocineus L., a large sweet-flavored bean, may be old but is little cultivated today. In Tierra Caliente lima beans may be old. "Wild" beans are reported but are little used. Several other field-grown native crops are of minor importance. Historically the most interesting is amaranth (Amaranthus crueritus), usually called in Mexico alegría or bledos. Three varieties are grown; the grain is used in a few special foods, usually for fiestas. Some sweetpotatoes and jicamas (Pachyrrhizas erosus) are grown in the Cañada but probably most of these rather popular (but not highly significant) foods are imported from outside the Tarascan area. Two tubers, the potato and an oxalis, are of recent introduction. Neither is grown or consumed extensively. In addition to native field crops, wheat, barley, oats, broadbeans, chickpeas, and lentils are grown. Only wheat is extensively cultivated. In the Sierra it is generally grown on poorer soils, the main production being in the lake and La Cañada districts; in the latter area it is usually irrigated. Although some wheat is consumed in a rather wide variety of dishes, it is primarily a cash crop. Barley and, to a much lesser extent, oats are produced primarily for animal feed. Barley is often used as a rotation crop. Other European field crops are little grown and are unimportant in the diet. In addition to the field crops, many plants are grown in garden plots around houses. Special varieties of maize, to be eaten fresh

or in elote, are the most important part of the garden crop. The second is cabbage, which has been thoroughly incorporated into the Tarascan diet and is an essential in some of the most common and characteristic Tarascan dishes. Depending on elevation and, for chile peppers, the availability of irrigation water, many other plants are grown. Among native plants are chayote (Sechium edule), the small green husk tomato (Physalis angulata), and a variety of herbs for medicinal or flavoring purposes. Most European vegetables are known but are little used. Almost every house garden also has ornamental flowers; the most favored today are European introductions. Some agaves are planted along field borders. There is some collection of the juice or agua miel; a little is locally consumed in unfermented condition but most is sold in Mestizo towns. Wild agave buds (never from the domesticated plant) are roasted in pit ovens. In some towns no other wild plants are consumed except in times of acute famine. Elsewhere a variety of wild greens, herbs, mushrooms, and native fruits and berries are collected in season by women. In the Sierra the roots of zacatan grass (Muhlenbergia macroura) are gathered by men for sale in Mestizo towns, where it is made into brushes. Almost every house lot also supports several fruit trees. In the Sierra these are deciduous fruits, the European pear, peach, apricot, apple, and quince, and the native crabapple (tejocote), and cherry (capulín). In warmer locations the Old World fig, citrus (lemons, limes, and oranges), pomegranate, and native fruits such as avocado, chirimoya, guava, and zapote blanco are planted. In still warmer areas are the mamey, zapote prieto, mango, and varieties of banana and plantain. Apples and pears frequently are grafted to the local tejocote. Irrigation may be practiced but otherwise fruit trees receive little care; pruning, for example, is rare or nonexistent. Towns often 735

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tend to specialize in a single type of fruit, especially in the Sierra. Besides what growers consume of their own fruit, a considerable amount changes hands within the area and substantial quantities are exported through the external trading system. Rather recent is a type of intensive commercial market gardening, principally about the shores of Lake Patzcuaro, where irrigation is feasible. Principal plants are chile peppers of several kinds, tomatoes, husk tomatoes, onion, garlic, cabbage, and lettuce. Products go into the Sierra through the regional marketing system as well as into the Mestizo towns. Similar gardening on a smaller scale is carried on in La Cañada and a few other towns in temperate zones. Vegetable production for export is not new, however, and West (1948, p. 47) cites evidence that in the 18th century the once Tarascan towns near Lake Cuitzeo marketed vegetables as far as the Valley of Toluca. Cultivation is with the plow (fig. 20), except for a few gardening activities. Plows are usually drawn by oxen, but very recently some tractors have appeared. Maize is planted in furrows, back-covered with the plow, and later cultivated once or twice with the plow, followed usually by a hand weeding. Soil for other grain crops such as wheat is plowed and further prepared by harrowing or dragging brush across the surface. Small grains are sown broadcast and harrowed. Harvesting is by hand with the sickle. With very few exceptions fields are cultivated in alternate years; garden plots are cultivated continuously and are usually fertilized. Beans and squash, if grown in any amount, are not planted along with maize but in separate fields. A good many minor crops are planted along field borders in small quantities. Cattle raising is primarily to provide oxen for draught animals but a few families have small herds in the least unfavorable areas. Even in ordinary years some animals are lost in the dry season, from lack of either water or food. Many of the animals butch736

ered are worn-out draught oxen which have been fattened briefly. A little cheese is made but much more is imported. Milk is not prized and little is produced. When needed, animals are kept in the house lots, where the manure is a valuable fertilizer; at other times they are pastured in the mountains and forests. Sheep have long been important, but only a few families have flocks. Most sheep are cared for by professional shepherds who may herd the sheep of several owners. Sheep are the principal source of fertilizer in the fields, where they are bedded at night on fallow lands. Landowners frequently pay a small fee for this service. Hogs are omnipresent in Tarascan towns. Almost every family has at least two or three, sometimes reared on a share basis with the owner. These animals roam the streets scavenging but are fed enough by the owners to ensure their return at night. Some droves of hogs are also pastured in forests or marshy areas. Animals are intensively fattened before butchering. Pork is a popular food, and lard is essential in contemporary Tarascan cooking. Except for special feasts, most large animals are sold to professional butchers who resell the meat. The Tarascans raise few turkeys but many chickens. Although found in almost every household, most chickens and eggs are sold in Mestizo towns. In the past in the Sierra the price of one egg would buy enough imported beans for a day's ration in a family of five. Essential to many Tarascan activities are burros. They transport articles on trading expeditions, carry firewood, and bring in the harvests. Horses belong only to a few wealthy persons; mules are rare. Not only do the Tarascans not understand the care of horses and mules but the available fodder and pasturage is unsuited to them. Generally burros, horses, and mules are kept very much as are the horned cattle, but they are not eaten. Both European and native bees are kept

TARASCANS

by some families in most settlements. Both wax and honey are prized. Wild honey is also collected. Most bees were killed by the volcanic ash fall from Paricutin Volcano and only slowly returned. Wild animals are scarce. In the Sierra, where they are most abundant, hunting is primarily a pastime. Deer, peccary, squirrels, rabbits, quail, pigeons, and occasionally armadillos are hunted and eaten. Seasonal duck hunting, mainly on the lakes, is a more serious affair, sometimes undertaken by groups using the spearthrower. Today shotguns are more common. Ducks are eaten locally and also traded. Fishing (fig. 10) in the past was a major activity for many Tarascans but today is a declining activity. The Nahua name for the area, Mechuacan, meant "land of the fishers" (West, 1948, p. 52). Drainage and desiccation of lakes and marshes has ended fishing in all but Lakes Patzcuaro and Zirahuen and the Balsas and Tepalcatepec rivers, now outside the area of Tarascan speech. The most prized of the original fish in the lakes were viviparous species of the genus Chirostoma, one of which is the justly famous pescado blanco of Patzcuaro. Shrimp and frog legs also are taken. About 1930 a black bass from eastern North America was introduced, presumably to restore failing fish resources. Although they now provide excellent sport fishing in Lake Patzcuaro, the bass have hastened the decline of the native fish, as well as being destructive of native fishing gear. Today fish are a major import in the external trading network. With few exceptions Tarascan communities provide most of their own maize supply, but the greater number receive a significant and even a substantial part of their food supply from elsewhere through trade or purchase. Food patterns are therefore not a simple reflection of subsistence activities. Tarascan cookery is quite varied, both within a single community and from community to community. Much of the variation, however, is in a few basic dishes.

Maize is the main food, primarily as tortillas, secondarily as the kurunda, a triangular tamale of nixtamal with a little soda. In addition maize is eaten green, in gordos (fried nixtamal cakes), as hominy, in more elaborate tamales, and in a great variety of atoles, or gruels, differing chiefly in the flavoring employed. Hot herbal teas are drunk frequently. Coffee is little used and then mainly as a vehicle for an ounce of alcohol. Another characteristic Tarascan dish is churipo, consisting of meat (almost always beef) stewed with cabbage, chickpeas, sometimes a few carrots, and strongly flavored with chile and coriander. One or two chunks of meat are served with the vegetables in a bowl of broth. In prosperous villages families eat churipo nearly every day. Either as a substitute or as an addition to the diet, most families will also have dishes featuring fish or cheese. Beans are a frequent part of the diet but are served more often by families who cannot afford animal proteins. Depending on season, numerous fruits and vegetables are eaten. Mealtimes normally are about 10 A.M., 2 P.M., and 7 P.M. Poor families have only two meals. The early meal consists of tortillas with a protein dish (meat, fish, eggs, or beans) or greens, varied every few days with atole. Some families have taken over the common Mestizo breakfast of hot boiled milk and hot boiled sweetpotato about 7 A.M., in which case other meals are then moved forward an hour or two. The noon meal if possible includes churipo and always tortillas, together with supplementary dishes depending on season and wealth. The evening meal is usually the same as the midday meal. Fruit, boiled chayote or squash, and other foods are often eaten as snacks between meals by both adults and children. For ceremonial occasions meals always include tortillas, churipo and kurundas. The Tarascan diet is potentially a good one, but poverty or bad distribution of

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FIG. 11—TYPICAL SIERRA TARASCAN LOT, CHERAN, MICHOACAN. (After Beals, Carrasco, and McCorkle, 1944, fig. 2.)

foods leaves many families inadequately nourished in calories or vitamins or both. Towns preferring white to yellow maize, for example, probably have clinical deficiencies of vitamin A (Beals and Hatcher, 1943). SETTLEMENT PATTERNS

Typical Tarascan dwellings stand in a fenced or walled lot with a wide gate giving on the street. The gate ordinarily is covered with a small two-shed roof of shakes or tiles resembling the English lych-gate. The largest structure is nearest the street and 738

often mistaken for a house by outside observers; the attic serves for maize storage and the lower room for the house altar and the storage of clothing, equipment and tools, furniture reserved for special occasions, and safekeeping of all kinds. Facing the storehouse across a patio or outdoor work space is the "kitchen" (fig. 11). Here all cooking is done and the family ordinarily eats and sleeps. In addition, a pigpen and usually sheds to shelter burros and other animals or to store fodder stand around the patio. The back part of the lot, which may be of some size, is devoted to gardening, growing of special maize types, and fruit trees. Wealthy families may have a second storehouse. In the few cases of extended family households each family may have a kitchen and storehouse about a single patio and within the same wall or fence. But the typical lot is the residence of a nuclear family, sometimes extended by the presence of an impoverished or helpless parent or grandparent, unmarried brothers and sisters when the parents are dead, or a newly married son and his wife who customarily remain only until the birth of their first child. One of the basic criteria of good parents is the ability to set up their children in their own residences shortly after marriage. This is common even where parents and children may be closely tied together in their economic activities. In the centers of larger towns Mestizotype houses of adobe or stone in adobe mortar prevail. Such construction is more common in the lake region. The house wall in this case is directly on the street and may have windows. Even here the typical Tarascan "kitchen" is often in the rear. As terrain permits, houses are ranged along streets laid out in a grid pattern centering on a plaza on which face the church and municipal offices (figs. 12-16). This tends to be true of even quite small places, but notable exceptions occur. One is the

FIG. 12—PLAN OF CHERAN, MICHOACAN. Shows the distribution of house types and specialists. A fine line bordering the streets indicates vacant property; a medium line indicates the presence of wooden structures without masonry; a heavy line indicates the presence of masonry or adobe structures.

The majority of the latter also have one or more wooden structures on the same lot. Location of the majority of the specialized businesses or occupations is shown. The numbers refer to the house numbering system as of 1940. (From Beals, 1946, Map 4.)

FIG. 13—PLAN OF CHERAN, MICHOACAN. Shows street names and barrio numbers. C, cuartel or barrio; M, manzana or block. Numbers indicate the town numbering system. (From Beals, 1946, Map 5.)

TARASCANS

FIG. 14—PLAN OF URINGUITIRO, 1946. Like most indigenous ranchos of the Sierra, the street pattern is irregular and dwellings are widely spaced. (From West, 1948, Map 15.)

island village of Janitzio in Lake Patzcuaro, the village most visited by tourists, where the terrain prevents a grid-settlement pattern. The towns of the Cañada generally lie along the old road in almost a line-village pattern. The isolated homestead is almost nonexistent among the Tarascans; rancherías or ranchos are rare. The latter often lie on the borders between municipios and are occupied by Mestizos rather than Tarascans. Most of the population lives in villages, to-

day organized into municipios with a head village (usually the largest) known as a cabecera and smaller villages known as tenencias. The cabecera (fig. 18) is sometimes a Mestizo or partially Mestizoized town. An exception is Cheran in the Sierra, perhaps largest of the Tarascan villages, which has no subsidiary towns and only three ranchos. Officially municipio boundaries are established by the state government and are subject to change. Fissioning of municipios is 741

FIG. 15—PLAN O F AHUIRAN, 1946. The plan is typical of small Sierra towns. Note the scattered dwellings and lot boundaries. (From West, 1948, Map 16.)

FIG. 16—PLAN O F TIRINDARO, 1946. Representative of compact Tarascan towns, most of which occur in areas bordering the Sierra. (From West, 1948, M a p 17.)

FIG. 17—CHERAN LANDS, SHOWING TOPOGRAPHY, PRINCIPAL CULTIVATED AREAS, AND VARIOUS CULTURAL FEATURES. (From Reals, 1946, Map 2.)

FIG. 18—THE MUNICIPIO OF CHERAN, SHOWING THE MORE IMPORTANT PLACE NAMES. See fig. 17 for explanation of symbols. (From Reals, 1946, Map 3.)

TARASCANS

FIG. 19—TZINTZUNTZAN HUNTING, FISHING, AND WEAVING SCENES. Top left, The spearthrower in use. Top right, Weaving a mat. Bottom left, Carrying a seine to the canoe. Bottom right, Drying bundles of tules. (From Foster, 1948, pl. 9.)

the most common change occurring in the recent past, but there are also examples of relocation of towns and ranchos. The most recent shifts involve resettlement of people from the area devastated by Paricutin Volcano on lands no longer considered Tarascan. Much of the land in present municipios is regarded as communal property, even though permanently cultivated plots may be privately owned in the legal sense. Most communities, however, do not permit land transfers to nonmembers of the community. If anything, this practice has been strengthened in modern times as a protective resistance against Mestizoization. Communities such as Parangaricutiro are examples of what happens when Mestizos are allowed to own land (see figs. 17, 18). The location of Tarascan settlements of whatever type is related to the accessibility of land or other resources providing the ma-

jor subsistence activities and to the site of springs. Most settlements occur on benches (lake), gentle slopes or benches near extensive cultivated benches (Sierra), or in a few cases on benches on hillslopes; Paracho is the only considerable one in the midst of a flat plain (West, 1948, p. 25). Few communities lie above the 2750-m. contour; the majority are below 2440 m. (West, 1948, Map 1). All Tarascan settlements in Tierra Caliente have disappeared, and only 2 per cent of the population still lives in Tierra Templada. Tarascan municipios in the Sierra have very definite territories whose location is known, marked, and jealously protected. Disputes over boundaries and illicit use of forest resources are frequent. On the other hand, Tarascan settlements are bound politically with the state government. They also are linked economically in unexpected 745

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 20—CHERAN P L O W . a, In use, with oxen. b, Main frame, made from a single piece of wood. c, Peg over which the tongue fits. d, Steel plowshare fastened on the point of the main frame. e, Tongue which goes over peg ( c ) , while the end fits in a sprocket on the main frame. f, Yoke; the tongue ( e ) passes through the opening of the yoke and is held by a tapered peg (not shown). 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. (From Beals, 1946, fig. 3.)

ways both internally and externally through trading relationships and interdependencies. TECHNOLOGY

Tools With the exception of the simple digging stick, the round-bladed Tarascan canoe paddle, the distinctive canoe, and the spearthrower (fig. 19) used for duck hunting on Lake Patzcuaro, Tarascan tools are derived from Spanish prototypes. Another possible exception is the unusual butterfly nets used until recently to catch small fish in the lakes. Almost their only use today is to provide photographs (for a fee) for the tourists on launches between Patzcuaro and Janitzio. 746

Agricultural tools include wooden digging sticks, and spadelike forms. The wooden plow with a metal tip is still the most common type, stirring the soil to some 6 inches (fig. 20). A form of north European moldboard is sometimes attached to the tip; steel moldboard plows from the United States have been supplied in small numbers to some towns. Very recently a few tractors have made their appearance, but oxen provide the main traction for plowing. Metal hoes, spades, sickles, and weeding tools probably derived from the more widespread coa are also employed. Planting and cultivating are done with the plow except for occasional replanting or in fields too rocky or small for plowing. Hand weeding with knife or sickle is common at late stages of maize development. Many of the metal tools are handmade by Tarascans or nearby Mestizo ironworkers. In wheat-growing areas there are a few power threshing machines but persons with only a little wheat use the hand flail. In the lake region a long-handled wooden scoop is used to lift water by hand for irrigating nearby fields and gardens; it also is probably of European inspiration (fig. 21). Other metal tools include axes, adzes, and other woodworking implements, generally of local or regional hand manufacture. Three-pronged fish spears and single-barbed duck-hunting spears have metal points (West, 1948, fig. 5). Secondary tools of local manufacture include a primitive woodworking lathe (fig. 22), replaced recently in many places with power-driven lathes where electricity has become available, looms, and ropemaking devices. Of major importance and wide distribution is the modern sewing machine, especially heavyduty models for the manufacture of hats from palm-leaf braid. Techniques of Processing and Manufacture Most processing and manufacturing techniques are simple. The majority are connected with crafts and are discussed below.

FIG. 21—IRRIGATION DEVICE. The pole to which the wooden scoop is attached is approximately 12 feet long. (From West, 1948, fig. 4.)

FIG. 22—LATHE DRIVEN BY BOW. A candlestick about 12 in. long is in process of manufacture. The two bottom views show the position of the cutting tool. (From Beals, 1946, fig. 9.)

FIG. 24—TZINTZUNTZAN POTTERY MAKING. a, Woman making plates while her daughters watch. b, Polishing dried pots. c, Grinding and mixing glaze. d, Women glazing. e, Large pots in the kiln for second firing. f, Pottery on way to market. (From Foster, 1948, pls. 9, 13.)

Food processing, in addition to cooking methods already mentioned, is related mainly to maize. This is usually boiled with lime (or occasionally oak ashes for special foods) and today is converted to nixtamal at power mills. Green corn is often boiled and dried for storage. Wheat is threshed and sold to flour mills; if flour is used, it is purchased. Fish are sun dried in the lake regions but

meat is usually eaten within two or three days of slaughtering animals. (For photographs of various techniques and crafts see Beals, 1946, and West, 1948; for pottery making also see Foster, 1948, and Pozas, 1949). Crafts Crafts are numerous among the Taras749

FIG. 25—BELT LOOM. Proportions are distorted to show detail; the actual width of the belt is about 1½ in. The central part of the warp is double. Lower view shows schematically the various sheds created by the shed bar and the four heddles. Length between loom bars is 3 ft. 9 in. (From Beals, 1946, fig. 7.)

cans, who have developed extensive specialization (fig. 23; West, 1948, Table 2 gives distribution of crafts by villages). Wood products, weaving, and pottery making are perhaps the most widespread and important. The forests are exploited to produce roofing shakes, railroad ties, posts, beams and planks, firewood and some charcoal, turpentine, and pitch pine. Shakes are split with wedges from sections of straight-grained fir 750

or pine trunks. Beams are squared with the adze; planks are sawed with a two-handled saw. Some commercial sawmill operations provide labor opportunities in the Sierra. The Tarascans have been noted for woodworking since preconquest times. Today the major center for this craft is the largely Mestizo town of Paracho. Power-driven lathes now are used in some towns, notably Paracho (Kaplan, 1960). Products include

TARASCANS

FIG. 26—SPINNING W H E E L AND ASSOCIATED IMPLEMENTS. a, Scales for weighing wool: the weight is a 1-pound stone; length of beam, 14½ in. b, Carders used to prepare wool for spinning, about 9 by 12 in.; the wires are merely indicated schematically and actually are much more numerous. c, Homemade spinning 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. (From Beals, 1946, fig. 6.)

furniture (particularly chairs, tables, and chests, often made without metal parts), canoes and water troughs, adzed and carved spoons and bowls of soft woods, and a wide variety of lathe-turned pieces for export including hardwood bowls, vases, candlesticks, chocolate beaters, chessmen, salt and pepper shakers, darning eggs, and toys (fig. 22). Elaborate wood products are the guitars of Paracho, where the industry goes back into colonial times and creates instruments of high musical quality. Violins and bass viols are also made. Pottery is made in only nine towns, including the mainly Mestizo town of Tzin-

tzuntzan (fig. 24). Much of the region, especially the Sierra, lacks suitable clays. Coiling and hand "patching" (attaching flattened pieces of clay to a molded base) are employed, but most pottery is moldmade (see vol. 6, Art. 6, figs. 4,d; 5,a,e). Domestic pottery is a reddish fabric with a sandy surface texture. Water jars and other forms are often polished or burnished to a glazelike finish and elaborately painted. Certain communities will use only a special type of water jar. Black or green glazed ware is also produced at a number of towns. Some of the glazed ware carries white stylized animal and floral designs and is widely admired 751

FIG. 27—TARASCAN MEN, MAKING NET (LEFT) AND SPINNING WOOL (RIGHT), JANICHO. (From Starr, 1899a, pl. 22.)

FIG. 28—STREET NEAR THE PLAZA, CHERAN. A stone-and-adobe whitewashed structure is visible near the church. In center is a well-built stone-and-adobe fence capped with straw and shakes; the houses are of wood. (From Beals, Carrasco, and McCorkle, 1944, pl. 3.)

FIG. 29—DISTRIBUTION OF HOUSE TYPES IN THE TARASCAN AREA, 1946. (From West, 1948, Map 18.)

and sold throughout Mexico and even in the United States. Most pottery is fired in kilns. In a few places pottery manufacture is relatively recent. One of the most famous contemporary pottery centers, Santa Fe de la Laguna, began manufacture only in the latter part of the 19th century. Another fired clay product is roofing tile. Cement tile has recently been introduced in the Sierra. Unfired adobe bricks are made widely. The poor clays of the Sierra give a passable result if mixed with pine needles. Plain cotton cloth weaving on the belt loom (fig. 25) has been almost entirely displaced by commercial products. Belts for men and women, shawls or rebozos, aprons, tablecloths and napkins are still made of commercially purchased cotton thread. The exceptionally fine dress or wedding rebozos are made only in Mestizoized towns. Agave fiber is spun with the hand spindle

and woven on the belt loom. It goes into carrying bags, carrying cloths, and sacks. Rope and cord are also produced. Wool weaving is rapidly declining. Wool is carded, spun with a spinning wheel (fig. 26), and woven on a horizontal European loom with treddles. This loom was introduced possibly in late, even postcolonial, times. Some wool is still woven on the belt loom. The principal product is blankets and serapes. Cloth for women's skirts is still made but has largely been displaced by factory products. Aniline dyes are common but for skirts and dark serapes indigo is still preferred. Openwork woven tablecloths and bedspreads are made on the loom by a few people. Embroidery and sewing are important. Cross-stitching and embroidering are applied to women's blouses (usually a modified huipil), napkins, and tablecloths. Many 753

FIG. 30—TARASCAN DOMESTIC STRUCTURES. Upper left, Simple kitchen with corner posts, Angahuan. Upper right, Elaborate kitchen, Angahuan. Middle left, Wooden troje with tile roof and adobe support for ridgepole, Ihuatzio, Lake Patzcuaro. Middle right, Storehouse, Angahuan. Lower left, Large storehouse over gate. Lower center, Storehouse with lower part made into a room. Lower right, Storehouse, Capacuaro. (From Beals, Carrasco, and McCorkle, 1944, pl. 6.)

TARASCANS

of these products are for the tourist trade. Strips of cross-stitch are also made and sold separately, mainly for application at the bottom of cotton petticoats. Hat making, another declining industry, is found in a number of towns but primarily in the island town of Jaracuaro. Although wheat straw has been employed, most hats are made from braided palm-leaf strips rolled flat and sewed together almost always on the sewing machine. The palm leaf comes from Tierra Caliente. Several villages around Paracho make a large proportion of the braid; palm-leaf and finished braid are always important items at the Paracho market. Hats are marketed mainly in Uruapan and Guanajuato but form an indispensable article of Tarascan male clothing. In the past tule mat weaving was important but with increasing desiccation, tules (fig. 19) have become scarce. A knife or sharp stone and a wooden mallet are the only tools. Several sizes are made by twilling techniques. Fire fans are also made of tule (see vol. 6, Art. 6, fig. 11). Twilled or wicker baskets of split canes are made in two lake towns. The baskets used in the maize harvest as well as other types come from the now Mestizoized towns of Tingamandapio west of Zamora and Panindicuaro north of Zacapu. Nets (fig. 27) are made at all fishing villages from purchased cotton thread with a large wooden needle. A few full-time professionals make nets, but in fishing villages men, women, and children may work on nets in spare time. Palm-leaf rain capes, probably of Philippine origin, are made in three Tarascan towns. Braided cords are stretched about a foot apart between pegs driven in the ground. Starting at the bottom, moistened palm-leaf strips are tied to the first cord, half-hitched to the second, and tied back to the first with the loose end hanging down. The process, repeated for each row of cords, creates a thatchlike surface. Lacquerwork (see vol. 6, Art. 7, figs. 2

and 3) is a famous product of the Tarascan area. In pre-Columbian times lacquer was apparently confined to gourds but in the colonial period it was applied to wood objects, mainly bowls or flat wooden plates and chests. Basic designs appear to have been conventionalized native flowers, but styles have undergone many changes. Japanese visitors in the 17th century may have had some influence; certainly French and especially Russian lacquer left their mark in the Lake Patzcuaro area. In this region wooden bowls also were painted in flamboyant flower designs. Today both lacquer and painted work are done almost entirely by Mestizos in Uruapan and Quiroga. Much of the material is inferior commercial lacquer rather than the aboriginal type made from an insect (Coccus axin) and oil from a salvia. Tanning and fabricated leather, once important Tarascan products, now are rare. Shoes no longer are made, and most leather huaraches (sandals) come from Mestizoized towns. Saddles and riding equipment are made still, mostly at heavily Mestizoized Nahuatzen in the Sierra. Copper mining no longer is carried on in the Tarascan area. The contemporary copper caldrons, vases, and bowls usually attributed to the Tarascans are made of scrap copper by Mestizo workmen in Santa Clara. Ironworking still occupies many Tarascan communities. The range of products has declined, and today native ironworking is confined to the manufacture of hoe blades, axes and adzes, woodworking tools and similar objects for local consumption. An occasional part-time worker in gold and silver jewelry may be found. Houses and Buildings Storehouses, or trojes (fig. 30) often miscalled houses, and kitchens are of either wooden, stone, and adobe mortar or adobe brick construction. Wooden construction still remains but most wooden structures are of heavy adzed planks notched to inter755

FIG. 31—HOUSE TYPES. Upper left, Old log structure, Zacan. Upper right, Old wooden troje, Tirindaro. Middle left, Adobe house, Apo. Middle right, Wooden house, Caltzontzin, the refugee pueblo east of Uruapan. These new structures are North American in appearance. Lower left, Abandoned adobe twoshed house, San Jeronimo. Lower right, Street scene, San Jeronimo. (From West, 1948, pl. 4.)

TARASCANS

lock at the corners. Floor and ceiling, also of adzed planks, usually project on the door side of the house to form a veranda. The roof is usually of four sheds formed of pole frameworks, with attached stringers to which shakes are fastened, formerly with tejocote thorns, today with nails. These are the only metal parts used in the house (unless there is a lock), and the separate sheds can be removed as units if the house is moved. Houses are raised about 18-20 inches on a framework of heavy beams resting on stones. The kitchen (fig. 30) differs from the house in several ways. Almost always the entire floor is of dirt; when it is not, a plank floor covers the area except for a sizable earthen space left for the cooking fire. In larger kitchens the walls are of adzed or sawn planks set vertically and mortised into beams at top and bottom. Roofs are similar to those of the "house." Simpler structures have wall planks running horizontally and perhaps only two roof sheds. Sometimes a section can be raised to provide a smoke vent. Both types of structures lack windows and have a single door with a mortised frame. The "house" roof has a hatchway into the loft, the principal storage place for maize. Occasionally structures of the house type with two or more rooms are found in Mestizo-influenced towns, but usually, if additional space is needed, another separate house or kitchen is built. A unique aspect of the wooden structures is that with sufficient help from relatives and neighbors the owner can disassemble, move, and reassemble a house in a single day. Most Sierra Tarascan men have the basic skills and tools necessary to prepare the materials and construct the house and kitchen after a fashion. With few exceptions, however, most men would purchase materials from professional lumbermen and hire a professional carpenter at least to supervise the construction of the house or kitchen. Even a house moving is ordinarily under

the supervision of a professional carpenter. Characteristic of both Mestizo and Tarascan architecture in central Michoacan are wide overhanging eaves (fig. 28). It seems unlikely that this feature is aboriginal, but its distribution appears to coincide approximately with the former limits of Tarascan speech. In the lake region and the Cañada, adobe brick or stone in adobe mortar construction is almost universal, and is increasingly common in the Sierra. Often houses of the wellto-do will contain two to four rooms, one of which may be a kitchen; others are oneroom affairs. In any case windows are much more common. Floors may be dirt but wooden or cement floors are preferred. Masons and carpenters must be employed for constructing this type of house. In both adobe and stone structures, carving may ornament doors, beam ends, and capitals. Furnishings in the Tarascan troje ordinarily include a table that serves as a house altar. If the owner is a mayordomo of a saint, the altar supporting the saint's image may be quite elaborate and the entire room decorated. Otherwise the altar may consist of religious pictures on the wall with candles and an incense burner on the table, together with valued objects laid down temporarily in a safe place. Other furniture includes wooden armchairs for visitors, tin or wooden trunks for storage, and one or more poles for hanging up clothes. Rarely there may be a bed, reserved for visitors. In adobe houses fronting on main streets a room may have a metal bedstead and otherwise be furnished in Mestizo style. During the day windows are opened on the street, but the room is used only on very special occasions. The kitchen contains mats for sleeping (rolled up during the day), shelves for storing pottery and other vessels, stools or low chairs, a variety of pottery vessels for cooking and eating, gourds, baskets, brooms and brushes, a metate, and fire fan. In earthenfloored houses fireplaces are usually of six 757

ETHNOLOGY

stones placed on the floor or, more rarely, one or two horseshoe-shaped clay ridges. In the lake region the fireplace is more frequently raised on an adobe base as is common in Mestizo houses (Beals, Carrasco, and McCorkle, 1944, pp. 21-24). The completion of a new house or the moving of an old one are occasions of essentially secular fiestas. Roofing of the new house or moving of the troje or the kitchen are almost the only times when relatives, friends, and neighbors are expected to join in cooperative labor. Feasting, drinking, and dancing accompany house roofing, and the householder and main participants are festooned with tortillas, flowers, and special breads in the shape of animals. There is a street procession with the master builder and his friends and relatives in positions of honor. At other times the house or troje is the scene of mayordomías, weddings, and funerals (Beals, Carrasco, and McCorkle, 1944, pp. 30-31, pl. 8). Dress and Adornment

FIG. 32—CHERAN WOMEN'S DRESS. The petticoat is drawn here more visible than usual to indicate the embroidered edge. The apron commonly reaches the bottom of the skirt. The shawl would normally be on the head or about the shoulders. (From Beals, 1946, fig. 8.)

758

Contemporary dress is changing rapidly toward Mestizo standards in the area. Men at work may still wear white cotton calzones (a style of trousers) supported by a broad sash, and a cotton shirt or blouse, sometimes colored. A serape is worn or carried against cold and rain, and a straw hat is indispensable. Sandals (huaraches) are worn at work. To a very considerable extent, however, this costume is being replaced with trousers and jacket of blue denim. In addition, more and more men have dark cotton trousers, woolen jacket, felt hat, and shoes for wear into the Mestizo towns. For special events, combinations of these garments may be worn while in the home community. In conservative villages, young men may adorn the straw hat with flowers. Hair is worn short, but long hair is still remembered. Traditional women's dress (fig. 32) is elaborate and costly. A wide petticoat of white muslin with a strip of embroidery or cross-stitch at the bottom reaches to the

TARASCANS

ankles. The material is gathered in many pleats across the back and held tightly with a broad woolen belt. In warm weather or for hard work only the petticoat may be worn, but ordinarily it is covered by a woolen skirt of about the same length. This also is heavily pleated across the back, forming a bunching of material sufficient to provide a seat for an infant held on the back. The skirt is held by one or, for special occasions, several narrow decorated cotton belts wound tightly one on top of another. Sierra skirts are black or indigo; lake-village women sometimes wear red or a reddish plaid. Most women using the old dress bought one such skirt a year, saving the newest one for gala events. An apron is commonly worn over the skirt, often elaborately decorated or brightly colored. The upper part of the body is covered by a blouse, usually with embroidered or crossstitched decoration. Blouses vary in elaborateness but many, especially those for everyday wear, approximate the aboriginal huípil and sometimes are open on the sides. The rebozo is almost always worn, as a carrying cloth for goods or infants, a handkerchief, or a towel, as well as for warmth or for protecting the head from the direct sun. Most women possess several of varying qualities for different occasions; the best quality, usually given by the bridegroom's father at marriage, may be considerably more expensive than a common serape. Shoes may be worn for particular needs, but women rarely wear huaraches. Ordinarily they go barefoot. Women's hair is elaborately combed, dressed with lemon juice and oil, and braided, often with a bit of colored yarn or narrow ribbon. Women may wear men's hats on a long journey but more often they break off a branch with which to shade the head if needed. Traditional women's dress is fast disappearing in many towns and is approximating Mestizo standards. Ready-made cotton house dresses are much cheaper than the

traditional dress, which is often worn only on special occasions. Children's dress from the earliest age possible copies that of adults (Beals, 1946, pls. 1,2,3). Transportation Until a few decades ago, many Tarascans still relied solely on the human back (with a carrying strap or cloth across the chest, or a tumpline) for transportation, even on longdistance trading trips. This is still true for short trips to market or to woods and fields, but burros are also used extensively on trading expeditions, to bring firewood or harvested crops to the house, to transport wheat to flour mills or forest products to markets. Horses, mules (except for some long-distance professional traders), or wheeled carts are rare; the last are found principally in La Cañada and other more level areas along the northern margins of Tarascan territory. With the advent of railroads and later roads, Tarascans turned readily to modern transportation when available. Both trucks and buses are patronized, and a few trucks are owned by Tarascans. Mestizo wholesale buyers for wheat, forest products, and agricultural surpluses became common with the advent of even crude truck trails. Weights and Measures Most Tarascan measures are in terms of volume rather than weight or size. Current usage is a mixture of colonial Spanish and the modern metric system. Distances are expressed perhaps most commonly in terms of travel time, but also in leagues, miles, or kilometers. Land is usually measured by the amount of seed sown. West (1948, p. 33) states that 2 liters of maize will plant one hectare; this seems very low. In La Cañada, 5 liters equal one medida and 20 medidas equal one fanega or one yunta, the amount of land that can be planted in a season with a single yoke of oxen. In wheat planting 44 liters equal one carga or 1 to 1½ yuntas. In 759

ETHNOLOGY

the Sierra weights are measured in pounds, kilos, arrobas, and cargas (one muleload); a burro carries ½ carga or 14-18 arrobas. The Spanish vara is equated with the meter; and if the term hectare is known, it may be measured in paces rather than meters. ECONOMY

Division of Labor Women may help in emergencies such as planting or harvesting, but their participation in major agricultural tasks is rare. Gleaning, however, is done by women and children. The woman is responsible for all household tasks such as food preparation, clothing maintenance, infant and child care, bringing water, aiding in the care of pigs, chickens, or other animals in the household, and caring for flowers and vegetables in the house yard. She does much of the retail selling and buying at markets and, if her husband has no other companions, she will accompany him on long trading trips into the unhealthful lowlands. Women are active in some handicraft occupations, especially pottery making and textiles. In pottery making (fig. 24) women usually condition the clay, shape or mold and polish the products, and prepare the glaze if one is used. Men normally provide the raw materials. Men do much of the painting; setting up the kiln and firing are usually cooperative. Women help with net making and repair in the lake area, plait palm leaves for hats, do some of the weaving and most of the embroidering and cross-stitching. On the other hand, women rarely if ever weave blankets or serapes made on the broadloom and apparently never make hats. They do share machine sewing of clothing with men. The occasional Tarascan lacquerworkers in the Sierra are women, as are some of the Mestizo producers at Uruapan. The finest work in recent times is produced by Mestizo men. Women do not participate in wood760

working or forest exploitation. A few bake bread for sale and make paper flowers. In the main, however, women have little part in the productive activities of the Tarascan economy. Men build the houses, provide firewood, store and look after farm products, and do most of the work connected with larger animals. They do virtually all agricultural work, work connected with forest exploitation, herding, hunting, fishing, and virtually all craft production except in textiles and pottery. Men do the major trading and run the stores in the few instances where these are Tarascan rather than Mestizo in ownership. Children, according to their sex, begin to aid their parents at an early age. Almost as soon as girls can accompany their mothers to the fountain, they have their own small water jar. At a little older level, boys may have their own tumpline to carry home a stick or two of firewood. Specialization The only Tarascans who do not farm are those who own no land and can neither rent nor buy it. All farmers hope to grow at least enough maize for household requirements; beyond this, specialization in farming depends on soil, climate, knowledge, and demand. In the Sierra some men specialize in forest exploitation or animal herding; in the lake region, in fishing, mostly as supplementary occupations to farming. Others devote themselves to seasonal trading. The greatest individual specialization is in craft activities; a person engaging in one craft or nonfarming occupation rarely undertakes another. The most marked specialization is not by individuals but by villages. Although more than one craft may be found in a village, usually one or two predominate. Thus Jaracuaro is the major hat-making center, Janitzio emphasizes fishing (as do some other lake villages), Paracho woodworking and

FIG. 33—DISTRIBUTION OF MARKETS AND THEIR LOCAL TRADING TERRITORY IN THE MODERN TARASCAN AREA. Black circles and town outlines represent markets. Many non-Tarascan towns tributary to the main markets are not indicated. (From West, 1948, Map 21.)

FIG. 34—THE PATZCUARO MARKET. Top, Canoe arriving from Janitzio. Bottom, Fruit stands. (From Foster, 1948, pl. 10.)

TARASCANS

weaving, Nahuatzen embroidery and forestry. West (1948, pp. 56-71) discusses this subject in detail (fig. 23). His Table 2 shows historical changes in it. Village specialization accounts for much of the market and trading activities, both internal and external.

wife has charge of family funds. In the rather rare cases of extended families maintaining joint residence, sometimes all income is pooled even to the extent that funds for purchases of clothing or food are drawn from the extended family purse.

Property and Land Tenure

In almost all activities the nuclear family is the common unit of production. In a few cases the unit is an extended family; in others, such as long-distance trading enterprises or forestry, two or more men may form a loose association or even a partnership, the latter perhaps more common between brothers. Fishing and duck hunting in the lake region also call for cooperative efforts. In the main, however, if additional labor is needed for productive enterprises, it is hired on a wage basis.

Most property in regular use is individually owned except for lands in modern ejidos. In some sense household equipment and tools may be viewed as family property but in cases of separation the individual leaving the household would normally take with him or her the appropriate implements of frequent use. Another exception is major property acquired after marriage; such property belongs jointly to husband and wife and ultimately to the children, among whom it will be divided. Property often considered as communally owned includes forest lands and fields cleared for temporary cultivation on mountain slopes. Even privately owned plots in large areas of permanent cultivation retain a trace of communal interest; after the harvest dates, set by municipal officials, such lands are open to public grazing of animals. In theory sons and daughters share equally in inheritance, although in fact sons often receive a larger share. Thus house lots and gardens, houses (which may be owned separately from the land), large equipment, animals and farm lands may be owned either by wife or by husband, unless acquired after marriage, with independent rights of disposal. In some quite prosperous families most of the property is owned by the wife, even though the husband may do all the farming. The income of the family from farming, regardless of land ownership, or from crafts and supplementary occupations normally is viewed as belonging to the family, and major expenditures or sales of property usually are not undertaken without family discussion. In most instances the

Production and Consumption

Units

Trade and Markets The trade and marketing system is intimately related to the system of craft specialization, differences in agricultural production, and the demand among Tarascans for products, not only from the modern industrial world but even more for such food items as salt, fish, cheese, and tropical fruits. The internal exchange of produce takes place mainly through regional markets, mostly located in Mestizo towns such as Uruapan, Los Reyes, and Tinguindin to the south and west; Paracho in the Sierra; Zamora, Tangancicuaro, Chilchota, Purepero, Zacapu, and Coeneo to the north; and Quiroga, Erongaricuaro, and Patzcuaro in the lake region. The location of the principal markets and the main towns related to each one is shown in figure 33. Lesser markets are held in some of the Indian towns. Most market activity (fig. 34) takes place on Sunday, although Patzcuaro has an important market on Friday as well. In addition, most Tarascan towns have large markets during major religious fiestas, especially those of the patron saints. These are so 763

FIG. 35—TARASCAN AREA. Top, View looking northwest across Tzintzuntzan and Lake Patzcuaro from the yácatas. Lower left, Tarascan girls. Lower right, Mestizo types. (From Foster, 1948, pl. 4.)

TARASCANS

arranged that many Mestizo traders have a regular circuit of fiesta markets. In addition, Patamban has a special market for the sale of its pottery to traveling vendors. Even a religious pilgrimage undertaken as a vow often is also a major trading enterprise. Women predominate in the activities of the regular markets, the majority selling fruits, vegetables, and sometimes other produce or handicrafts. Forest products, grains, herbs, prepared foods, raw materials such as palm leaves, semifinished products such as palm-leaf braids for hats, are among other items of Tarascan origin appearing in markets. In addition, markets have vendors, usually Mestizos, of factory products such as hardware, cloth, religious objects such as pictures, medals, and rosaries (especially at religious festivals). Although articles of equivalent value may be exchanged, all pricing is in monetary terms. Trading over longer distances is in the hands of men. Most mule transport is managed by Mestizos; Tarascans tend to use burros or to carry goods on their backs. Much of the long-distance trading involves the exchange of highland and lowland products. Goods are assembled from highland sources as far away as the pottery markets of Guanajuato and Jalisco. Locally grown deciduous fruits, herbs, craft specialties such as woodwork and fine pottery are important. The return loads include dried fish, dried beef, cheese, and tropical fruits from Guerrero, and chile peppers from Colima. The longest trips go as far as San Geronimo on the coast of Guerrero, and an occasional trader reaches Acapulco. The usual goal, however, is Petatlan, approximately a six-week round trip. Undoubtedly the opening of roads has greatly modified the patterns described, but no recent studies are known. If the early effects have continued, the arrieros, both Mestizo and Tarascan, must be rapidly vanishing or have changed to the use of trucks and buses.

Most Tarascan towns have at least one small store. The majority of these are operated by Mestizos. They carry a limited stock of basic necessities, factory-made cloth, matches, soft drinks, and a few processed or tinned luxury foods. Storekeeping has low status among Tarascans, but often the stores are good places for visitors to get preliminary information and to meet local residents, especially if the municipal offices happen to be closed. Labor Export During harvest seasons a great many Tarascans work for wages both in their own villages and in neighboring communities. Men who hire labor to help in their own harvests may also hire out as harvest workers. Other labor opportunities on highway construction, railway maintenance, or in Mestizo enterprises in nearby areas are sought by many who need supplementary money. Others hire out as sheep herders. Those who must live mainly on wage labor are pitied and of low status. Many Tarascans migrated to the United States during the unsettled period of the revolution and the cristero wars, and many did not return. Some also have become braceros or contract laborers in more recent times; the number may be substantial but exact data are unavailable. Those who save their earnings in the United States often have bought land. Many also have brought back plants and seeds to try out. Wealth and Its Uses The most valued wealth is in land. Silver is prized but it does not produce. There is much talk of the rich and the poor, but few persons are identified as "rich." A man who harvests 50 or more cargas of maize is defined as wealthy; however, there is great secretiveness about the amount of land owned and the amount of grain harvested. Government tax records generally include only a fraction of the land owned. The first claim on wealth seems to be 765

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more adequate food, followed by better clothing. People wealthy by Tarascan standards apparently do not make any display in their housing. The most pretentious houses often are owned by persons known to be "comfortable" but not wealthy. After necessities are met, the major expenditure of wealth seems to be in the support of religious festivals and in weddings. These differ widely in elaborateness and cost but are the only occasions for public display of wealth. The primary measure of a "good" man, nevertheless, is his ability to provide each of his children with a house and enough land to be independent farmers when they marry. SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

Family and Kinship The basic kinship unit is the nuclear family with occasional augmentation of unmarried brothers or sisters or a dependent impoverished elderly person. After marriage the young couple normally live in the home of the bridegroom until the birth of the first child, at which time they usually and certainly ideally should move into their own residence. This is true even though the husband may continue to work with his father, cultivating family lands cooperatively. Not infrequently, the parents give lands to their children after marriage except for the youngest son. The latter, frequently in his own house but sometimes in his father's, continues to work with his father in farming the remaining lands and inherits the residue of the parents' estate. In such cases, the son gradually assumes direction of the economic activities. Occasional extended families are those where parents and one or more sons live in a single compound and carry on all economic activities jointly. Usually each son has his own kitchen and often a house or troje. The parents continue to hold all their lands, which are farmed cooperatively. Such enterprises usually if not always break up 766

when the father dies even though an elder son may actually have directed the economic activities for many years. Lands and other property are divided equally among the nuclear families, sometimes including any married daughters living away. Perhaps more frequently, though, the latter will have received lands from the parents after marriage. In all arrangements older siblings have a responsibility to aid the marriage and economic independence of any children unmarried at the time of the parents' death. Despite the ideal of equal inheritance by all children regardless of sex, the system is difficult to carry out. Disagreements over inheritance are the most frequent source of conflict and may continue for years. Once a nuclear family has been established, few obligations to kinsfolk exist. In theory siblings should, and sometimes do, aid one another. The main occasions for formal responsibilities are in house moving (where wooden houses exist) or in the roofing ceremonies marking completion of a new house. Kin must also attend religious festivals, marriages, and funerals; not to do so is taken as a public announcement of hostility. This applies to the most distant of kin. If relations between kin are good, money, food, liquor, or musicians may be contributed, and women will help in food preparation. A special relation exists between nephew and uncle: the latter has an important (and costly) role in elaborate weddings. This relationship is expressed by the optional extension of the term papá to some uncles, either paternal or maternal. This is the only deviation from the Spanish kinship terminology in normal use. Some Tarascan terms survive, but most people do not know them. Kinship terms are often used for non-kin to indicate either respect or affection. Where kinship is believed to exist, even though genealogical connections are forgotten, kin terms appropriate to relative ages and sexes should be used.

TARASCANS

The compadrazgo or ritual kinship is very elaborate. The most important relationships are with the godparents of baptism, confirmation, and marriage. The godparents of baptism and marriage are fed and given gifts of food when they assume their roles. They also undertake special obligations; they usually give annual presents and are responsible for funeral costs of their godchildren or for rearing them if they are orphans. Their permission is formally sought for the marriage of their godchildren, and they are honored at the wedding when their responsibilities terminate. The godparents of marriage are lifelong counselors of the newly married couple. Between compadres (that is, between godparents and the parents of children) the relationships are essentially those of siblings but often with even closer respect and friendship relations. Two other types of compadres exist. At weddings all close senior relatives of the bride and groom go through a household ceremony making them compadres. They henceforth normally address each other as "compadre" or "comadre." For reasons of friendship or in the belief it will be beneficial to the health of an ailing child individuals may be asked to become a compadre or godparent of the crown. This may involve a ceremony in church in which the priest places a crown successively on each person, repeating a formula for the occasion. In some places this is done before the image of one of the saints kept in private houses by a mayordomo, who substitutes for the priest. These types of compadrazgo carry primarily the obligation to observe special respect relationships and to address one another as compadre or comadre. The establishment of a new nuclear family is a complex affair. There is a fairly frequent custom of "kidnapping" the bride where parental opposition is expected, but most marriages involve elaborate forms of petitioning the bride's family, of betrothal parties, and an elaborate wedding ceremo-

nial (in addition to observing the civil registry and the church rituals). Betrothal parties and weddings are the major opportunities for ostentatious display of wealth and social position. Ceremonial exchange of gifts according to elaborate rules takes place. Clothing, one of the principal gift items, is usually of a special type not made well enough to be worn; such clothing circulates through many hands. At weddings extended street processions are designed to display the gifts and the number of participants. The latter is evidence of the size of the kinship group and of the number of compadres, as well as of the number of friends and neighbors willing to lend their presence. The betrothal and wedding procedures are so complex that a professional marriage "manager" is employed. Functions of the actual and fictitious kin group are few at the formal level but are important. Attendance at weddings, mayordomias, house roofing or moving, and funerals is obligatory. On such occasions contacts are renewed with rarely seen relatives and with the compadres, neighbors, and friends of the host. Closer relatives and compadres also contribute labor, food, liquor, music, or money. Failure to meet the obligations of these special events is an open declaration of hostility. Local and Territorial Units Existing territorial units are officially designated as ranchos (all with less than 100 inhabitants) and pueblos (from 200 inhabitants up) grouped together in municipios in which one pueblo is designated the cabecera. There are a few isolated homesteads or temporary lumber camps. Municipios have official boundaries, but pueblos and smaller units do not (West, 1948, pp. 18-20, lists all settlements of Tarascan speech). Larger pueblos may be divided into cuarteles (quarters) and these in turn in manzanas (blocks). These divisions are primarily for administrative purposes, but 767

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cuarteles have some recognition in ceremonial organization. The geographical aspects of municipios are dealt with in the section on settlement patterns. The historical origins of Tarascan municipios have not been studied. Tradition suggests they represent aboriginal communities or amalgamations of such communities (although present settlements are not necessarily on aboriginal sites). Certainly it is presumptive to assume that they are purely artificial Spanish or Mexican creations even though their organizational structure and unwieldy size today suggest this conclusion. Tarascan municipios certainly exceed the size of most local groups defined in anthropological literature as communities. This is true especially of cabeceras of multisettlement municipios, although tenencias often fall within classic community-size limits. The Tarascan municipios nevertheless possess interesting devices to meet the problem of size. The most essential and organized community functions are carried out almost exclusively by male heads of households. The number of persons with whom face-to-face contacts are desirable is hence reduced to less than one-fifth of the total population. Even in a large single settlement municipio such as Cheran, a competent town official knows the name and residence of virtually every household head in the community. In addition, the system of cuartel or tenencia officers and block chiefs establishes a network of communications of a personal character. Further reinforcement of the community is given by kinship (above) and ceremonial structures (Ceremonial Organization). Neither is community-wide, but involves overlapping networks of relationships which do blanket the local unit. Women and children are thus placed with respect to spouse and father. Household heads, if unknown, can soon be identified. A man is someone's relative or compadre or he may have given a particular mayordomía or have been an 768

officer in a fiesta. Thus any stranger can quickly be placed within the social structure and some of his relationships with others readily established. Political Organization Tarascan municipios are politically organized in secular fashion with little of the intertwined political-ceremonial organization of most Indian groups in Middle America. The central governing body is the ayuntamiento of five elected members and five elected alternates or suplentes. Usually each member and his suplente are elected from a specific cuartel or barrio or other subdivision of the municipio. The office of mayor or presidente municipal rotates each year among the cuarteles or other subdivisions and is filled by the member of the ayuntamiento for the district. The only other elected official is a judge or alcalde elected at large. Officials appointed by the ayuntamiento usually include a treasurer, secretary, síndico or supervisor of public works (mainly concerned with community labor), and a varied group of paid minor officials such as police (actually messengers and general factotums) and forest guards. The presidente municipal further appoints heads for the tenencias or for cuarteles, and in large communities at least appoints block chiefs or captains. The presidente may also appoint commissions to carry out special functions, usually involving the collection of a special head tax or assessment from heads of families. The most common and recurring commissions are those connected with community fiestas (see Rituals). Only such appointed functionaries as police, forest guards, and the town secretary receive salaries from the municipio. The treasurer is paid a percentage of collections; the judge or alcalde receives fines and fees for executing legal papers. The presidente municipal tries small cases himself and can levy fines up to a small fixed amount; this he retains as his only financial perquisite.

TARASCANS

Town income comes principally from fees for registering cattle brands, license fees for businesses, and taxes remitted by state and federal governments. Real estate taxes are collected by the federal government, which maintains tax offices in many towns; there is widespread evasion through underdeclaring land areas or not registering them at all. Other direct taxes include assessments on forest products exported from the municipio. When taxes are insufficient, special assessments may be collected by a commission to finance specific public works. More common, however, are labor levies, principally to clear boundary trails and to improve trails and bridges. The presidente carries out general administration with the advice of other ayuntamiento members, with whom frequent meetings are held. The presidente through the secretary represents town interests with outside government agencies, state and federal. These may include police, judiciary, highway, forestry, fishing, school, telecommunications, and rural electrification officials. Election returns also must be certified to the state government. The presidente calls town meetings to nominate candidates for local offices and to consider any other grave or unusual problem. For many purposes he communicates with the community through cuartel or tenencia chiefs and block captains or utilizes the police for communications with specific individuals. The alcalde hears certain minor cases as judge but his main function is investigating more serious charges, deciding if a case exists, and, if one does, preparing the evidence and necessary papers to submit to the nearest appropriate court. The treasurer's and síndico's functions are the obvious ones. The town secretary is very important in relations with the outside world; his literacy and ability must be considerable, and he is the only official not always a townsman. Often his original appointment has been recommended by some high government official, and the secretary often has

informal and more or less concealed political functions. An adroit man who can satisfy both his patron and the townspeople may wield considerable influence. Cuartel or tenencia chiefs are agents of the presidente. They carry out instructions of the presidente or transmit them to block captains and advise the presidente of problems needing his action. Block captains transmit instructions to the heads of families but also have other important functions. They decide who must give labor service or see that all turn out or pay for substitutes when there is a general call. They may be used for special purposes; for example, the 1940 census data were collected by block captains after meetings and training sessions with census bureau representatives. Finally, block chiefs determine who shall serve in the ronda. The ronda is the true police force. A man from each block must serve for a two- or three-week period, usually two or three times a year. Only town officials, schoolteachers, and aged persons, usually of some public distinction, are exempt. The ronda is formed into subgroups, usually one per cuartel, and patrol the community at night. The ronda may also be called upon to gather evidence when a crime occurs or to apprehend a known criminal. Despite the importance of town political government, few people show interest in elections if all goes well; if things do not go well, they may take more direct and violent action. But attendance at town meetings to nominate candidates is small, and few cast ballots in elections. Election returns hence are frequently rigged by the ayuntamiento and secretary, in the best instances, to ensure the carrying out of majority opinion. Returns for state and federal elections usually show a 100 per cent vote for the candidates with majority support. RELIGION

Tarascan religion is a form of folk Catholicism, that is to say, a locally modified var769

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iant of 16th- and 17th-century Catholicism as interpreted and transmitted by the missionary orders. It is important to observe that, in contrast with many other Indian groups, the local modifications of the Tarascans include no identifiable aboriginal elements within the formal ritual and belief structure. Some belief in or memory of aboriginal supernaturals appears to survive in myths and tales but witchcraft, although widespread, is of purely European origin, except for a few elements, such as the role of owls, which have both European and native counterparts. Tarascans today are not all believers or may be inactive or indifferent, especially among men. Nevertheless, even unbelievers generally support the rather secularized community religious festivals. Important variations between towns exist. Some towns in postrevolutionary times have been strongly affected first by cristero and later by sitiarquista movements. In many towns conflict exists between supporters of the local folk religion with its system of fiestas and supporters of those priests who are attempting to eliminate the mayordomía system and sponsoring the more modern and more closely controlled religious sodalities. Despite church objections to the fiesta system, the Tarascan versions are much more orthodox than among some Indian groups. Particularly the lay reader or maestro achieved no importance among the Tarascans, perhaps partly because of their accessible location and the absence of such a sharp break historically between the termination of the missions and the advent of secular clergy. Catholic supernaturals nevertheless have been reinterpreted extensively and many modifications introduced into the belief system with respect to the characteristics, powers, and interrelations of God, Mary, Jesus, the Saints, and the Devil. The Devil, in some of his manifestations, possibly is the most important supernatural for many Tarascans. (Tarascan religion and the 770

general problem of folk religion are excellently presented by Carrasco, 1952b.) Rituals Tarascan rituals fall into the following well-defined categories. (1) Church rituals. These are rituals conducted by the priest in accordance with current church practice and hence need no description. The most important ritual, the Mass, is performed in relation to the cult of the saints with its fiestas and mayordomías, however much the local priest may be opposed to the folk-religious activities. Such Masses are paid for as are special Masses for any other purpose such as a wedding. (2) Rituals accompanying fiestas and mayordomías, of several types: (a) Community fiestas (see vol. 6, Art. 16, fig. 8). Examples are fiestas of the patron saint and Corpus. These fiestas are large, prolonged, and very secularized. The fiesta of the patron saint and sometimes other community fiestas are usually accompanied by a large 7- or 10-day market. Administration of these fiestas is by the ayuntamiento or town council. Community fiestas, in addition to the celebration of Mass or Masses and the holding of a market, usually involve hiring one or more bands (most Tarascan municipios support a band but a band never performs in community fiestas of its own municipio), use of elaborate fireworks setpieces, and usually some special features. Fiestas of patron saints, for example, usually are accompanied by two or more days of bull riding. Corpus may involve special processions of animals and displays of occupational activities, and sometimes a mock market of goods and products in miniature. Food is also provided for musicians and special functionaries, and relatives and friends of those responsible. (For Danza de los Viejitos, see vol. 6, Art. 9, fig. 7.) Many outsiders participate in the community fiesta, drawn either as purchasers

TARASCANS

or vendors in the market or to have a good time. At a large fiesta there are numerous vendors of agricultural, handicraft, and machine products. In addition there are traveling gamblers, barbers, cooks with food stands, liquor vendors, and prostitutes. (b) Fiestas or mayordomías of the church. Despite the classification, these fiestas are administered by a special body, usually known as cabildo, not under the control of the church. Saints "belong" to the cabildo which selects mayordomos to serve as custodians of each saint's image. Mayordomos carry out the traditional household fiesta, organize and support the dance group associated with some saints, and pay for a Mass. Meals are served to all comers at the mayordomo's house on the day of the fiesta. (c) Fiestas of occupational groups. The custody of some saints is in the hands of special occupational groups such as the arrieros and honey gatherers. The only difference from the church fiestas is that the mayordomos are almost always chosen from among the members of the occupational group, and the general administration (selecting the mayordomo each year and supervising his performance) is usually by the past mayordomos. (d) Private fiestas. Some mayordomías were initiated by a group of men who shared interest in a particular saint. Initially they purchased a suitable image, clothing, and other accouterments and served successively as mayordomos. The organizers and past mayordomos act as the administrative group. The ritual patterns themselves show no differences from other mayordomías. (3) Public secular rituals. These include ritual aspects of house-roofing or housemoving fiestas and weddings. Less certainly to be included here are ritual meals given godparents of children, funerals, and the Day of the Dead. Funeral observances are

extremely simple as a rule, but may involve priestly functions and church services. More elaborate are observances of the Day of the Dead, although there is great variation from town to town. Preparations, such as cleaning weeds from the cemetery, usually are a community function organized by the presidente municipal and carried out by young men, often organized in work groups by cuarteles or other municipio divisions. The care of individual graves, decorations of flowers, food brought to the graves (but eaten by the mourners and their friends), burning of candles, and paying for prayers by priests or rezadores (professional "prayers," perhaps the only vestige of the lay reader) are the responsibility of individual families. Ceremonial

Organization

Contemporary ceremonial organization parallels the classification of rituals. Quite probably the Tarascan towns once possessed a combined political-ceremonial organization as in most other colonial Indian communities of Middle America. The name of one important ceremonial organization, the cabildo, strongly suggests this, although today its functions are purely ceremonial. Equally, some surviving aspects of the cabildo organization suggest that the organization of hospitals and other innovations by Don Vasco de Quiroga gave the political-ceremonial organization of Tarascan towns in colonial times distinctive features. Church organization, where a complete break has occurred with the cabildo, is conventional. Sacristans, acolytes, and altar societies are dominated by the resident priest and possess no distinctive functions. Community festivals are carried out by the political organization through special commissions (see Rituals). A further word may be said on the latter. For a large fiesta several commissions are named from among men of some substance. In Cheran, for the 771

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festival of the patron saint, a commission is named for each cuartel. Two commissions have responsibility for hiring bands, one for employing a fireworks maker, and a fourth to pay for Masses. These functions rotate by barrio annually. The commissions decide on the size of the assessment to be levied on heads of families—usually at two levels depending on economic status—and undertakes its collection. In this they may call on the presidente to exercise police powers and throw resisters into jail. Any deficit must be made up by members of the commission who also have other expenses such as feeding band members or the fireworks maker, providing the latter with timbers and poles for set-pieces, etc. In addition, family heads are commissioned by the presidente to sponsor dancers, others reconstruct the bull ring or provide bulls for bull riding. The members of the principal rancho are expected to provide a chirimía band. In its best-preserved form, the cabildo organization includes several types of officers and functions. Most interesting and unusual is the kengi appointed annually by the cabildo. The kengi lives during his year in office in the hospital or a substitute building, collects contributions of wheat and corn for support of the priest (theoretically these contributions are tithes), stores and cares for the grains in church warehouses, and sells or otherwise disposes of them at the direction of the priest. A special rather elaborate ceremony marks the end of a term of office and the induction of a new kengi. Curiously, the office carries little social prestige although spiritual rewards are high. Associated with the kengi and also appointed by the cabildo is the colector, who serves one year as an assistant (prioste) before holding office for a year. (The titles of these offices may vary somewhat from town to town.) The colector functions very much as a sacristan, aiding the priest and supervising the condition of images and 772

altars. Many of the altar cloths and decorations are provided by the cabildo, which regards them as cabildo rather than church property. In at least one case of a feud between cabildo and priest, the cabildo stripped the church of its decorations, claiming them as cabildo property. At the conclusion of his two years of service, the colector becomes a principal and a member of the cabildo. The cabildo itself hence is a self-perpetuating organization. Its major function is the allocation of the saints belonging to it among competing applicants for mayordomías. Usually there are many applicants who make extensive gifts to the cabildo (its major source of income). Charges of bribery and favoritism are common, especially when factionalism is strong, but there is little evidence that cabildo members benefit personally in any significant way although they are well supplied with aguardiente and food. Organizations for occupational and private mayordomías are sufficiently dealt with under Rituals. No other ritual activities are formally organized. RECREATION

The major recreations of Tarascan adults are visiting, talking and gossiping, the various religious fiestas and mayordomías, and secular fiestas such as marriages. For women major opportunities for gossip are at the water fountain and cornmill, although close relatives and compadres may visit in the home. Men usually meet and talk in the street, plaza, or stores. More recently the cantina and in some towns pool halls are centers, especially for younger men. For all ages and sexes the greatest recreational events are community fiestas. These are times of gaiety, indulgence, and the spending of hoarded savings for both necessities and luxuries. (Tarascans are fascinated by miniature objects, and most households have a collection to which members

TARASCANS

constantly add new items.) Drinking and dancing by both sexes is a common part of both public and private ceremonies. Bull riding always draws large crowds, and young men practice in the hills for weeks before a fiesta. Men and often whole families also visit fiestas in other towns. Young men spend evenings in the streets talking and joking, or perhaps visit a poolroom if one exists. A few recent sports such as basketball evoke limited interest. Families who have visited the United States may have brought back phonographs which are played for family and friends. Radio is still not too common, and music is its special appeal. Local bands are critically evaluated. Many bandmasters attempt the composition of sones or tunes in regional style; a few

get into regional or even national mariachi repertories. Children's recreations are limited. Girls mostly accompany their mothers and begin token water carrying and maize grinding almost as soon as they can walk to the fountain. The few opportunities for girls to play together generally involve playing house. Boys in general have more freedom to roam the streets and fields. They play a number of games such as marbles, apparently all of recent introduction. (For hopscotch and stick-dice, see vol. 6, Art. 10, figs. 3, 13.) At a somewhat later age than girls, they too begin token participation in adult activities and accompany fathers to woods and fields.

REFERENCES Aguirre Beltrán, 1952 Alcarez, 1930 Alvarado, J., 1939 Anderson, 1946 Barlow, 1948 Barragán and González Bonilla, 1940 Basauri, 1928b Beals, 1946 and Carrasco, 1944 , , and McCorkle, 1944 and Hatcher, 1943 Bourke, 1893 Brand, 1943, 1944, 1951 Carrasco, 1952b Castillo, 1945 Cook and Simpson, 1948 CREFAL, 1959 Foster, 1946, 1948, 1960b, 1961 Friedrich, 1957, 1958 Gómez Robleda, 1943 Inst. Investigaciones Sociales, 1957 Kaplan, 1951, 1960 Kirchhoff, 1956

León, F., 1939 León, Ν., 1887a, 1887b, 1889a, 1889b, 1902b, 1906, 1934 León Μ. and Contreras, 1944 Lumholtz, 1902 Medioni, 1952 Mendieta y Núñez, 1940 Mendizábal, 1939 Pozas Α., 1949 Relación de Michoacán, 1869, 1875, 1903, 1956 Rendón, 1947, 1950 Ricard, 1933 Rubín de la Borbolla and Beals, 1940 Sáenz, 1936 Stanislawski, 1947, 1950 Starr, F., 1899a Storm, 1945 Swadesh, 1940, 1960 Toor, 1925 West, 1948 Zavala, 1937, 1941 Zuno, 1952

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36. Northwest Mexico: Introduction

EDWARD

Ν

MEXICO is a unity neither geographically nor culturally. At the time of the arrival of Europeans there were evident two sharply distinct types of Indian culture. These appeared to be neither variants of the same general type resulting from necessities of ecological adaptation nor representatives of stages of growth in a single line of cultural development. 1 It is nevertheless true that the very great majority of Indians shared in one of the two types and that this could consequently be regarded as the dominant culture of the region. From Nayarit in the ORTHWEST

1 For general views concerning the limits of the cultural area and its external relations, see Kroeber, 1939; Beals, 1943b; Kirchhoff, 1954; and Underbill, 1954. I have followed Beals' delimitation with reference to the southern boundary rather than Kirchhoff's. The northern boundary should be thought of as extending as far as the valley of the Gila River. There was no essential difference between the Upper Pima inhabiting what is now Arizona from those inhabiting what is now Sonora. It is only in very recent times that profoundly different acculturative influences have affected the Upper Pima living in the United States as compared with those in Mexico. The great majority of Sonoran Upper Pima have migrated into the United States since 1900.

H. SPICER

south to Arizona in the north speakers of Uto-Aztecan languages exhibited varieties of this type, and they were dominant both in the high mountains and in the desert lowlands. In the extreme western part of the region another culture type appeared; this was the way of life of the relatively very few speakers of Hokan languages. Northwest Mexico comprises three distinct physiographic provinces (Tamayo, 1960). The eastern part of the region, the Sierra Madre Occidental, is a highland characterized by temperate climate and rugged topography. The western edge of the Sierra Madre is deeply dissected by the canyons of rivers draining westward into the Gulf of California (see vol. 1, Art. 2, fig. 12). At this jagged margin the Sierra gives way sharply to a lowland coastal area, a considerable part of which is known as the Sonoran Desert. This is hot country, comprising a subtropical southern part and a northern arid part characterized by highly distinctive desert vegetation, such as the giant cactuses. Across the Gulf of California to the west is the peninsula of Baja California, which in many respects resem-

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bles the mainland desert; the peninsula, however, lacks a vital feature of the latter, namely, large rivers with dependable water supply. These three areas—temperate highland, hot lowland, and desert peninsula—offered sharply different problems in adaptation for human groups. The highland was supplied with sufficient rainfall for agriculture without irrigation, but topographically it hardly offered opportunity for much growth in density of population without irrigated farming. It was an area of great seasonal range in temperature, a condition which led to migrations from higher areas in summertime to the bottoms of canyons in winter. It was well supplied with game, ranging from deer to turkey and rabbits. It was a habitat which, under conditions of primitive agriculture, lent itself to small-size settlements and widely scattered population. Much of the highland was extremely rugged, giving rise to conditions which could be expected to result in isolation of the inhabitants from one another and consequent cultural diversification. The fact remains, however, that there was a cultural and linguistic similarity throughout the whole highland area, suggesting a recency of settlement. In contrast, the desert lowland between the Sierra Madre and the Gulf of California consisted of vast stretches of territory quite uninhabitable because of lack of water. The rainfall was heavily concentrated during July and August with only very light and uncertain winter rains. In most parts the rainfall averaged between 40 and 80 cm. annually, but in many areas it was less than 40 cm. Nevertheless, there was abundant and dependable water in certain limited areas as a result of the large rivers which drained the highland and at intervals cut across the whole desert lowland. There were nine such major rivers—Santiago, Piaxtla, San Lorenzo, Culiacan, Sinaloa, Fuerte, Mayo, Yaqui, and Sonora. The population of the lowland was concentrated 778

along the valley bottoms. The annual floods became the basis of agriculture which supported numerous settlements. In addition to the agricultural opportunities there was an abundance of wild food resources. Besides deer and small game, there were the edible fruits of numerous cactuses, the beans of mesquite trees, agave plants, and many other seed- and fruit-bearing plants. Besides, the coast provided fish and shellfish in abundance. The lowland was an area with potentialities for large concentrations of population, even without irrigation techniques, potentialities which were beginning to be realized at the time of the entry of the Spaniards. The peninsula had none of the possibilities for population development offered by the other two areas. Similar to the driest parts of the coastal lowland, it was even more arid with annual rainfall rarely attaining 40 cm. even in highest altitudes. Except in the extreme north bordering the Colorado River there was insufficient water for agriculture. The greater part of the peninsula provided no water other than springs dependent on uncertain and always scant rainfall. It was true, however, that there were fairly good wild food resources in the form of cactus fruits, agaves, and mesquite beans as on the mainland. Most of the people of northwest Mexico at the time of the arrival of the Spaniards spoke languages of the Uto-Aztecan stock.2 2 Swadesh (1959b) has proposed the term Yutonawan for this stock. Mason (1940) used Utaztecan, whereas Kroeber (1934), following earlier scholars such as Sapir, employed Uto-Aztecan. Although using the older term for designating the stock, we shall in other matters of terminology use Mason's 1940 classification, since it is the most systematically developed. It should be emphasized that the classification of Uto-Aztecan languages is by no means settled and that there are other widely used schemes. The most important of these is the language map compiled by Mendizábal in 1937, amplified and developed by him and Jiménez Moreno in 1943, and subsequently further modified in collaboration with Arana Osnaya (Noriega and Cook de Leonard, 1959). For the development of the linguistic classification of northwest Mexican

NORTHWEST MEXICO: INTRODUCTION

The exceptions were the inhabitants of the peninsula of Lower California and those of the Sonoran coast who came to be called Seri by the Spaniards. The peninsular people and the Seri, insofar as we know their affiliation, spoke languages of the Hokan stock (Mason, 1940; Swadesh, 1959b). From the southern margins of the region under consideration in Nayarit north to the valley of the Gila River in what is now southern Arizona, an extent of more than 1500 km., the languages used at the time of the arrival of the Spaniards belonged to the Uto-Aztecan stock. This included all the inhabitants of the highland and the great majority of the lowland people. All three of the southern families of the UtoAztecan stock were represented, namely, Taracahitian, Piman, and the Coran subfamily of Aztecoidan (Mason, 1940, pp. 80-81). The Aztecoidan representatives were confined to the southern part of the region and included the Cora and Huichol languages of the Coran subfamily. The Coran languages were the most closely related to those of the Nahuatlan subfamily, such as Mexicano, of any of the UtoAztecan languages. There were possibly three dialects of Cora; the dialect differentiation of Huichol is uncertain. To the north of this relatively narrowly distributed subfamily were the two widely extended families of Piman and Taracahitian. In terms of numbers of speakers, Taracahitian was the most important of the language families of northwest Mexico (Sauer, 1935, p. 5). It included at least three subfamilies: Tarahumaran, Cahitan, Opatan, and a questionable fourth. Cahitan embraced the greatest number of speakers. languages, the reader should consult Orozco y Berra, 1864; Thomas and Swanton, 1911; Sauer, 1934; Kroeber, 1934; Mason (with Whorf), 1936; Mason, 1940; F. Johnson, 1940; Jiménez Moreno, 1944; Swadesh, 1959a, 1959b; and Noriega and Cook de Leonard, 1959. For discussion of relationships among Uto-Aztecan languages based on lexicostatistical data, see Romney, 1957, and Hale, 1958.

It may have included as many as 16 different languages, but the full language status of these is doubtful, most of them not having been adequately recorded. The Cahitanspeakers were concentrated in the desert lowland areas of what is now Sinaloa and southern Sonora, but at least two Cahitan languages were spoken by highland dwellers in western Durángo—Acaxee and Xixime. The major lowland Cahitan groups were Tahue in Sinaloa, Tepahue at the edge of the highland farther north, Cahita in the lowland of northern Sinaloa and southern Sonora, and Guasave along the gulf coast from the mouth of the Sinaloa to the mouth of the Fuerte rivers. None of these language groups is well known except Cahita, the languages of the others having become extinct before adequate recording. Mason's listing (1940, p. 81) of the languages comprising the Cahitan subfamily is as follows. Cahita included five dialects: Yaqui, Mayo, Tehueco, Cinaloa, and Zuaque. The Tepahue group included four languages: Tepahue, Macoyahui, Conicari, and Baciroa, with no identified dialects. Tahue included five languages with no dialects differentiated: Tahue, Comanito, Mocorito, Tubar, and Zoe. Guasave comprised four dialects: Comopori, Ahorne, Vacoregue, and Achire. Acaxee was composed of two dialects possibly and Xixime of three. A seventh group, Ocoroni, may have consisted of three languages: Ocoroni, Huite, and Nio. The considerable differentiation within the Cahitan subfamily indicated by this listing is hardly consistent with what is known from either the early Spanish records or our knowledge of surviving groups of Cahitan-speakers. The large number of names attached by the Spaniards to the groups suggests local group designations rather than real language differentiation; and the modern known representatives of Cahitan—Yaqui and Mayo—are mutually intelligible. Moreover, the Jesuit missionary who made the one existing adequate de779

ETHNOLOGY

scription of Cahita in the 17th century was able to distinguish only three possible dialects (Buelna, 1890, p. 5). Missionaries working in the Cahita area seemed able to move easily from northern Sinaloa to the Yaqui River without serious language difficulty (Pérez de Ribas, 1645, passim). Kroeber (1934) has called attention to the difficulties of solving the problems of language differentiation and affiliation in northwest Mexico in view of the unavailability of records of the languages for modern studies. The Tarahumaran subfamily exhibited a greater homogeneity than Cahitan. Forms of Tarahumaran were spoken over a large area of the highland in what is now southwestern Chihuahua. Mason (1940) records no dialectical differentiation among Tarahumaran-speakers and lists only one language: Tarahumara. This seems very likely a misinterpretation of the records. The early missionaries spoke of local variation in Tarahumara and listed a number of probable dialects, usually: Guazapar, Tubar, Jova, Varogio, Pachera, and Juhine. Chinipa was probably a locality name for Varogiospeakers. Modern studies of Varogio (also spelled Warihio, Varohio) suggest that it is closer to Tarahumara than Mason indicates (Kroeber, 1934, p. 13). Mason lists Jova as Opatan and Varohio, Chinipa, Guasapar, and Temori as possibly Cahitan. The wide extent of Tarahumara-speakers and likelihood of isolation of groups in the Tarahumara area make it plausible to believe in dialectic variation, but the problem requires more careful research (cf. Basauri, 1929, p. 77). The third subfamily of Taracahitian is Opatan, which was primarily the language of the Indians of the northern, central, and eastern part of what is modern Sonora. Speakers of Opatan occupied the greater part of the drainage of the Sonora River and the upper drainage of the Yaqui River. Although spoken by considerably more people than Tarahumaran (Sauer, 1935, p. 5), 780

there seems to have been less linguistic diversification. Mason lists as distinct languages of Opatan only two: Opata and Eudeve. He also lists two dialects of Opata, namely, Batuc and Nacosura and two variants (?) of Eudeve: Heve and Dohema. That there were two major variants of Opatan, a southern which may have been called Eudeve and a northern, or Teguima, seems probable (J. B. Johnson, 1950, pp. 8-9; Lombardo, 1702). The third Uto-Aztecan family of northwest Mexico was Piman. Piman-speakers extended throughout the whole length of northwestern Mexico from Jalisco in the south to the Gila River in the north. There was, moreover, a remarkable similarity in all the varieties of the family, suggesting a recency of migration and lack of time for differentiation as a result of their wide separation from one another. Mason (1940) identifies only two major languages: Piman and Tepehuan. Piman was spoken chiefly in the lowland, in southern and western Sonora and southern Arizona, and exhibited (according to Mason) six dialects: Papago, Piato, Himeri constituting the Upper Pima variety and Nebome, Ure, and Cocomacague constituting the Lower Pima variety extending into the highland of southeastern Sonora. The other major division, Tepehuan, was the language of highland people exclusively; Mason distinguishes three dialects: Northern Tepehuan in Chihuahua and Durango, Southern Tepehuan in Durango and Jalisco, and Tepecan in Jalisco. The peculiar distribution of the Piman subfamily, embracing people of both the highland and the lowland and extending in sinuous fashion for 1500 km. north and south, constitutes one of the more interesting problems of northwest Mexican ethnology (Kroeber, 1934, p. 3). Another facet of this problem is the fact that Piman is the most divergent from the other southern Uto-Aztecan families; that is, Taracahitian and Aztecoidan are much more similar to each other than Piman is to either of them.

FIG.

1—THE ABORIGINAL DISTRIBUTION OF TRIBES IN NORTHWEST MEXICO. (Adapted from F. Johnson, 1940.)

ETHNOLOGY

A relatively small number of people in northwest Mexico spoke languages of another stock—Hokan. The peninsula was sparsely populated; among the inhabitants were several groups in the north who spoke dialects of the Yuman family of Hokan (Mason, 1940, p. 78). There were two subfamilies: Cocopa and Cochimi. Dialects of Cocopa, possibly numbering six, were spoken in the vicinity of the Colorado River delta in the extreme northwestern part of Sonora and northern Baja California; these included Cocopa, Kikima, Kiliwa, and Paipai. Immediately to the south in Baja California were speakers of the imperfectly known subfamily of Cochimi (Baegert, 1952, pp. 94-104), no speakers of which have survived to the present. Across the gulf on the Sonora coast from the southernmost of the Cochimi were the groups to whom the Spaniards assigned the name Seri. Their language shows some relationship to the Yuman languages, but is classified by Mason as belonging to a different substock of Hokan from the Yuman languages. The nature and number of dialects of Seri is not known, although Mason lists some four band names as dialect groups (1940, p. 78). The existence of other groups on the peninsula is known, but their linguistic affiliation is unlikely to be determined. These were the Waicuri south of the Cochimi group and the Pericu at the tip of the peninsula. The linguistic distributions, the relatively close relationships between most of the UtoAztecan languages of the region, and the apparent relative lack of dialectic variation point to a recency of settlement of the UtoAztecans in the region or to a fluidity of movement in the period immediately prior to the coming of the Spaniards. The relative homogeneity of cultural type among UtoAztecans also points in this direction. The precise nature of movements remains to be determined, but a hypothesis of migrations and shifts in tribal locations in the 1400's 782

and 1500's seems a good working approach to the cultural history of the region. 3 The locations of major groups, however, became relatively stabilized during the 1600's. The immediate effect of Spanish domination was stabilization of tribal territories accompanied by concentrations of populations locally around missions, mines, or haciendas and, usually, a greater or less degree of depopulation. Extensive migrations did not take place again until after a century or more of Spanish domination, as Spanish-Apache warfare moved to a climax during the 1700's and various groups such as the Opata and Sobaipuri were dislocated. A major influence over the whole region flowing from Spanish contact was the activity of the Jesuit missionaries. The Jesuits made contact with every Indian group in northwest Mexico and sooner or later established mission communities among all but the Yuman groups in the vicinity of the Colorado River delta (Decorme, 1941). The Jesuit influences may thus be regarded as the common denominator of Spanish contact. The influences from Spanish mining communities affected Indians differentially depending on how close they were to the mines. Some Indians, such as the Huichol and the Tepehuan of Durango, the Tarahumara of Chihuahua, the Mayo of southern Sonora, and the Opata and Lower Pima of eastern Sonora, were profoundly affected by forced labor and the living conditions of the mining communities because of the location of important mines in their territory. On the other hand, the mines had little effect on many Cahitan-speaking people such as the Yaqui, or the Seri, or the northernmost Pima. Similarly Spanish influence emanating from colonists during 3 There are no general culture histories dealing with the region as a whole. Of some use in piecing together various local developments and suggesting over-all trends in Indian-White relations and cultural change are: Bancroft, 1884; Decorme, 1941; Mendizábal, 1946a; Ezell, 1955; and Spicer, 1961.

NORTHWEST M E X I C O : INTRODUCTION

the colonial period affected Indian cultures variously according to whether their land was desirable for grazing or agriculture and whether or not the encomienda system was instituted in their territory. The lowland people of southern and central Sinaloa were obliterated by the 1700's as a result of the operation of the encomienda system, but elsewhere the system was not instituted. On the other hand, the Jesuit program was a powerful influence for innovation on all the Indians of the region. Every Jesuit mission was an agricultural establishment as well as a religious center. Each was also a source of ideas for government and community organization. Acceptance in some degree of new sources of subsistence such as livestock and crops, new work disciplines, forms of political organization, as well as religious concepts and rituals characterized the response of all those groups among whom Jesuit mission communities were established. Although by no means were all the tribes affected in precisely the same way, similarities in the postconquest cultures from the Cora to the Opata are to be explained as a result of common mission influences. This influence continued for most northwest Indians over a period of nearly two centuries, from 1592 when the Jesuits took over northwest Mexico until 1767 when they were expelled. Subsequent missionary influences were relatively minor, as for example the Franciscan influences on Cahitans or the Dominican on Yumans where those orders for a short time replaced the Jesuits. Another major factor in cultural change emanated from success or failure in military resistance to Spanish domination. Most of the tribes engaged in some sort of military revolt during the period of Spanish dominance. The Tepehuan revolt of 1616, the periodic Tarahumara revolts during the 1600's, the Yaqui-Mayo revolt of 1740, the Seri revolt of 1748, the Upper Pima revolts of 1695 and 1751 each set in motion trains of events which profoundly affected Indian-

Spanish relations. They resulted either in intensifying Indian solidarity against Spaniards, as in the case of Tarahumara, Yaqui, and Seri, or in the breakdown of Indian organization and the acceleration of assimilation, as among Cahitans of Sinaloa. By the time of the War for Independence Spanish military domination had been generally accepted by the Indians, but in many instances the peace was an uneasy one. As Apache raids from the north, begun in 1684, intensified in Sonora and Chihuahua, it became possible for Indians—such as the Yaqui, Mayo, Opata, and Lower Pima—to conceive of their independence from Mexico. The collapse of Spanish power during the last half of the 1700's resulted in a breakdown of organized programs, both ecclesiastical and secular, for changing Indian life. The weakness of the Mexican state and national governments for 50 years after their inauguration made new programs impossible. Moreover, a somewhat ineffective application of force by the Mexican government in most instances intensified Indian hostility. The general result was the rise of conditions of isolation which enabled most of the Indian groups to integrate the Spanish innovations of the earlier phases deeply into their local cultures. Emergent SpanishIndian cultures, which combined European and native traditions in a variety of ways, took form. The extent to which the new cultures were Spanish or Indian in content depended heavily on the intensity of Jesuit contact. Near one extreme were the Seri of the Sonora coast who showed perhaps the least Spanish influence; after an initial period during which some Seri lived in Jesuit missions for 40 years or more, no effective mission control had been maintained over them. At the other extreme were the Opata who had experienced a century and a half of peaceful and intensive contacts in Jesuit mission communities; the Opata culture which emerged by the late 1800's was heavily Spanish in content, even in terms per783

ETHNOLOGY

haps of some of its major orientations. Somewhere between these extremes ranged the other still identifiable Indian cultures of northwest Mexico. A tentative arrangement of the major Indian cultures with reference to the extent of their Spanish-Mexican content toward the end of the 19th century might be as follows, beginning at the most Hispanicized end of the continuum: Opata, Tepehuan, Mayo, Yaqui, Cora, Upper Pima, Lower Pima, Huichol, Tarahumara, Seri, Cocopa. This classification should be recognized as highly tentative. The systematic comparative analysis necessary for a sound classification has not yet been carried out, although the descriptive data are now available (see references listed at the end of this article). After the 1910 Revolution a new and important phase in Indian cultural development got under way. New programs of directed change took form in the 1920's, but were not systematically applied until the time of the Cárdenas administration beginning about 1939. A federal Department of Indian Affairs was established which approached problems of Indian adjustment largely through formal education in boarding schools and aid to Indians in legal matters. Yaqui (Fabila, 1940), Seri, and Tarahumara were somewhat affected among northwest Mexican Indians. Later, in 1948, an additional federal-directed program was inaugurated with the creation of the National Indian Institute, which adopted a manysided approach including special types of Indian leadership training and community organization along with formal education. A major focus of the Institute work was on economic resource development and the stimulation of producers' cooperatives. Centers were established among Tarahumara (Plancarte, 1954), Huichol, and Cora, and a fishing cooperative set up among Seri. Our knowledge of the nature of Indian population in northwest Mexico is uncertain. Different results in reporting popula784

tion arise as a result of different definitions of "Indian." There is no very certain way of evaluating the early estimates of population by missionaries and others who made the first contacts (See Sauer, 1935). There are nevertheless some fairly generally accepted figures for the Indians of the northwest, based chiefly on annual reports of the working Jesuit missionaries. Sauer (1935, p. 5) estimates the population of northwest tribes, exclusive of Cora, Huichol, Tepehuan, and Tarahumara, as about 540,000. Early estimates of Tarahumara population indicate that it may have been in the neighborhood of 18,000. Basauri (1940c, 3: 356) reports Tepehuan population at time of contact as about 25,000. The Huichol and Cora may have numbered 10,000. The population of the peninsula just before 1767 was 12,000 (Baegert, 1952, p. 54), but this represented a decline from earlier estimates of 40,000-50,000 (Aschmann, 1959, p. 148). Sauer's estimates may be somewhat high, especially for the Opata, but that the total aboriginal population was of the order of a half-million seems reasonable. It may be noted that the most populous of the physiographic provinces of the region was the lowland of Sonora and Sinaloa with perhaps nearly four times the population of the highland province. The peninsula, as we might expect given the technological condition of the people and the natural resources, was relatively very sparsely populated. An interesting question in the history of northwest Mexico is the nature of Indian population change during the four centuries of contact. There were wholesale extinctions, including the reported disappearance of groups such as the 70,000 Tahue, the 100,000 lowland Cora-speaking Totorame, and the 90,000 barranca- and highlanddwelling Cahitans (Sauer, 1935; Mason, 1940). Despite these early instances of depopulation and more recent absorptions of Indians (Hinton, 1959), the 1940 census reported for the north Mexican states of Sonora, Chihuahua, Baja California, Sina-

NORTHWEST MEXICO: INTRODUCTION

loa, Nayarit, Chihuahua, and Durango, a population of 542,994 characterized by the "Indian-Colonial" level of living standard. This is a figure of the order of the estimate above for the time of contact (Sexto Censo de 1940, Mexico, 1943). However, as a measure of surviving persons identifying themselves as Indians the "index of IndianColonial culture" is of questionable value, even though in Mexico the index is frequently interpreted as indicating "surviving Indian traits" (León-Portilla, 1959). A better measure of persisting Indian identification is undoubtedly language. If the numbers of persons speaking Indian languages are considered, there is indication of a sharp decline in Indian population in the region. For 1950 the census reported only 63,278 speakers of Indian languages over the age of five in the states mentioned above (Caso and Parra, 1950), a decline of 6,699 under 1940. This, however, is not wholly satisfactory as a measure. For example, one of the most numerous groups in the northwest in 1950 were the Yaqui, but owing to extensive migration outside their tribal territory beginning in the 1880's and earlier there were almost no monolinguals among them in 1950 and hundreds spoke only Spanish. Yet their way of life and their identification was as Indians. In short, no measures have yet been devised which can be used to tell us clearly what the change in "Indian" population has been. In general nevertheless we may say that persons who identify themselves as Indian appear to have declined in numbers in extreme fashion in Baja California, in Sinaloa, and perhaps in Nayarit. In Sonora the decline has been less marked and there are indications that Indian population has increased in Chihuahua. We are, however, everywhere in past and present dealing with approximate and not strictly comparable figures. The trend in population change for some of the groups which became stabilized in their tribal territories during the colonial

period is nevertheless pretty well established. Thus there seems little doubt that the Tarahumara population has approximately doubled; in mid-1700 it was about 18,000; in 1950 between 40,000 and 50,000 (Plancarte, 1954). Cora-speaking people declined from a probable 150,000 to about 3,000 in 1950. Yaqui declined from 30,000 or 35,000 (Pérez de Ribas, 1645) at the time of first contact to a probable 15,000 in 1940 (Spicer, 1947). Mayo increased from 25,000 in the early 1600's (Pérez de Ribas, 1645) to 31,000 in 1950 (Séptimo Censo de 1950, Mexico, 1953). Seri declined from 5000 to 200 (Griffen, 1959). Such figures emphasize the wide variety in contact conditions. The cultural relations of the Indians of northwest Mexico are by no means easy to determine, because of the almost complete obliteration of pre-Spanish patterns in many instances and the fusion of aboriginal and introduced patterns in others. There are two major time levels for which we have usable information: (1) accounts of the early explorers and of the Jesuit missionaries which describe various aspects of Indian cultures and provide us with something of a base line; (2) recent accounts, most important of which are those of travelers of the late 19th century and ethnographers of the 20th century. Two distinct types of culture existed in the region: the gathering-hunting culture of the peninsular Yumans and Seri and the agricultural culture participated in by all the Uto-Aztecan-speakers. Such a classification requires justification as there is admittedly a wide variety of cultural content as between Huichol, for example, and Upper Pima.4 4 For useful compilations of culture-trait lists and discussion of cultural relations based on trait distributions, see: Beals' classic study (1932a) of the comparative ethnology of northern Mexico before 1750; Kroeber's interesting analysis (1931, pp. 3 9 51) of the cultural relations of Seri, Yuma, and Pima; Bennett and Zingg's attempt (1935, pp. 3 5 5 -

785

ETHNOLOGY

The chronological relations of the two cultural types in the region remain a problem concerning which there is only speculative solution. Zingg (1939) has considered the development of the Uto-Aztecan type from early Basket Maker culture in the region, which seems likely, but requires much more archaeological evidence for confirmation. It has also been speculated that Seri culture is intrusive on the mainland, in the sense that it was brought by migrants from the peninsula. There is no question about a profound difference between Seri culture and language from any groups now neighboring them, but enclavement seems just as possible as intrusion. Archaeological relations are as yet too imperfectly studied, but Seri chronological placement will probably turn out to be an aspect of the general problem of the Sonoran coastal cultures, such as the Guasave. Other chronological matters are equally obscure. As pointed out above, the distribution of the Pima suggests relatively recent movement, but no clear evidence has been presented to indicate which direction movement may have taken. Were the Pima highland people who migrated northward into the desert lowland or did originally lowland people move up into the highland? The former is suggested, but of course inconclusively, by Papago traditions of northwestward expansion into their present locations. Moreover the Lower Pima seem to have been under pressure in their location in southern Sonora as indicated by the ready migration of hundreds at the suggestion of Cabeza de Vaca and by Yaqui traditions. Were Lower Pima under pressure as a result of Opata expansion southward, Yaqui expansion northeastward, or of Piman expansion southward into Opata and Yaqui territory? The last seems 94 and table) to place the Tarahumara culture in a wider context; and Underhill's trait list summary (1954) for the United States Southwest in its relation to northwest Mexico. Basauri (1940c), vols. 1 and 3, are also useful for descriptive summaries of the cultures of northwest Mexican Indians.

786

the least likely, but there is no balance of evidence for either of the other two. Tribal relations in Sonora, Sinaloa, and Chihuahua at the time of Spanish arrival require a great deal more archaeological and ethnographic work for full understanding. The dominant culture was a life way strongly rooted in agricultural production. None of the Uto-Aztecan-speakers appears to have been a marginal agricultural group despite even very unfavorable conditions for farming, such as those of the Papago of the extreme desert area between the gulf and the San Miguel and Santa Cruz river valleys. The raising of corn, beans and teparis, and varieties of squash and pumpkins was well established. These cultivated crops were of basic importance, regardless of the extent to which wild foods were utilized. In areas of uncertainty of rainfall, as in the northern lowland, and where only one crop a year was possible, as throughout the highland, there was heavy reliance on hunting and more especially wild-food gathering. Among some groups such as Upper Pima (Castetter and Bell, 1942, p. 57) wild foods constituted as much as 80 per cent of the food supply, but nevertheless seasonal movement, settlement patterns, and other important aspects of life were focused by the interest in agriculture. The differences between the two varieties of Uto-Aztecan culture can be explained to a large extent in terms of the influences of contrasting habitat on common subsistence patterns. In the highland, agricultural activity was limited. Highland Cora, Huichol, highland Pima (Tepehuan), Tarahumara, and highland Cahitans (Acaxee and Xixime) were dry farmers, entirely dependent on summer rainfall. Conditions were not especially difficult, but subsistence required constant effort, and the economy was not one of abundance. In the lowlands natural conditions varied widely. Some Upper Pima (those who came to be called Papago) of the most arid north were hard-working dry farmers who devised check dams and other

NORTHWEST MEXICO: INTRODUCTION

forms of water conservation; similar intensive methods, including irrigation ditches, characterized the Opata of central Sonora. The vast majority of the lowland UtoAztecans, however, practiced river-flood farming, which required no extensive artificial works. The lower reaches of the major rivers, from the Santiago to the Gila, constituted sometimes very extensive flood plains where, at least from the Yaqui River southward, it was possible to raise two crops a year. The lowland peoples in addition had available large supplies of edible wild foods in the form of mesquite beans, edible seeds such as amaranth, and the fruits of a great variety of cactus ranging from prickly pear (Opuntia) to giant forms such as pitahaya and saguaro. The lowland subsistence pattern was one which involved abundance of both wild and cultivated food in the limited areas of the river bottomlands and offered great potentialities for increase in population density. The effects of contact with Spaniards on these economies were hardly revolutionary. Wheat made possible a winter crop in the Upper Pima agricultural cycle, and other new crops added some variety to the by no means monotonous Indian diet. However, the native crops remained the staples. Spanish improvements in agricultural technology had important potentialities for Indian agriculture and in some places these were realized for a short period. Irrigation techniques were promptly introduced in both highland and lowland, but in the highland improved land tended to be taken over by colonists and in the lowland became a source of conflict between ecclesiastical and secular authorities. There was no program for general development of Indian agriculture except that carried on by the Jesuits, and it was the growth of the controlled economy of the Jesuit mission communities which led usually to Indian dispossession of good farmland. The major effect of Spanish contact on Indian economy in the northwest was to

diversify the existing small-scale subsistence farming with the addition of livestock. Sheep and cattle were introduced immediately by the Jesuits, who spent much time instructing Indians in the care of the animals. By the end of the Spanish period livestock were solidly established as sources of both wool and meat. Undoubtedly this turned the Indian economies in the direction of lesser reliance on wild foods. Nevertheless there was very little change in the scale or the efficiency of Indian agriculture throughout the colonial period. Systematic attempts to increase its efficiency and to integrate it into the Mexican national economy did not begin until the 1930's. The general pattern of the Uto-Aztecan settlements was described by the Spaniards as ranchería. They meant by this a type which fell between the compact pueblo, or village, and the roving band. The ranchería of northwest Mexico was a loose cluster of houses which sometimes moved its location seasonally and was not necessarily to be found in the same place from one year to another. The houses were never built contiguously, but rather, even in the areas of greatest population density, as among lowland Cahitans, always at some distance from one another and often surrounded by fences of cane. In highland areas the distance between household units might be a half-mile or more. In general the houses of the lowland rancherías were a little less widely dispersed than those of the highlands. In the highlands, as among Tarahumara and Huichol, a ranchería was rarely larger than 200-300 persons. In the lowlands, although rancherías of 300 were usual, there were also some of 1000 inhabitants. The settlement pattern of the highland Uto-Aztecans was less affected by Jesuit mission influences than that of the lowlands. Yet the Jesuits apparently succeeded in introducing a new level of organization among highland peoples. This was represented in the pueblo, which consisted of several rancherías within a given locality who 787

ETHNOLOGY

recognized the same set of ceremoniopolitical officials introduced by the Spaniards. This local unit of associated rancherías may not have been entirely new with Spanish contact, but the Jesuit introduction of church buildings certainly gave focus and definition to any pre-existing unit larger than the ranchería. In the lowland, while Jesuit influence did not transform completely the settlement patterns of all groups, there was a shift affecting the great majority. This consisted of an increase in both size and compactness of settlements. The characteristic development was that which took place along the lower Fuerte, Mayo, and Yaqui rivers, where after 1600 mission communities were established. Rancherías of a few hundred inhabitants each were consolidated into towns of 2000 or 3000 each. Occasionally Indians adopted the Spanish form of close living in contiguous houses, but more often they maintained their separate household pattern, although building somewhat more closely together than before the missions. In terms of technology and material culture the Uto-Aztecans were very similar. The most notable areal specializations were in house type, which included dome-shaped, grass-covered structures in the northern lowland; oval mud-and-stone houses with peaked grass-thatched roofs in the southern highland and central and southern lowland; rectangular houses in the central lowland covered with heavy, twilled cane mats, as well as other types. All the Uto-Aztecans made coiled basketry, pottery, twilled mats, and wove cotton. The arts were variously developed in detail, but existed in basically the same form throughout the region. There was an absence of tailored clothing; men's wear consisted of breechclout and cloak for cold weather or special occasion, women's wear of knee-length skirt. In general, the Indian crafts were stimulated and developed, especially weaving, as a result of Spanish contact, and weaving in the highland continued as an important art into the 788

latest phase of contact. On the other hand, all crafts in the lowland were steadily replaced. Men hunted and did most of the farmwork, but women assisted in the farming and did most of the wild-food gathering. The division of labor in agricultural activity was not sharp until the introduction of livestock when men became the herders. There were probably no full-time specialists until after the arrival of the Spaniards. Land tenure was generally based on use right of family units, but in the denser Cahitan settlements and other lowland groups there was community assignment of land. Trade was confined to simple developments in luxury items such as parrot feathers, shells, and colored stones. There was regular trade throughout the area in these products, but there were no markets in the form of permanent or recurrently utilized sites for barter. There was no indication of money or an equivalent and no suggestion of important forms of wealth display or accumulation or social stratification based on wealth possession. The Upper Pima were characterized by an interesting form of hiring out their labor to neighboring people as a means of tiding over bad drouth years in their arid country. Bilateral forms of kinship organization obtained among all the Uto-Aztecans. The kinship terminology was bifurcate collateral with Hawaiian cousin terminology. Except for the Upper Pima, who had strong tendencies toward the development of patrilineal extended families and who possessed a unique patrilineal system of descent names, none of the Uto-Aztecans exhibited any forms of unilineal descent. The largest kinship units were extended families, and there was generally no unilineal structure involved in these (Beals, 1932b). Ranchería exogamy occurred but was not universal. There was no consistent or important difference between highland and lowland kinship patterns. Until the arrival of the Jesuits there were

NORTHWEST MEXICO: INTRODUCTION

no organized social units larger than the ranchería communities. Rancherías were generally composite, that is, composed of unrelated households. A sense of territorial boundary was usually strong between rancherías, particularly those located on the flood plains of the large rivers. An elder or group of elders acted as peacetime authority, meeting regularly with the adult males to discuss the welfare of the community. Emphasis in leadership was on age and achievement in supernatural relations. There were separate war leaders who exercised authority only in time of war. The ranchería unit was autonomous. None of the Uto-Aztecans maintained peacetime tribal organization. There was, however, among both highland and lowland Cahitans strong wartime tribal organization. It included in its authority all the rancherías of a given dialect group, such as Yaqui or Tehueco, and operated to defend well-marked territory. Spanish contact, despite an initial sharper definition of tribal boundaries, did not result in the growth of any new tribal-wide political organization uniting the rancherías of a tribe or dialect group. It did, however, generally result in the consolidation of rancherías into larger local groups than before. Although apparent throughout the UtoAztecans, it was far more marked among lowland Cahitans. Combinations of Indian and Spanish forms of ritual kinship groups and ceremonial sodalities, together with the introduced village-government structure, united groups of rancherías into unusually cohesive local groups of several thousand persons. It was these products of the "reduction" program of the Spaniards which became the most effective vehicles of resistance in most of the revolts against Spanish and, later, Mexican domination. This form of town organization persisted among all the groups, where it was introduced from Cora to Upper Pima on into the 20th century. Variation in emphasis of ceremonial in-

terest and in detail of ritual was very great among Uto-Aztecans, but there was nevertheless a framework of religious concept which was common to all. The cosmology included conceptions of stages in creation and a universal flood, a view of life as involved in an opposition between supernatu r a l controlling wet and dry seasons, a belief in serpents associated with springs and other sources of water which were the source of supernatural power, a dominant male and a dominant female supernatural probably connected with heavenly bodies, and the attachment of high ritual value to the deer and to flowers. These features of the cosmological beliefs were not developed in the same way or given the same significance for all the tribes; major variants may be seen as distinguishing Pima from the other Uto-Aztecans rather than as distinguishing highland from lowland cultures (Underbill, 1948). Other common religious elements consisted in prophesying shamans who could diagnose disease, foresee future events, and control the weather, and whose power was a result of dreams which came unsought. Such shamans were important leaders and practiced their ritual often in accompaniment with groups of men and women singers and in connection with all-night dances. It was they who prescribed the ritual for a variety of cures, including sucking rituals and the making of ground paintings. The latter were especially important for the cure of diseases caused by unsatisfactory relations between human beings and animals. Important in the ceremonies of all the Uto-Aztecans was the drinking of intoxicating drinks made from corn, cactus fruit, or other ferments. A cult of war was widespread, exhibiting greatest intensity among Cahitans. It included ceremonial cannibalism, a scalp pole dance, and various forms of victory dance. Material objects which were the focus of ceremonies seem most often to have been made for temporary use and destroyed after the 789

ETHNOLOGY

ceremony, rather than as permanent representations of supernaturals. In the highland, peyote was a sacred material and figured in shamanistic and group ceremonials. The organization of ceremony has been obscured by contact influences emanating from the Jesuits, but there is much evidence for ceremonial sodalities with formal initiation, a hierarchy of officers, special forms of recruiting, the employment of masks, and perhaps secret ritual (Beals, 1945a, pp. 20207). Both men and women participated in such organizations. Spanish contact resulted in general not in any breakdown of the ceremonial systems but rather in their reinforcement. The native cosmologies were enriched by the inclusion of new supernaturals, especially the Virgin of Guadalupe and Jesus, but also a number of Catholic saints. The Christian flood myth reinforced belief in the native one. The Catholic system of godparents was fused with the Indian ceremonial sponsor system. Catholic religious sisterhoods and brotherhoods were combined with the native ceremonial sodalities. In general, the Jesuit-introduced concepts and rituals together with the Spanish church and town governmental systems were integrated in varying degrees with the Indian socioceremonial life (Bennett and Zingg, 1935, pp. 296-335; Zingg, 1938, pp. 1-67; Spicer, 1954b, pp. 55-94). The resulting fusion gave rise to unusually tightly integrated folk cultures. The other major cultural type discernible in the region was represented by the Seri of the Sonora coast and probably the Cochimi and other less well known peninsular people like the Waicuri. It was much simpler and characterized by far less variation than the agricultural ranchería type (Kroeber, 1931). Subsistence activities were

790

fishing, hunting, and gathering. Subsistence was derived from fish, shellfish, sea turtle, cactus fruits and flowers, deer and small game, seeds of seaweed, and several kinds of edible roots. The technology was simple but included bow and arrow, coiled basketry, and apparently pottery (for at least the Sonora coastal people). Textile weaving was absent. Houses were made of ocotilla frames, tunnel shaped and brush covered. Men and women went naked but paid much attention to painting their faces. The social organization consisted of small bands of not more than 40 or 50 individuals. The bands moved about within recognized territorial boundaries. Kinship was bilateral, characterized by important avoidance relations between individuals and their parentsin-law and a variety of gift exchange obligations. The unit of exogamy is not known. There were no larger units than the bands, several of which spoke the same dialect. Some were maritime and some were inland. No formal leader of a band was recognized, although elders were respected. Shamanism was important. Shamans' power came through dreams and visions, and could be used for a variety of purposes. Small fetishes were employed as protective objects. The effects of contact on this culture pattern were of two kinds. On the one hand the peninsular people who were brought under the mission system became extinct within 250 years. The Seri, on the other hand, escaped intensive mission influence through various circumstances and continued for 400 years as marginal people. Their population steadily declined; they adopted clothing and fishing equipment but continued into the middle of the 20th century with only minor alterations in their social and religious life.

NORTHWEST MEXICO: INTRODUCTION

REFERENCES Aschmann, 1959 Baegert, 1952 Bancroft, 1884 Basauri, 1929, 1940c Beals, 1932a, 1932b, 1943b, 1945a Bennett and Zingg, 1935 Buelna, 1890 Caso and Parra, 1950 Castetter and Bell, 1942 Decorme, 1941 Ezell, 1955 Fabila, 1940 Griffen, 1959 Hale, 1958 Hinton, 1959 Jiménez Moreno, 1944 Johnson, F., 1940 Johnson, J. B., 1950 Kirchhoff, 1954

Kroeber, 1931, 1934, 1939 León-Portilla, 1959 Lombardo, 1702 Mason, 1936, 1940 Mendizábal, 1946a Mexico, 1943, 1953 Noriega and Cook de Leonard, 1959 Orozco y Berra, 1864 Pérez de Ribas, 1645 Plancarte, 1954 Romney, 1957 Sauer, 1934, 1935 Spicer, 1947, 1954b, 1961 Swadesh, 1959a, 1959b Tamayo, 1960

Thomas and Swanton, 1911 Underhill, 1948, 1954 Zingg, 1938, 1939

791

37. The Huichol and Cora

JOSEPH E. GRIMES and THOMAS B. HINTON

H

UICHOL (wii-záari-taari) and Cora (náayariite) are two related but distinct tribes that live in the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains of the states of Jalisco and Nayarit, Mexico.1 They have proved more resistant to acculturative pressures than have most Mexican groups. They appear to be more similar in their cultures to other northwestern Mexican peoples than to those central Mexicans who are their nearest indigenous neighbors to the south and southeast. Most descriptive work to date has specialized in material culture, religion, or linguistics, and no comprehensive picture of either group is available.2 Figure 1 shows the location of both tribes. From east to west, significant geographical features are (1) the Sierra de Βolaños, eastern boundary of the Huichol; (2) the Camotlan canyon, with the Huichol community centers Tuxpan and San Sebastian Teponahuaxtla; (3) the Chapalagana canyon, high on the sides of which are the Huichol centers Santa Catarina and San Andres Cohamiata; (4) the Huajimic canyon, with the Huichol center Guadalupe 792

Ocotan; (5) the Jesus Maria canyon, with the Cora centers Jesus Maria and San Francisco; (6) the Sierra del Nayar mountain 1 Huichol phonemes are stops p, t, c ( t s ) , k, q ( k w ) , fricative ζ (voiced or voiceless depending on locality, sometimes trilled, always retroflex), flap r (retroflex), nasals m, n, semivowels w, y, laryngeals ? (glottal catch), h (devoiced homorganic vocoid), vowels i, e, a, u (range [u v ] to [ο^]), Λ (high back unrounded), tones high ( ' ) , low (unmarked), open juncture ( - ) . Cora has a similar inventory; Cora s corresponds to Huichol ζ and has a similar retroflex quality. Cora also has 1 and c (ts) as distinct phonemic units, and o and u are probably distinct due to influence of Spanish loans. In syllable structure Cora has both nuclear and onset ? and h, whereas Huichol has them only in the onset. The status of Cora prosody is still doubtful; ( ' ) in Cora forms is tentatively interpreted as a stress accent, and an open juncture, though audible, is not recorded. There is probably a dental series t, n, s, r in Cora in contrast with the alveolar series, and labiovelar p w , m w in contrast with the labials. Italicized forms in this article are Spanish unless specified otherwise, or unless (as in the case of proper names) the context is clear otherwise. 2 The senior author has done linguistic and some ethnographic research among the Huichol since 1952, and has made brief field trips to the Cora. The junior author spent a year in 1959-60 doing intensive ethnographic field work among the Cora.

FIG. 1—GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF HUICHOL AND CORA, SHOWING STATE NAMES

FIG. 2—GEOGRAPHIC DISTRIBUTION OF HUICHOL AND CORA, SHOWING TOWNS AND ELEVATIONS

HUICHOL AND CORA

mass, with the Cora centers Mesa del Nayar, Santa Teresa, and Dolores; (7) the piedmont of the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain system, with the Cora centers San Juan Corapan, San Pedro Ixcatan de los Presidios, and Rosarito; (9) the Rio Santiago or Lerma and the Rio San Pedro; (10) the Nayarit coastal plain. Nuño de Guzmán's expedition in 1531 was the first European contact for the area. During the two centuries following, considerable intercourse took place between the Cora and surrounding Hispanicized groups, from which came many Spanish elements including European domestic plants and animals. It was not until 1722, however, that Spanish troops penetrated the Sierra del Nayar and reduced the Cora. At that time the Jesuits concentrated the Cora in their present centers, while the Franciscans established missions in the three northern Huichol centers. The land titles of those three centers date from the same period. Modern Cora culture took form in the 18th century, and has since proved resistant to change. In the mid-1800's Guadalupe split from San Andres, Tuxpan from San Sebastian, each taking the southern part of the parent territory, with intercommunity friction resulting. In the 1860's many Cora and a few Huichol fought with the insurgent Lozada. After the Mexican Revolution the entire mountain area adhered to the Villista faction led by General Buelna. The Cora were won over by the victorious Carranzista group; but no such effort was made in the southern sector, and the Huichol fled to the coast or to Cora communities to escape the military action against Buelna. This scattering led to increased bilingualism and to the establishment of numerous Huichol ranches outside the parent communities. In the late 1920's and early 1930's the Cora fought first for, then against, the "Cristeros," who protested against the government's rigorous policy regarding ecclesiastical organizations; another wave of

Huichol scattered to be out of the way of

the fighting.

The two languages are a little more distantly related than are Spanish and Italian; next in genetic closeness comes Nahuatl in the Uto-Aztecan family. Fabila (1959) estimates a total population of 7,043 Huichol: Tuxpan 950, San Sebastian 950, Santa Catarina 1,113, San Andres 1,250, Guadalupe 1,100, and outlying ranches 1,680. Around 80 Mestizos, mostly cattle raisers, live in the Huichol communities. The 1960 federal census lists 4,700 Cora in the Municipio del Nayar; there are probably 7,000 in the tribe as a whole. Jesus Maria and Mesa del Nayar have 1,500-1,800 inhabitants; San Francisco and Ixcatan have only around 300. Mestizo ranchers live in the Jesus Maria canyon and along the western margin, especially in Ixcatan, but are nearly absent in the sierra. The Jesuit José de Ortega (1754) gives a brief but excellent sketch of the 18thcentury Cora. Lumholtz' expedition of 1895-96 is the main ethnographic source (1900, 1902, 1904) for both groups. His observations are accurate for material culture, but his conclusions about society and religion are premature and sketchy. Preuss's trip to Jesus Maria in 1906 resulted in a volume of texts (1912) and several articles on Cora religion and language. Much of his work was unfortunately destroyed during World War II before publication. Preuss believed that Cora and Huichol myths and religious practices contain elements of ancient Mexican origin, and interpreted his findings accordingly. Zingg (1938) made atomistic but fairly accurate observations on the Huichol, but his interpretations are doctrinaire. Klineberg (1934) studied Huichol social psychology briefly. Beals, Redfield, and Tax (1943) and Underhill (1948) point out similarities of both groups to the American Southwest. Weitlaner (1945) and Monzón (1945a) interviewed a Cora in Mexico City and published on kinship and 795

FIG. 3—HUICHOL FAMILY CAMPING UNDER TEMPORARY SHELTER BY THE CHAPALAGANA RIVER, NAYARIT. They came down from the village of Las Huasimas to seek shrimp and berries. (Photographed by Donald Cordry, 1937.)

social organization. Hinton (1961, 1964) studied Cora social structure in depth. Grimes and Grimes (1962) described Huichol kinship terminology, and Grimes (1961) described the Huichol economic system. Vogt (1955) sketched the acculturation of both groups and compiled a com796

prehensive bibliography. Fabila (1959) gives plausible population estimates for the Huichol, but proposes an action program without sufficiently examining attitudes that could well render such a program impracticable. The McMahons (1959, 1967) have done descriptive work on the Cora lan-

HUICHOL AND CORA

guage, and Mcintosh (1945, 1954 [with Grimes]) and Grimes (1955, 1959, 1960, 1964) on Huichol. SUBSISTENCE SYSTEMS AND FOOD PATTERNS

Seasonal maize agriculture provides most of the food. Able men of each household clear brush from steep hillsides in the spring, burn off the cuttings (and frequently the surrounding mountainsides) in April or May, and till the few level plots available with a plow without moldboard. Entire households work together to plant plowed fields and hillside plots with a dibble stick after the first rains in mid-June, weed once in late July, sometimes again in late August, harvest in November after the plants dry, shell and store in December. Beans, squash, and cucumbers are also grown in the plots. Plots run around 3000 sq. m. per adult and less per child in the household. Some families cultivate orchards and small gardens, watering by hand during the dry season. Minor crops include grain amaranth, sesame (Cora), chile, tobacco, sugarcane, sweetpotatoes, watermelon, banana, mango, and, in the mountains at Santa Teresa, peaches and apples. Most families keep one or more cows and consume milk and cheese during the rainy season. Cattle sold to Mestizo buyers are a chief source of cash. The Huichol sacrifice bulls, but otherwise neither group consumes much meat. Some sheep are raised for wool. Pack and barnyard animals are common. Deer, peccary, and iguana are hunted; fish and crustaceans are caught. Agave hearts, nopal pads and fruit, pitahaya fruit, plums, wild greens, seed pods, tubers, mesquite and guamúchil pods, and gourds are gathered. Cora households tend to have more food and animals than Huichol households. Meals are taken by 9 A.M. and again by 5 P.M.; some families eat three times daily. At a meal an adult eats between eight and 12 14-cm. tortillas. When available, beans, squash, chile, tomato, beef, venison, fish,

cheese, fruit, and wild greens supplement the tortillas. The Cora take no beverages with meals; the Huichol may drink coffee, cinnamon tea, or corn gruel. The Huichol eat salt at meals unless under a vow; at ceremonies saltless tamales, maize dough or parched corn balls, maize beer, or soup of venison, fish, beef, or bean are served. Maize is prepared as tortillas, tamales, roasting ears, gruel, or parched; the Cora tend to use parched corn only for offerings, whereas the Huichol also eat it and salted hardtack tortillas on trips. Beans and squash are boiled; boiled beans are fried in locally produced lard; meat and squash are cut into strips for sun drying or are baked in an earth oven. SETTLEMENT PATTERNS

Houses generally have one room with 9-15 sq. m. floor space. Most are rectangular; a few Huichol houses are round or hexagonal. They are made of stone, adobe, poles, or wattle, depending on the climate and on the materials available, and are thatched with palm leaves or grass. A rock-and-mud fire table, either built up solid from the ground or laid over a raised pole frame, has walls built up at one end to hold the tortilla griddle and pots over the fire, and has a space at the other end for a grinding stone and dough tray. The Huichol generally use a bed of bamboo poles laid on the floor, over trestles, or on a permanent pole frame. Otherwise, both groups sleep on the floor on mats or hides, occasionally on beds of rawhide strips. Furniture is limited to a stool or two; shamans and Huichol elders may own a ceremonial chair with a backrest. Some houses contain two rooms, each at least 8 m. square, with a partition that divides sleeping quarters from cooking space. Fabila reports some Huichol houses of three 4-by-4-m. rooms. Additional buildings include maize cribs on stilts and with thatched roofs (used seasonally for sleeping), ranch oratories and community tem797

FIG. 4—HUICHOL MAIZE CRIB ON STILTS, IN USE AS SLEEPING QUARTERS, EL AIRE, NAYARIT. (Photographed by Donald Cordry, 1938.)

ples (Huichol), and official buildings. Fabila gives ground plans representative of the last three types. The Huichol prefer to be outdoors. Maize and beans are usually cooked outside; only grinding, eating, and sleeping are more likely to be done indoors. Each house has a swept yard where most household activities take place. 798

Each household has a house, usually a maize crib, sometimes a cooking arbor, animal corral, or (Huichol) oratory. From one to 12 related households in a loose cluster near a spring constitute a ranch. Each ranch is named and is also identified (Huichol) by the elder's name. Ranches are rarely closer than 15 minutes' walk from each other, and may be as much as two days' walk

HUICHOL AND CORA

from the community center. Some households have wet and dry season ranches; many change residence every two or three years, though elders of ranches within the Huichol communities tend not to move. Households move to be near current maize plots, to be near relatives, or to escape stressful social situations. Communities are divided by natural and traditional boundaries, which are often in dispute. Communities are political and ceremonial centers for their affiliated households. Each community has a building for business and some ceremonies. In each center there is a church, but in San Sebastian and Santa Catarina the building is used as a Huichol temple. Cora centers have separate jails and schools as well. Each Huichol center except Guadalupe has a temple; several prominent ranches also have temples. In addition to community buildings, there are private dwellings occupied by their owners and relatives during ceremonies and by officials whose presence in the center is required during their tenure of office. Most members of the community, however, spend the greater part of their time on ranches some distance from the center. Jesus Maria is divided into four barrios. Membership is inherited patrilineally and classifies individuals for eligibility to politico-religious offices (Monzón, 1945a). At present many families have houses in barrios other than their own, but it is claimed that this was not so formerly. Barrios have no significance as far as ranch location is concerned. They appear to be limited to Jesus Maria. About a fifth of the Huichol live outside their communities. The outlying ranches were formed after the Mexican Revolution and now provide a refuge from political or social stress within the communities. Outlying ranches retain community affiliations, and their elders are consulted on important community decisions. Intercommunity marriages are sufficiently numerous that most Huichol have a few relatives in every com-

munity. Visits lasting from one day to several months on relatives' ranches are common. On the other hand, few Cora live outside their communities, although in the last several decades drouth has driven some from the mountain communities toward the west, where they have set up ranches and intermarried with people from the western communities. They return home for fiestas and to discharge ceremonial obligations. Intercommunity marriages are common only in the west, and intervillage visiting is rare. Mestizos live near community centers. In Jesus Maria Mestizos are limited to only one of the barrios, even though the community is also the seat of the Municipio del Nayar. TECHNOLOGY

Agricultural tools include a short curved machete and a long heavy one, axe, wooden plow with or without steel point, dibble stick with or without steel point, a piece of steel or bone to harvest maize, picking baskets, ixtle sacks for transporting produce, sharpening stones, and corncob disks for shelling maize. In building, steel bars are used for digging; a sharpened bamboo with perforated eye serves as a needle to pass tying strips through thatch; for adobe there are gourds in cord slings to carry water, a hoop with cord net to carry mud, and a frame for shaping bricks. In food preparation there is a clay pot or galvanized bucket for cooking maize in water with lime, a stirring stick, legless trough metate (Cora), conventional legged metate (both groups), muller, mortar and pestle for chile, tortilla griddle, cast iron hand grinder for maize, copper vessel for rendering lard, basket for straining it, clayware or enamelware for frying and boiling, enamelware plates and spoons, dippers made from gourds cut sagittally, water gourds and galvanized water buckets, gourd balances for weighing. Cora women make heavy unpainted pottery bowls and cooking pots, using a joint of cane to shape and 799

ETHNOLOGY

smooth the vessel. A generation ago Huichol women also made pots; now only a few make griddles. Large narrow-mouthed or covered water jars bought from Mestizos have replaced large gourds for water storage. Small gourds serve as canteens. The Huichol produce alcohol by fermenting sprouted maize in large gourds and by fermenting an agave mash in cowhide bags hung from a pole frame, then distilling it in a clay pot covered with a copper vessel of cold water under which is suspended a small clay receiver. Cordage is twisted by hand, spun on a 30-cm. spindle with wooden whorl, or made into two-strand cord on a whirler. Fourstrand rope is made on a frame that rotates four wooden cranks simultaneously at one end while a single crank at the other unites the strands. Backstrap looms are used with simple, weft float, warp float, and doublecloth techniques to give geometric and stylized life forms. Woolen and cotton shoulder bags and ixtle carrying bags with straps are the principal products. The Huichol also weave sashes (see vol. 6, Art. 8, fig. 18) and decorative bands; the Cora make woolen blankets on the backstrap loom. Huichol women use three types of cross stitch in embroidery and three running stitches. Cora women are on the average slightly less proficient than Huichol women though they participate in the same over-all textile technology. Fibers of ixtle, cotton, and wool are processed for spinning; bark and rawhide are used untwisted or braided. Most cotton and wool is imported already spun and dyed, but dark natural wool, wild indigo dye, or commercial dyes are used. Muslin and calico are imported; some clothes are bought ready made, especially by men. Lumholtz' publications give a detailed picture of Huichol crafts and a fair idea of Cora crafts, many products of which are indistinguishable from their Huichol counterparts. Fishing is done with hooks, squareknotted hand nets of cotton string, wooden 800

tipped spears (Cora), poison of three kinds (Huichol), or with the bare hands (Huichol). Hunting is now almost exclusively by rifle; the Huichol rarely use the traditional net deer snare. Animal gear is of the kind encountered throughout northwestern Mexico, though the Huichol do not use the sidesaddle. Conventionalized ceremonial objects are made of reed, bamboo, gourd, cotton wool, wool yarn, cotton thread, muslin, cotton cloth, cardboard, feathers, beeswax, beads, or coins; they are painted with natural or imported pigments mixed with a glue binder taken from the juice of a wild orchid. Prayer arrows are decorated with designs symbolic of the deities to whom the prayers are directed, and may have miniature representations of the things desired attached to them. Diamond-shaped figures to prevent the entry of a departed spirit by an unwanted path and to decorate the hats of children participating in ceremonies, rectangular figures to represent the outward appearance or "face" of deities (the last two of which Lumholtz erroneously interprets as "shields") are made of sticks and yarn. Decorated gourd bowls carry specific requests to the deities they symbolize. The Huichol do some rough stone sculpture to produce images of deities and symbolic stone tablets. Typical Huichol men's dress appears in figure 7. Lumholtz' descriptions still serve except that wool shirts and head nets are now archaic. Some men wear embroidered shirts, sashes, small embroidered bags hung below the sash, more than one decorated shoulder bag, cape, bead earrings, and decorated palm hat for everyday wear, but most vary the elaborateness of their costume according to the occasion. Special adornments include necklaces of large beads, mirrors and Catholic medals hung around the neck, beadwork rings and wristbands, woven bands worn over the sash or around the wrist, macaw and hawk feathers on the hat, and, for those who have made the

HUICHOL AND CORA

peyote pilgrimage, tails of gray squirrel on the hat. Huichol women wear calf- to ankle-length skirts and high-necked, threequarter-length sleeved blouses that reach the skirt top, and a quechquemitl that is usually worn on the head, sometimes over the blouse. Women's clothes are made of print material or of embroidered unbleached muslin. Both sexes wear bead ornaments, paint the face, usually with red pigment mixed with lard or honey, and decorate their clothing with flowers. Many men and a few women wear rural Mestizo dress part of the time. (Most articles sold to tourists as "Cora" are actually Huichol.) Cora dress, with shirt and calzones of unbleached muslin for men and a long skirt and blouse similar to those worn by the Huichol for women, resembles that of rural Mestizos of two generations ago. Men of Santa Teresa and Dolores tie a large bordered kerchief over the calzones so that it hangs in back like a triangular kilt. In the west some men wear conventional trousers. Men wear locally or commercially made braided palm hats; women cover their heads with a rebozo. Men carry a small woven or embroidered shoulder bag for a pocket. Loincloths worn by adult men within the last 35 years at Jesus Maria have disappeared; children still wear them sometimes. Woven sashes like those the Huichol wear have also disappeared. Old men occasionally wear a long deerskin apron that hangs from neck to knees. Both sexes use cowhide sandals, some with rubber-tire soles. Blankets are carried in cold weather. Most eastern Huichol men braid their hair or let it hang loose. The western Huichol wear a bowl-shaped cut or a European short cut; Cora men wear their hair short. Women of both tribes wear their hair loose or in a single braid down the back. Huichol characteristically travel on foot. Donkeys, horses, and mules are principally pack animals, used secondarily for riding. Whole families walk to the coast, carrying grinding stones and cooking utensils on

their backs, and returning with loads of supplies as well. The Cora travel more by animal than the Huichol, but also carry goods on foot. No motor transportation enters the area, but all Huichol centers and Jesus Maria have airstrips, and a few Indians use air service. Linear measures are (1) finger width, (2) outstretched thumb tip to outstretched middle finger tip, (3) nose to tip of middle finger of outstretched arm, (4) double arm span, (5) day's journey. Lengths are compared by means of a knotted rope or a notched bamboo. Land area is measured by the number of measures of maize seed that could be planted on it. Dry volume is in seed measures or in hectoliter sacks. Liquid volume is in liters or in 20-liter cans. Weight is in kilograms, 11.5-kg. arrobas (for lard), or in hectoliter sacks of maize. Within a household men produce and store food and women prepare it; men care for range animals and women for barnyard animals; men build buildings and women care for what is in them; men procure fibers and cloth and women fashion clothing from them. Men do not weave, embroider, or prepare ground maize (though they may operate the metal grinder and parch maize); otherwise a fair amount of overlap in sex-assigned tasks is permitted when circumstances make a temporary shift desirable. Children begin chores at around five years of age. All members of the household help in all phases of agriculture except cutting and burning brush and plowing. All Huichol and Cora are basically farmers. A few Cora are employed as schoolteachers by the state or national governments, but these also farm. Certain Huichol are outstanding in activities in which nearly all participate in a general way, such as violin playing among men and textile work among women. Chanting and the fabrication of pottery, stools, and chairs among the Huichol, and rope twisting, wicker basket making, tanning, and tile and adobe making among the Cora, are undertaken by 801

ETHNOLOGY

specialists at their convenience. These do not, however, support themselves exclusively by their specialty, but exercise it when convenient and as a favor to the consumer, with no attempt at volume production. Better-known shamans get considerable income from fees; some shamans appear to seek a profit but most do not. Land is communal and cannot be bought or sold; an individual has use rights to a field as long as he works it, after which it reverts to the community. The right of inheritance of orchards is recognized. Dwellings, livestock, and movable goods are privately owned by both men and women. Outsiders may rent community land, but the Indians view these arrangements with misgivings. The Huichol household is the basic unit of production and consumption. Several households may cooperate in some phases of agriculture, and frequently cooperate in the expense of a ceremony. Religious officials cooperate to produce what is consumed at community-wide ceremonies. A community base for production is seen only in fence building and construction or maintenance of ceremonial structures. In ceremonies the households giving the ceremony join with visiting kin as consumers. The entire community is the consuming unit only in the community-wide ceremonies. The Cora production and consumption unit is the nuclear family. Relatives or cogodfathers assist each other on a small scale, and a man may recruit his neighbors to help weed or harvest in return for money, food, or gleanings. Occasionally a field is worked on shares with the harvest divided according to work performed. Each community plants a large plot, the produce of which feeds participants in ceremonies. Work on it is done by members of the community at large under the foremanship of community officers. The workers are fed at community expense. Top officials accompany the crews to fast and pray for the venture. Middle American markets are absent. 802

Maize is purchased on the buyer's initiative, usually at the seller's ranch. Other exchange is also carried out on a personal basis. The marginal agricultural system precludes much income from potential cash crops such as surplus maize or (Cora) sesame seed. For articles not manufactured locally the Huichol travel to Mestizo centers; the Cora either go outside or buy from small Mestizo-owned stores in the area. Groups of Mestizos make trips in to peddle goods or to buy cattle. Huichol travelers buy things to sell at home, but make little profit from them. A money value pegged to Tepic prices can be stated for anything, and little barter occurs. In December Huichol go to the maize harvests of Tepic and the coast in order to earn money. In March and April entire families, and occasional Cora individuals or families, go to the coast to work from a few days up to two months in maize and tobacco. With the money they earn they purchase maize to piece out their own usually inadequate supply (sometimes depleted soon after the harvest by sale to get quick cash), and also purchase manufactured articles. Some Huichol work for pay for Mestizos in the tribal area on a longterm basis paid in lump sums; they also work for daily wages for Mestizos and for Huichol who are not close kin. A few Cora and fewer Huichol have been to the United States as braceros. Quite a number of men have gone to Tepic, Guadalajara, and Mexico City on official business. Very few Huichol and Cora live in Tepic or other towns. Wealth is stored by hoarding in the house or burying, or by investment in livestock. The Huichol disapprove display of wealth in diet or clothing; a person who eats or dresses too well (except at ceremonies) risks loss of support from the gods. Fruit orchards and village houses are Cora signs of wealth also. A Huichol with more than two cows is taxed at a higher rate when levies are made for community expenditures. A Cora with more than 50 cows is

HUICHOL AND CORA

considered rich; the wealthiest have up to 300, but the "rich" are few. Most Huichol lack foresight and squander their money, though a few (Klineberg, 1934) are prosperous in cattle. In contrast, the Cora do not spend money freely, and have a reputation for miserliness and inhospitability. The Huichol beg in Mestizo towns, whereas the Cora do not, and look critically on the Huichol for this trait. Politico-religious officers must sustain part of the expenses of community-wide ceremonies and must pass on a respectable amount to their successors. This outlay tends to prevent any appreciable accumulation of personal wealth and for the majority represents a sacrifice. SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

Kinship terminology is Hawaiian; Huichol further distinguishes lineal kin one generation from ego. Cora cousin terminology is reckoned by seniority, the relative ages of the siblings from whom a cousin pair descended, not the relative ages of the cousins themselves. Table 1 compares kinship terminologies. Abbreviations are: Br (other), Si(ster), Sb (sibling); Fa(ther), Mo(ther), Pa (rent); So(n), Da(ughter), Ch(ild); Hu(sband), Wi(fe), Sp(ouse). G e n ± l , consanguineal relative one generation removed from ego in either direction, 0 zero, + ascending only, — descending only. O(lder), Y(ounger), M(ale), F(emale), st(eprelative), / or, — reciprocal with. Terms are customarily possessed in both languages; here possessives are omitted. Examples: Gen+1M "any male consanguineal of the first ascending generation from ego"; GenØCh "child of any consanguineal of ego's own generation." Nuclear families together with recently acquired sons-in-law, grandchildren with or without their parents, or widowed parents of adults form households, which are basic units. The Huichol "elder" is the dominant

household head of a ranch, and speaks for the ranch in community deliberations. Huichol marriages are contracted within the bilateral kindred composed of all known kin, preferably between close kin. Cora marriages with relatives in paternal and maternal lines, or with relatives who have the same surnames, are prohibited. Firstcousin marriages are common among Huichol, rare and disapproved among Cora. The Huichol groom joins the bride's father's household until he can erect his own house on the same ranch and plant his own maize. He remains there for a few years; after that, his household may move to ranches of relatives of either side. As a child grows up he keeps constant company with siblings and parents; in addition, on whatever ranch he lives, he has around him consanguineals of his parents' generation and their families, and is usually spoiled by the elder. His wife will come from one of the ranch-wide play groups of his childhood. Around 5 per cent of Huichol households and a few Cora households are polygynous; sororal polygyny is preferred. A few Huichol have up to five wives. Husbands initiate divorce for sterility, either partner for cruelty. Fathers and elders sometimes take back women when they are dissatisfied with a match already made. For the Cora, residence after marriage depends on convenience and economic considerations; virilocality predominates slightly. There are few Cora-Huichol or IndianMestizo unions. Ritual kinship is contracted at baptism, at the rare Catholic marriage ceremonies and confirmations, at sale of cattle (Huichol ), and at a ceremony in which children are initiated into the drinking of mescal (Cora). Close kin are preferred as co-godparents. The Cora forbid marriage between godchildren and members of their padrinos' families (Weitlaner, 1945). Huichol ranches are political units, acting through their elders; Cora ranches are less formalized. Huichol elders and past gober803

ETHNOLOGY

T A B L E 1—KINSHIP CORA (JESUS M A R I A ) 3

HUICHOL ( W E S T E R N )

?iwáa GenØ maaci OGenØM kuuríi OGenØF muuta YGenØM mixta YGenØF tárú, ?ázi YGenØ

?iwaára?a Sb/relative há?a OBr/Gen + 1 ( O than Pa) So kú?u O S i / G e n + l ( 0 than P a ) D a huú Y S b / G e n + 1 (Y than P a ) C h

kémáaci Fa ( E g o M ) qéeci Fa(EgoF) yáu (eastern), páapa Fa káA-wáari stFa warúuci, máama Mo téiwáari stMo

tahta

Gen+1M

náana

Gen+IF

niwé

Ch/GenØCh stCh

niwe-wári tátáaci

Gen + 1 Μ (not F a )

Gen+lF(not Mo)/ G e n + 1 F (eastern) maa-cúri GenØCh ( E g o M ) niwe-cie GenØCh ( E g o F ) téi

teu-kári Gen±2 mii-tári G e n + 2 M ( E g o F ) / Gen-2F(EgoM) tewaríi G e n ± 2 M ( E g o M ) ma?ÁA G e n - 2 ( E g o F ) qÁAci G e n + 2 F keicarí-wáame, kAcau-ríza, tuuru, tee-zúuri, turúuza, teu-ríza, mAtÁzí, tuu-cíi G e n ± 3 and beyond, all interchangeable kkná ?Áyá

Hu Wi

naú G e n + 1M—GenØSo/Gen + 2So— G e n + l C h S o / s t F a (all EgoM) tí G e n + l F / G e n + 2 F D a / s t M o taá

G e n + 1M ( E g o F ) — G e n Ø D a ( EgoM)

yaasú

Gen+2M/Gen-2(EgoM)

yaáqa

G e n + 2 F / G e n - 2 (EgoF)

tu?urú Gen±3 waákAsa?α Gen±4

kAÁn Hu ?Áh Wi

kémá SiHu (EgoM) / WiBr ?iwarúu BrWi( EgoF) /HuSi qée WiSi/HuBr/SiHu ( E g o F ) / BrWi(EgoM) yee-turízá ex-qée; link dead; Ego already married

yá?ube?e SiHu/SpBr/PaSbDaHu hAPita BrWi/SpSi/PaSbSoWi/ WiBrWi

múune WiFa/DaHu warÁkáA WiMo mu?ee HuPa/SoWi muunéwári WistPa/stDaHu mu?ee-wáari HustPa/stSoWi

mú?un

neA-kii PaSiHu/WiSiHu/WiSbCh wízí PaBrWi/HuBrWi/HuSbCh cá?íizi ChSpPa zeerái SpPaPa/ChChSp

804

yáuh C h / G e n Ø C h ( E g o F ) pé?eri Ch(EgoM)

SpPa—ChSp/SpPaSb—SbChSp

HUICHOL AND CORA

nadores, and Cora principales, reach decisions for the community by consensus and express them through officers they elect by consensus or, among the Huichol, sometimes by lot. The list of officers for each community varies; most Huichol communities have a descending hierarchy that includes gobernador, alcalde, capitán, alguacil, sargento, secretario, and topiles. Each incumbent has to find his own successor when officers are changed every one to five years; and inasmuch as the financial responsibilities of office are heavy, successors are hard to find. Jesus Maria, as representative of Cora communities, has gobernador, teniente, alcalde, centuriones, tenanche mayor, primer mayordomo, mayordomo grande, two jueces, fiscales who act as bellringers, alguaciles, and as helpers to the gobernador, eight justicias or ministros under the alcalde, and one topil. The Cora

3 The Mesa del Nayar kinship terms (McMahon, personal communication) differ sufficiently from the Jesus Maria terms to be worth including here. Note especially the honorific system, the additional terms for vertically distant consanguineals, and the steprelative terms. Forms preceded by Η are honorific. They are used principally for lineal kin in ascending generations, or for close kin when no lineals are denoted. táata G e n + 1 M , yá?u G e n + 1 M slightly more respectful, táatasa?a stFa, yá?up w asa?a stFa. náana G e n + 1 F , náanasa?a stMo. nauú H. nauusí G e n + l M ( n o t F a ) / G e n + l F H u / G e n Ø S o , téi G e n + 1 F (not M o ) / G e n + l M W i , taá Η taátabi?i GenØDa/ G e n + 1 ( Y than P a ) M ( E g o F ) . yáuh Ch/GenØCh, pé?eri S o ( E g o M ) , yáuhsa?a stCh. haáci?i OBr/ G e n + 1 ( 0 than Pa)So, kuucí?i O S i / G e n + 1 (O than Pa)Da, huú Y S b / G e n + l ( Y than Pa)Ch, há?a W i O B r / G e n + l ( 0 than P a ) S o / G e n Ø F H u (no plural, applied to Morning Star), kú?u WiOSi/ G e n + l ( Ò than P a ) D a (no plural). yaasú H yaasúuri?i G e n - 2 / G e n + 2M/WiPaFa, yé?eqa H yeéqari?i G + 2F/WiPaMo. tu?urúh Η tu-urúuci?i G e n ± 3 , mwátA?A G e n ± 4 , waákAsa?a G e n ± 5 , tA?Asqá G e n ± 6 , m w eéyu?u G e n ± 7 . kÁAn Hu, ?Áh Wi, yá?ube?e WiBr/SiHu/GenØFHu, hAÍta WiSi/BrWi/ G e n + 1 ( Y than Pa)SoWi/GenØMWi, mú?un SpPa/ChSp. Huichol kinship terminology is uniform throughout the region except for the few instances noted in the table.

gobernador has simultaneous civil and religious functions; in the latter he is assisted by the básta?a (Cora "old man"; fig. 3) and the tenanche mayor, who in turn directs the mayordomos. There are two mayordomos for each principal saint. Each mayordomo is assisted by a tenanche; pasoniles coordinate the work of some tenanche groups. In effect, Cora civil and religious organization is integrated; the Huichol religious hierarchy, on the other hand, is largely independent of and coordinate in rank with the civil. In it, each principal saint or temple is under the care of a mayordomo, who is assisted by a tepuu-tári, a prioste, tenanches (always female), ceremonial clowns, and topiles. Independent of the politico-religious offices, the Cora have ceremonial and dance groups; the principales name people for life to the danzantes, maromeros, moros (fig. 8), musicians, drummers, pachitas singers; they name people for five-year periods to the judíos and fariseos of Holy Week, malinches (who must be and remain virgins for the period), and viejos de la danza (one each for the danzantes, maromeros, and moros). The Huichol use judíos to pursue the image of the Virgin in re-enactment of a magic flight motif on Good Friday, but the group is not a formal one. One of the Indian authorities from each community is recognized as juez auxiliar of the municipio in which the community is located, and another as representante in land questions. Except for homicide, the communities are judicially autonomous. In the Municipio del Nayar the Cora are a majority, and the presidente municipal is nearly always a Cora; otherwise, there is little Indian participation in state or national government. There are federal rural schools in the Cora centers but not in the Huichol. Federal agencies such as public health and census are not well accepted. The Summer Institute of Linguistics has begun pilot literacy campaigns in both in805

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 5—CORA SYMBOL OF THE COSMOS, ATTACHED TO PRAYER ARROW. (From Lumholtz, 1902, 2: 521.)

digenous languages, and the government's Instituto Nacional Indigenista has begun an action program for the entire area. RELIGION AND WORLD VIEW

Religion remains basically indigenous, with an overlay of 18th-century Catholicism that includes baptism, saints, and the ritual calendar. Cora and some Huichol equate saints with native deities whose function remains the assurance of rain, health, and material welfare; most Huichol add the saints to the native list of a hundred or so deities without equating them. Verbal prayers, prayer arrows, stick-andyarn symbolic offerings, cotton, gourd bowls, yarn-and-bead pictures (Lumholtz, 1900), and food and drink offerings help the laity communicate with the gods. Shamans (see vol. 6, Art. 20, fig. 4) also communicate through chants and prayers and by shaking hawk plumes. The Cora take 806

offerings to caves and cliffs throughout their country (see vol. 6, Art. 20, fig. 2); Huichol shrines (see vol. 6, Art. 20, fig. 1) range from the Pacific to the state of San Luis Potosí, with the most important ones located in a declivity below Santa Catarina. Both groups share a cave shrine at Mesa del Nayar. Such Huichol rituals are largely of household or ranch scale—resorted to in crises of sickness and impending crop failure—and only occasionally of community scale. The Cora ceremonies, however, with the exception of curing rites, are community affairs supervised by officials "for all of us, for all the Cora, for all people in the world." Nothing reminiscent of the central Mexican calendric systems has come to light; dates or lunar phases are neither obligatory, auspicious, nor inauspicious for ceremonies. Catholic community ceremonies are organized by community officials. The Huichol keep Ash Wednesday (not necessarily on that day, however), Holy Week, and the community patron saint's day. The Cora of Jesus Maria keep New Year's, Pachitas (the two and a half weeks preceding Ash Wednesday), Holy Week, Ascension, Jueves de Corpus, San Antonio, Santiago, Santa Ana, Assumption, San Miguel, Rosary, All Saints', Guadalupe, and Christmas. The Cora give three all-night mitotes as community functions in connection with the maize cycle; ranches also hold mitotes. The Huichol hold their maize ceremonies principally on ranches, only occasionally by communities: Green Maize, Squash (in which children are featured participants; fig. 6; see also vol. 6, Art. 9, fig. 7), Roasting Ears (when purple maize is offered to the sun), Parched Corn (when peyote observances are concluded, fig. 7) and Seed Maize. Ceremonies to bring rain, cure sickness, neutralize sorcery, or celebrate the peyote pilgrimage are held as needed. Neglecting ceremonies may bring individual, family, or community disaster because the

FIG. 6—HUICHOL GROUP AT SQUASH CEREMONY, LA MESA, NAYARIT. Typical nuclear family sleeping hut in background. At left, a miniature ceremonial chair holding a piece of rock crystal wrapped in cloth and tied to a prayer arrow, which represents a deceased ancestor. Deer horns on the chair represent Káuyúu-maari, the messenger to the other deities. Clay incense burners and green squash are placed as offerings. Two of the women hold Squash Ceremony yarn figures that represent five-year-old children. The children carry gourd rattles. (Photographed by Donald Cordry.)

FIG. 7—HUICHOL RITUAL. Shaman invites the deities, including the Virgin of Guadalupe, to the sacrifice and branding of cattle during the Parched Corn ceremony.

deities feel personal neglect and send misfortune as a reminder to the offender. The Cora tend to emphasize community disaster, the Huichol individual disaster. (For Huichol híi-kúri (peyote) dance scenes recorded by Lumholtz, see vol. 6, Art. 9, fig. 8,9.) 808

Myths, usually chanted by the shaman, account for origins and for the placement and function of the deities. Chants last up to three nights, and despite their repetitious style, contain a considerable amount of detail. Animal stories account for the physical characteristics of fauna and highlight

FIG. 8—CORA RITUALS. α, Officials ("old men") pray to Morning Star deity for success of a community field. b, Danzantes (on foot) and moros (mounted) in a procession on the day of San Miguel. (Photographed by Joseph E. Grimes.)

social sore spots. In one Cora series San Pedro replaces the coyote as trickster. Illness is sent by deities who feel they have been neglected, by dead relatives who want the company of the living, by neglect of the customs, by sorcery, or by natural causes. The shaman makes diagnosis by dreaming, ingestion of peyote, or by chanting and receiving through his chant communication from the deities. Initial treatment is by blowing smoke, brushing with hawk plumes, and sucking small objects from the affected part. Complete treatment includes a ceremonial pilgrimage with offerings at the place where the offended deity resides. Some individuals have considerable knowl-

edge of medicinal herbs; they are not necessarily shamans. Sorcery is practiced by shamans. Other shamans can either dream the sorcerer's identity, in which case he is in danger of revenge, or they can perform ceremonies to neutralize the spell. Deities are classified under kinship terms. Those in each group share common attributes. Table 2 gives a comparison in extremely broad terms of the terminological and functional divisions of the pantheons; only the principal deities are mentioned. It is probable that no Huichol, even a shaman, knows all the deities held by the tribe as a whole. 809

ETHNOLOGY TABLE 2 — D E I T I E S HUICHOL

"Grandfathers": sun deity (prominent in west), fire deity (prominent in east), both under earth. "Aunts": 4 principal rain deities who live in caves below Santa Catarina, sea god, others. Symbolized as snakes. "Elder Brothers": gods of maize, deer, peyote. Reside in peyote area of San Luis Potosí. Symbolized as deer. Káuyúu-maari, one of them, is trickster, messenger to other deities, equated with death god and Devil. Morning Star cult not as central as in Cora. "Grandmothers": earth and general fertility. Moon insignificant. "Great-grandparents": miscellaneous deities.

CORA

"Father," Tayá?u: equated with Dios, Jesucristo, sun, and fire. Under earth. "Aunt" or "Mother," Tatí: fertility of earth. Lives in west, sends rains from Pacific. Her bowl carried in mitotes. Equated with Virgins of Rosario and Candelaria. "Elder Brother Star": Morning Star (fig. 8,a) or San Miguel (fig. 8,b). Culture hero, protector, monster slayer. (Tayá?u, Tatí, and Elder Brother are the principal deities in Jesús María.) "Devil": important in witchcraft. "Grandfather sun, grandmother moon": fertility. téqa?aci: spirits of ancient times, now personified in rocks and hills, especially around mitote sites. Control rain clouds. bustaani: bones of "gigantic ancestors."

Five is the thematic and ceremonially significant number for both groups. The Huichol face east and speak to the gods at south, north, east, west, and center, sometimes up and down as well. Cora turn east, west, north, south, and center, sometimes up and down. AESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL PATTERNS

Contemporary Cora art is limited to the manufacture of shoulder bags and a few religious items. On the other hand, Huichol art is as prolific as it was in Lumholtz' day. Huichol music includes songs and chants. Songs are made up by individuals, accompanied on violin and guitar of native manufacture (fig. 9). They are used for individual and group dancing during ceremonies, for enlivening nonceremonial gatherings, and for individual enjoyment. Chants communicate with the gods; shamans chant, accompanied by two assistants chosen for the occasion, who take up refrains. Shamans sometimes accompany themselves on a vertical log drum with deerskin head (fig. 6; 810

vol. 6, Art. 20, fig. 4). There are a few lullabies. Songs, chants, and lullabies are in Huichol. Mestizo-style instrumental groups play rural Mestizo hit tunes for pay at some ceremonies. Cora music is confined to ceremonial occasions. Musicians play violins, guitars, and a large drum for church fiestas and tarimas. In the tarima one to three of either sex dance on a boxlike platform made from a large pine trunk; some solo dances on the tarima include knife juggling. Dancing that is partly social, partly ritual, takes place in the pachitas and mitotes. Shamans' chants and the mitote songs are in Cora. Pachitas songs are in Cora or a mixture of Cora, Spanish, possibly Nahuatl, and nonsense words. Though both groups are reserved around outsiders, among themselves much joking, laughing, and (Cora) tussling takes place. Conversation is the main form of recreation. Games are rare. Seniority is respected, though the Huichol laugh at the senile. Greetings are casual.

FIG. 9—HUICHOL MEN PLAYING VIOLIN AND GUITAR DURING A LULL IN THE FESTIVITIES (Photographed by Joseph E. Grimes.)

Marriageable Huichol girls show patterned modesty behavior around unmarried adolescents. Huichol communities send parties each winter to the sacred peyote region in San Luis Potosí. Peyote is used to induce dreams, to keep awake during ceremonies and long trips, and as medicine. The Cora purchase it from the Huichol and use it similarly, but without the cult that surrounds the pilgrimage to procure it. Other hallucinogens such as mushrooms are not used. The Huichol use maize beer and locally distilled cactus spirit. Both groups buy

raw alcohol and tequila. Intoxication not associated with ceremonies is rare; the Cora, however, use little alcohol at the mitote. Community ceremonies are the sole occasion when most members of the community have direct contact with each other. At smaller ceremonies the participants are mainly from the same ranch or from ranches between which interaction is high. While the main fiesta participants carry out their roles, the rest chat, observe, drink, dance, hold illicit affairs (at the risk of discovery and revenge), quarrel (most Huichol bring their animosities into the open only under influence of alcohol), or sleep. 811

ETHNOLOGY LIFE

CYCLE

AND PERSONALITY

DEVELOP-

MENT

In delivery the mother bears down on a rope hung in the corner of the house. The husband is usually present, also sometimes a woman who knows how to give help (though not a professional midwife); others may watch. A Huichol elder or shaman five days later dreams an Indian name, either related to the agricultural stage when the child was born or to a deity interested in the child, or chosen simply as a name. The child is first carried from the house on the fifth day, and Cora grandparents ask Tayá?us blessing. At Catholic baptism a Spanish name is given and ritual relationships are formed; the Cora give only Spanish names. The Huichol sometimes take the newborn child to the caves of various deities to sprinkle him with holy water and present him formally to them. Children are usually weaned around two years of age, but may suckle longer. The Huichol carry babies on the hip, the Cora in a rebozo slung from the shoulder across the back. The Huichol begin bladder training before eight months, bowel training when the child walks, but do not treat the child harshly when he fails. Children are punished by withdrawal of parental love for a brief period, and sometimes by spanking or beating. Learning is informal, but ceremonial attendance and participation, trips with parents, and participation alongside adults in household labor make the adolescent culturally self-sufficient. Lumholtz mentions Cora puberty rites; these have disappeared in Jesus Maria and perhaps elsewhere. Cora children, however, are initiated into the use of intoxicants by a religious ceremony. Marriage is arranged by the parents on the initiative of the boy's father, who makes up to five formal requests before he gets a definite answer. The Huichol marry between 13 and 15 years of age, the Cora at 812

12 to 18 for girls and 15 to 24 for boys. The pair (who among the Huichol may not know they are to be married until the ceremony begins) are exhorted by their parents, and frequently (Huichol) by the oldest male relative who can attend; they then (Huichol) break a tortilla symbolically and each eats a half. The Huichol couple is then put to bed; sometimes their clothes are taken from them to prevent escape. Even after several weeks the groom may run away, usually by that time to escape his mother-in-law's domination, for he is largely under her direction during the first year of marriage. The Cora used to make elaborate marriage feasts. Death is followed by interment in the community graveyard or in a convenient location on the ranch. The Cora place the body with head to the west. Cave burial (Lumholtz, 1902) is no longer used. After five days both groups hold a ceremony to get rid of the spirit. The Huichol put diamond-shaped yarn-and-stick ceremonial objects at all entrances but one to the ranch where the shaman is chanting (which may not be the one where the death occurred), then through his chant summon the spirit with Káuyúu-maarís aid to the ceremony. On the way back from the spirits' dancing ground just west of Ruiz, Nayarit, the spirit is cleansed in five successively hotter pools of water and made to eat rotten fruit and drink stagnant water for his misdeeds; namely, sexual intercourse of any kind, murder, and robbery. At the ceremony the shaman gives the spirit offerings and announces its disposition of its property, then dismisses it with the choice of returning to Ruiz or accompanying the sun. Remembering the five pools on the Ruiz road, spirits reportedly usually choose the sun. The Cora shaman calls the spirit, which has stayed around the house since death, then sends it off amidst the prayers and farewells of the family. The shaman cleanses the house with holy water and a prayer

HUICHOL AND CORA

stick. Tamales are left on a table for the deceased's journey. His soul goes to a round hill covered with caves far to the northwest. There the dead dwell and dance like the living. Mestizo and evil Cora souls go to infierno beneath the ground or under the sea. ANNUAL CYCLE

Details of the agricultural and ritual cycles are given under those sections. From June to September everyone is busy in agricul-

ture; ceremonies are brief and infrequent, directed chiefly toward immediate needs of rain and crop protection. From September on, when the crop is safer, ceremonies become more elaborate. After the harvest in October or November there is plenty of food for the dry season ceremonies and the Huichol peyote ceremonies. Because of the seasonal agriculture, the chief occupation during the dry season is care of livestock, planning and giving of ceremonies, and pilgrimages.

REFERENCES Beals, Redfield, and Tax, 1943 Fabila, 1959 Grimes, 1955, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1964 and Grimes, 1962 Hinton, 1961, 1964 Klineberg, 1934 Lumholtz, 1900, 1902, 1904 Mcintosh, 1945 and Grimes, 1954

McMahon, 1967 and McMahon, 1959 Monzón, 1945a Ortega, 1754 Preuss, 1912 Underhill, 1948 Vogt, 1955 Weitlaner, 1945 Zingg, 1938

813

38. The Southern Tepehuan and Tepecano

CARROLL

WITHIN

THE LARGER PIMAN STOCK

the Southern Tepehuan and the Tepecano form a linguistic unit. These two groups have only dialectic difference, their language varying considerably from that of the Northern Tepehuan (Mason, 1952, p. 38). Of the several suggestions for the origin of the name Tepehuan, Mason (1952, p. 39) feels it is most probably Nahuan and contains the root tepe(tl) "mountain." Tepecano is probably a variant of the word Tepehuan. Good summaries of the rather limited published material on Tepehuan and Tepecano can be found in Mason (1952, 1959). My work, which covers several field trips between 1958 and 1962, is largely unpublished. 1 At present most of the Southern Tepehuan live in the mountainous country in extreme southern Durango state, south of the town of Mezquital at altitudes ranging from 1200 m. to over 2000 m. (fig. 1). A second, smaller group lives in the municipality of Pueblo Nuevo to the west, and a third near Huajicori in Nayarit. Population estimates give about 3000 Tepehuan, twothirds of whom live in the Mezquital area 814

L. RILEY

(Cerda Silva, 1943, p. 546). Major Tepehuan villages include Santa Maria Ocotan, Xoconoxtle, and Lajas. The Southern Tepehuan area has shrunk considerably since the beginning of Spanish conquest. When Ibarra entered the Durango area in the mid16th century the Southern Tepehuan extended far north and west of their presentday terrain. There may have been, even then, a break between the Southern and Northern Tepehuan, isolating the two groups and allowing the marked language difference to develop, but early Spanish sources do not clearly differentiate between the Northern and Southern Tepehuan. It is tempting to believe that at conquest times the two groups were closer culturally than they are today and perhaps were linked by a series of intermediate dialects which have now disappeared. Most of the missionary effort of late 16thand early 17th-century Durango went to the Northern Tepehuan, but mission stations 1 This Tepehuan work has been supported largely by research grants from the U.S. Public Health Service ( N I H ) and the Graduate Research Council of the Southern Illinois University.

FIG. 1—SOUTHERN TEPEHUAN AND TEPECANO

ETHNOLOGY

also were founded at Mezquital 90 km. south of Durango and at Agua Zarca some 50-60 km. farther south. In 1616 the Tepehuan rose in a savage rebellion; Durango itself was threatened by nearby Tepehuan villagers, and there was action at Canatlan north of Durango and in Mezquital to the south. After the rebellion, the Southern Tepehuan continued to give periodic trouble, especially around Mezquital, where they raided Spanish ranches and farms. Eventually in the late 17th and 18th centuries the Tepehuan withdrew to the southern Durango sierras. The Tepecano are quite isolated from other Tepehuan groups though they consider themselves to be Tepehuan. The remnants of the Tepecano today live in the small town of Azqueltan (variously, El Castan) in the Bolaños canyon. At one time this group extended over a much larger territory; the Franciscan missions of Colotlan, Nostic, and Chimaltitlan were probably in their area (Mason, 1913, pp. 34445). Even in recent times they may have extended farther up and down the Bolaños, for as late as 1960 inhabitants of the town of Nostic just south of Mezquitic spoke of having "Tepecanito" grandparents. The Tepecano probably represent a southern offshoot of the Southern Tepehuan that in pre-Spanish times penetrated the warm valley of the Bolaños. They perhaps became cut off from the Tepehuan because of Huichol expansion eastward or because of the relocating of Indian groups in early Spanish times. It is possible that the expansion of the Tepecano into the Bolaños was part of a general realignment that accompanied the breakup of the Mesoamerican Chalchihuites culture around 1350 B.C. At that time there may have been an expansion of the simple hill culture Loma San Gabriel; I feel that on present evidence the historic Tepehuan and Tepecano may be descended from the Loma San Gabriel people (Riley and Winters, 1963, p. 184). The present-day Tepecano are almost 816

completely acculturated—even the language is dying out—but their culture as reported by Hrdlicka (1903) and Mason (1913,1918) seems generally similar to that of the Southern Tepehuan. Here we shall tentatively regard them as a highly acculturated branch of the Southern Tepehuan. SUBSISTENCE

The Southern Tepehuan are farming and herding people who live in scattered homesteads in the mountains or in mountain valleys. The normal diet of the Tepehuan is corn, made into tortillas or, less commonly, atole, and beans. A considerable amount of cheese is eaten especially in summer and fall. Goat meat, considered a luxury, is served as caldo or broth. Beef is reserved for fiestas or funerals and wild game (deer and squirrel) for the mitotes. Oranges, bananas, and peaches grown at semitropical Xoconoxtle are eaten in season and found at both Catholic and native festivals. There is very little urban specialization; in the relatively acculturated village of Xoconoxtle some two or three women sell soft drinks and a few canned goods brought laboriously across the mountains on burroback. One woman also sells locally distilled mescal. Villages farther back in the mountains lack even the rudimentary "stores" and depend on Mexican traders for supplies. Settlement

Patterns

The Tepehuan "towns" are nothing more than government centers with rectangular flat- or gable-roofed adobe church, government building, jail, communal cook- and guesthouse, and sometimes a deserted schoolroom. There is normally a scattering of family dwellings within a mile or so of the town center. Some of these are temporary, their inhabitants spending much of the year in the country, but others are inhabited the year round by families that have cornfields or orchards in the vicinity. The typical Tepehuan house (fig. 2) is a

SOUTHERN TEPEHUAN AND TEPECANO

FIG. 2—SOUTHERN TEPEHUAN HOUSE, XOCONOXTLE

rectangular one-room structure (average 4 by 3 m.) with walls of stone or adobe (or both) built up approximately 2 m. Four posts, one at each corner of the house, support a gabled roof covered with zacate grass thatch. The earthen floors are gradually hollowed out by repeated wetting-down and sweeping, thus making a pit house. Occasionally, pit houses are made deliberately, the floor being cut down a third- to a halfmeter as part of the original construction of the house. Tepehuan houses generally rest on a prepared earth platform 10-20 m. across. These platforms are kept very clean; on them the younger children play in relative freedom from the dangerous scorpions that inhabit the area. Normally there are two houses on each platform: one serves as cookhouse, the other as sleeping quarters for the family. Although the prevalent settlement pattern is the ranchería, the Tepehuan feel considerable loyalty to their particular village. The dividing line between towns is

normally some natural feature such as a barranca or river. Cross-cutting the village organization, however, is that of the apellido group, containing individuals with the same last name. Each village normally has three or four major apellidos but, as far as is known, no apellido is confined to a particular village. Apellido groups are always distinguished by Spanish surnames (i.e. Flores, Galván, Reyes), and possibly the modern Indians have discarded the secret Tepehuan names reported by Lumholtz (1902,1: 462). TECHNOLOGY

The agricultural tools and riding and pack equipment used by Southern Tepehuan and Tepecano are essentially those of the north Mexican villager except for an iron-bitted coa employed in the more distant Tepehuan towns. Transportation is entirely by foot or horse, and loads are carried by pack burro. Some of the implements, for example the mano and metate, are pre-Spanish but have 817

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 3—SOUTHERN PIMA ARROW RELEASE. (From Lumholtz, 1902, 1: 128.)

been widely adopted in non-Indian Mexico. One piece of equipment, the bow and arrow (fig. 3) is not shared with Mexicans; this is used ceremonially, and arrows also become prayer arrows. For weights and measures, metric terms or older Spanish ones (e.g., vara) are normally used. The dress of male Tepehuan (fig. 4) is a two-piece white cotton suit with loose trousers and a shirt that falls over the trouser waist. Women wear full dresses of colored cotton cloth (often red) with skirts that fall to the ankle or below. These garments are homemade by women of the family from cotton cloth purchased in the Mexican towns or from traders. Neither sex normally wears underwear. In winter a thick wool blanket is draped loosely over the body. These blankets are not woven locally but are purchased from Mexicans or from the Huichol or the Cora. The Tepecano seem to have abandoned "Indian" dress and to wear ordinary Mexican clothing: for the men, jeans or trousers and work shirts; for the women, short cotton dresses. In Xoconoxtle, a village that maintains contact with the outside world, this standard Mexican dress is often worn by men though not by women. In the more distant Tepehuan villages cowhide sandals are worn. In Tepecano country, and to a large degree in Xoconoxtle, the more efficient Mexican huaraches of tire rubber are preferred. ECONOMY

FIG. 4—YOUNG SOUTHERN Lumholtz, 1902, 1: 123.)

818

PIMA.

(From

Among the Tepehuan, men do the heavy agricultural work, especially plowing. They also herd cattle and goats, hunt, and go on trading expeditions. Women look after the house, cook, care for children, and help in the harvest. It is common for a woman to help her husband milk and tend the cows; quite small children often act as herdsman for cattle and goats. There is a certain amount of part-time specialization. Some men spend a great deal of their time trading, and certain women

SOUTHERN TEPEHUAN AND TEPECANO

are in demand as seamstresses. Several political offices are filled each year, giving every able-bodied man in the village a good chance eventually to serve in the village government. There is one very important specialist: the curandero or shaman who, as a youth, trains for five years (five is a Tepehuan sacred number) under the direction of an older shaman. The training involves retreats, ideally one month per year, in which the boy (or girl) retires to a secluded spot and lives on saltless tortillas and water, giving up his time to prayer and meditation. Other training involves learning the long ritual prayers that accompany curing ceremonies. Property in land and houses belongs to the family and normally descends from father to son. The right to establish a house in a particular favored place (near a stream, for instance) resides by custom with a given family. Sons often build near their father's residence and share grazing and farming lands. Personal property—clothing, tools, jewelry—belongs to a particular individual and can be sold or given away at will. There is a certain amount of trade; the Tepehuan make trips to Mexican markets for cloth, legged metates, and metal utensils and tools. In turn they sell livestock, fruit, corn, pita (fibers of the maguay), and mescal. Transactions may be either cash or barter. SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

The Southern Tepehuan normally live either in biological or patrilineal extended families. Until recently it was a practice for the boy to spend five months at his wife's father's home working for her relatives. After this the young couple moved in with the husband's family or established their own home. Tepehuan life is greatly influenced by the territorial villages on the one hand and the apellido group on the other. The village functions as a political unit and there is a series of officers elected yearly; the goberna-

dor, segundo, tercero, aguicil(es), the fiscal, and the topil. These specific officers, of course, were introduced by the Spanish though conceivably they had counterparts in pre-Spanish days. They deal with the everyday life of the village, direct community projects, arrange the church festivals, and handle dealings with outsiders. There is also a separate, religious official called the jefe del patio, who directs the first-fruits ceremonies in the fall, before which the fresh corn may not be eaten, and also directs the village mitotes. The apellido groups appear to be the remnants of nonlocalized patrilineal clans. A check of church archives in Mezquital gives no examples of inter-apellido marriage even when the individuals are from different villages. The leader of each apellido, always an old man and probably a shaman, is also called the jefe del patio and he directs the apellido mitotes. Both villages and apellidos are also supposed to have a female jefe del patio to control women's affairs. At one time the religious leader or leaders may have been of paramount importance; the early Spanish sources suggest that the Tepehuan were originally shaman controlled. RELIGION AND WORLD VIEW

The present religion of the Tepehuan is an involved mixture of Catholic and native elements. Important figures include Dios Padre (sometimes identified with the sun), Jesus Nazareno (identified with the moon), Madre Maria (who has several helpers including the Virgin of Guadalupe), the Morning Star and a culture hero, Ixcaitiung ([gu] is kai tyion [the] ruling man) (Riley and Hobgood, 1959, pp. 355-56; Gámiz, 1948, pp. 68-69 ff.). This latter figure has certain Quetzalcoatl aspects especially in his fall from purity by fornication and drunkenness, his repurification (by dancing the first mitote), and his final long journey (to heaven). The religious leaders are also curers (cu819

ETHNOLOGY

the curing ceremony. Occasionally a special mitote may be held for curing purposes, and sick people also use the regular mitotes to focus on themselves the atmosphere of blessedness prevalent at mitotes. The mitotes are five-day fertility or thanksgiving ceremonies in which there is fasting and extensive prayers. The night of the fifth day is given over to ritual dancing; on the following sunrise the participants break their fast, eating from a variety of foods heaped on an altar placed to the east of the dance platform. At the apellido mitotes only bearers of the particular family name attend this daybreak climax ceremony. Their mates, male or female, remain behind at the mitote campground. These attend mitotes only as visitors, for marriage does not change the apellido status of either sex. AESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL PATTERNS

FIG. 5—SHAMAN IN CURING CEREMONY, XOCONOXTLE, SOUTHERN TEPEHUAN

randeros) and are basically sucking shamans, who may be of either sex but are ordinarily male (fig. 5). Like the Pima, they tend to specialize but any given shaman may treat several kinds of disease. Treatment is normally in a five-day ceremony and the shaman prays, chants long stereotyped oraciones (probably the perdones of the Tepecano), uses massage, and blows smoke from a pipe over his patient's body. Shamans may refer patients to another practitioner but there does not seem to be a special diagnostician. One element in curing is a ritual confession by the patient. Other members of the patient's family may sit with him or her and receive the benefits of 820

The Southern Tepehuan probably have lost much of their aboriginal arts. Pottery is still made but with little interest in decoration, and weaving has virtually disappeared. There is at present no painting of designs or pictures on houses. The making of clay pipes that strongly resemble those of late pre-Spanish Chalchihuites is still practiced by certain curanderos. There are two kinds of music: the fiesta music, which is essentially Mexican, and mitote music played with a musical bow and a three-hole end flute of carrizo reed. Drinking of mescal is very common at the fiestas although drinking is forbidden at mitotes. Peyote is not used at present by the Southern Tepehuan but has been reported for the Tepecano (Mason, 1913). The fiestas are held at Easter, Guadalupe Day (December 12th), Christmas, and on village saints' days. They are largely village Mexican in nature with dancing of matachines. One other festival is celebrated by drinking of mescal but is essentially nonChristian. This is the elote (green corn) first-fruits festival held around the first of

SOUTHERN T E P E H U A N AND TEPECANO

October and directed by the jefe del patio. LIFE CYCLE

Tepehuan children are normally delivered by midwives though a shaman may also be called in. Two sets of padrinos are chosen: one baptizes the child on the day of birth and gives it a Christian name; the other set, five days after birth, buries the afterbirth and over it plants a mescal or some other long-lived plant. The child is nursed for a year or so but is gradually given caldo, soft meat, and tortillas. There is no formal schooling in any Southern Tepehuan village at present though a few families at Xoconoxtle (and probably also among the Tepecano) arrange to have their children go to Mexican schools. Boys are taken with fathers or older brothers from the age of five or six and learn man's duties. Girls similarly learn from mothers or sisters. From the age of seven or eight boys join men at the mitotes and sit in a circle separate from women, girls, and small children. Marriage generally takes place before either sex is 20, and great store is set on virginity in unmarried girls. Marriages are arranged by the parents of the couple; the boy's parents visit the family of the girl for five nights and on the fifth night their offer is accepted or rejected. Technically the boy and girl have nothing to do with the marriage but (at least at present) they probably initiate the proceedings. At death a Tepehuan is buried in the village cemetery, which is kept small because a large plot of cemetery land "becomes hungry." Traditionally the ceremonies over the dead last for five days with a shaman in attendance to guard against the soul's return to the body. The night of the fourth day the "name" padrinos are made drunk on mescal; on the fifth day the body is buried, sometimes with bread to feed the spirit on his journey to the other world. ANNUAL CYCLE

The Tepehuan yearly cycle is, of course,

FIG. 6—SMALL CROSSES, PLACED IN LOG IN F R O N T O F SOUTHERN PIMA HOUSE. (From Lumholtz, 1902, 1: 128.)

tied up closely with the planting and harvesting seasons. This part of Mexico is an area of summer rains which begin about the time the maize is planted. In the spring there is a mitote to promote the growing of crops and after harvest another thanksgiving mitote. A third mitote is often held in January or February to bless and supernaturally reinforce the village during the dry cold winter months. Families may gather at the villages for a time after crops are gathered in the fall but normally spend the winters in rancherías looking after cattle and goats. In early fall there is plenty to eat and large numbers of people gather at the villages. This is the time of the elote festival; in fact, the fall is probably the most important ceremonial season for the Southern Tepehuan.

REFERENCES Basauri, 1940c Beals, 1932a Cardoso, 1948 Cerda Silva, 1943 Gámiz, 1948 Hackett, 1923-37 Hrdlicka, 1903 Lumholtz, 1902 Mason, J. Α., 1912, 1913, 1918, 1948, 1952, 1959 Pérez de Ribas, 1944 Riley and Hobgood, 1959 and Winters, 1963 Rouaix, Decorme, and Saravia, 1952

821

39. The Northern Tepehuan

ELMAN R. SERVICE

N

ORTHERN TEPEHUAN INDIANS number between 3000 and 4000, scattered over a large remote area deep in the Sierra Madre Occidental of southwestern Chihuahua (fig. 1). The most immediate neighbors are the large tribe of Tarahumara on the northern side. The close linguistic affiliation of the Northern with the Southern Tepehuan Indians suggests that at one time there was a close connection, if not identity, between the two groups. The Southern Tepehuan today have a closer resemblance to Tepecano and Cora-Huichol than to the Northern Tepehuan. The latter, who live over 350 km. to the north, have no knowledge of their southern relatives, nor does there seem to have been any contact between the two within recorded history. The habitat of the Northern Tepehuan is a spectacularly rugged highland varying from 1900 to 3000 m. in altitude. Access to this sparsely settled, unexploited woodland is made very difficult because of the tremendous gorges (barrancas). There are no

822

trucking routes into any part of it, which accounts for the untouched appearance of the region compared to the more heavily exploited habitat of the neighboring Tarahumara, many parts of which are reached by truck and wagon trails. The major event in the postconquest history of the Northern Tepehuan was the coming of the Jesuits in 1708 (Alegre, 1841). The Indians were collected into small "convent towns," of which a centrally located one, Baburi (now Baborigame) became, and remains today, the residence of the official tribal head. In 1767 the Jesuits were expelled from the New World, and the Northern Tepehuan were left undisturbed for nearly 100 years. In 1860 a Mexican named Ponciano Falomir settled at Baborigame and brought a few Mestizo peons to work a small mine and to herd cattle. With this small-scale hacienda, the present Mestizo community of about 150 people began. Small, shortlived mining enterprises were established elsewhere in Tepehuan territory, and tiny

FIG. 1—NORTHERN TEPEHUAN AREA, CHIHUAHUA

ETHNOLOGY

Mestizo communities here and there in fertile valleys became enclaved within the Indian community. The first ethnological investigations of the Northern Tepehuan were those of Lumholtz, who left brief notes of observations (1891, 1902) made during his travels in the Sierra between 1892 and 1897. J. Alden Mason (n.d., 1948) has recorded language texts and taken a few ethnological notes. Burton Bascom, of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, has been working on the Northern Tepehuan language for a number of years. I visited the Sierra in the summers of 1952 and 1955 and made a more intensive study of the Baborigame vicinity in the fall and winter of 1957-58. Attention is called also to information in Aldama (1945), Basauri (1929), Beals (1932a), Ocampo (1950), and Warwick (n.d.). SUBSISTENCE SYSTEMS AND FOOD PATTERNS

The Northern Tepehuan maintain smallscale subsistence gardens supplemented by chickens and occasionally turkeys, a few goats, pigs, and a cow or two, and in exceptional cases small herds of scrub cattle. Burros are common, mules less so, and horses rare. The nearly universal crops are maize, beans, and squash. Wheat, barley, oats, potatoes, and peas are known and sometimes planted. Considerable use is made of undomesticated resources. The "head" (heart) of the wild maguey is cooked and a crude alcoholic distillate called lechuguilla is made from the fermented mash. The nopal and tuna cactus fruits and a gigantic pink mushroom are seasonal delicacies. A great variety of leaves, seeds, and roots are gathered for medicinal use and for food spices. Best known are the leaves of the mountain laurel, orégano, and a kind of anise. Of animals hunted or trapped for food the deer and turkey are most valued. Squirrels, rabbits, opossum, and raccoon are used in about this order of decreasing frequency. 824

Food habits and menus are standardly of the sierra type. Most of the rural Mexican dishes are liked, and tortillas, tamales, boiled beans, and stews are common. Other dishes are of the type considered "Indian." Pinole and atole are the most frequent maize dishes. Meat of any kind is usually rare or expensive, as are eggs, milk, and cheese. Beef is the most highly prized meat, and the most significant festivals, which feature sacrifices of bulls, are notable for the gorging that occurs. The Indians cannot afford coffee, tea, or chocolate, but value them highly. Salt and sugar must also be purchased, hence the Indians often do without them. Alcoholic drinks are very highly prized, and drunkenness is not considered at all reprehensible even when women or small children succumb. The homemade tesgüino is the usual form in which alcohol is taken. SETTLEMENT PATTERNS

The Indians live scattered in only vague residential agglomerations. The named villages in the territory are the closely agglomerated adobe houses of Mestizos. There are six named political regions (gobernancias) in the Northern Tepehuan territory. Baborigame is the best known, being the seat of Indian government and having as well the largest Mestizo town (150) and the most Indians in the vicinity (about 800). The six major regions are distant from each other, making social relations among them unimportant, infrequent, and indefinable. Commerce between these areas is largely carried on by Mestizos. Within each gobernancia the largest subdivision is a moiety, the people of arriba (up-[stream]) and those of abajo (down[stream]). These are largely, but not strictly, neighborhoods and maintain their identity in competitive games and in a ceremonial and political division of labor. They have no function in determining marriages nor is membership thought of in terms of descent. There is a tendency for the moieties to be

NORTHERN T E P E H U A N

de facto patrilineal because men more frequently inherit land from their fathers and stay in the neighborhood than do women. TECHNOLOGY

Most of the tools of rural Mexico—shovels, axes, hammers, the iron-tipped wooden plow, guns, traps, looms, and so on—are known and to a limited extent used by the Indians. The more purely "Indian" tools are seen as makeshifts to be used in the absence of "good" tools; that is, poverty rather than custom determines the difference between Mestizo and Indian technology. Thus, an occasional Indian has an old rifle or shotgun but others can afford only a bow and arrow. Homemade pottery jars, pots, plates, gourd cups and dippers, and wooden spoons are used only by those families who cannot buy, or have failed to steal, the muchappreciated metal utensils. Only a few items are made that are specialized enough to be called crafts. The manufacture of the tiny violins, taught by the Jesuits long ago to the sierra people, is perhaps the most notable. Some men also are somewhat specialized in making bows and arrows, but this is a relatively simple craft, for the bow is not backed or laminated. A few families work at hat making. Women weave blankets (the poncho is not used) and fajas (sash-belts) on a horizontal loom. Houses are usually of only one room made of logs or rough planks and shakes. Roofs are gabled at a low pitch from a center beam, with roofing shakes held in place by stones. A sort of interior ceiling of poles makes a storage place for grain in the gabled area. Household furnishings are simple. Boulders, stumps, a log, more rarely a low bench, serve as seats. People sleep on the floor on a reed petate or goatskins. Cooking is done on an open fire on the floor. Dress and adornment are somewhat variable, but the great majority use the cheap undyed muslin which is made into the tra-

ditional calzones and camisas found in other areas of Indian Mexico. Perhaps more peculiar to the sierra is the cotense, a square white piece of cloth folded into a triangle and knotted low on the hips with the triangle at the rear, like a sort of "buttockskerchief." A wool faja is wound higher on the waist. A gay bandana neckerchief, usually red, is also worn. The straw hat and tire-soled huaraches complete the standard costume. Woman's dress consists of a skirt of colorful calico reaching to just below the middle of the calf. Two or three low horizontal ruffles on the skirt are usual. A long-sleeved, loose-waisted blouse is made of muslin, with several vertical tucks in the back. A colored bandana (again, usually a red print) is worn on the head, knotted under the chin. The Mexican rebozo is not worn. ECONOMY

The household division of labor by sex and age resembles that of the Mestizos but employs women in rather more varied tasks. Woman's work includes the expectable household chores and child care, but also the making of tesgüino, weaving and pottery making, the milking of cows or goats, and helping in the maize harvest. Rather unexpected is the amount of labor by women in herding domestic animals, which is probably a consequence of their individual inheritance and ownership of some of the animals (see below). Men do most of the heavy outdoor work such as plowing and planting, axe work and carpentry. Hat making is usually man's work, though not strictly so, as is basket weaving and rope braiding. Household property is not jointly held by the married couple. Even a flock of chickens may be divided up in complex ways, some belonging to the wife, others to the husband, and sometimes even some to particular children. Each owner enters into economic relations of trade, barter, or reciprocity with others on an individual basis. 825

ETHNOLOGY

Inheritance of land is expectably patrilineal, with inheritance by daughters when expedient or necessary. The result is a normal patrilaterally extended family occupying a neighborhood, but in recent years the land-tenure pattern has been modified by ejido laws. The ejido of 16,000 hectares pertains to the whole community of Baborigame, Indians and Mestizos alike. Anyone can petition to clear an unused plot, of which he retains possession so long as he cultivates it. The most fertile land thus can pertain to a family line because it could be used for a long enough time. Most of the plots, however, need a long fallowing interval sooner or later, and finally someone may claim it who is not related to the original family. The consequence is a frequent disjunction between residence and genealogical relationship. Production and consumption units are the households, modified by exchanges of labor and produce between households. Typical of the labor exchange is the house-building and harvesting parties. They always end in a tesgüino debauch. The beer is not pay for the labor, as it is sometimes interpreted, but merely the convivial aspect of it; the "pay" is the later reciprocal return of the labor. The conception of the "sanctity" of private property is weak; articles are sometimes taken without permission and often, when an owner of something is stingy about its use, it is frankly stolen. Pre-emption of this sort is so common that Mestizos consider Indians to be congenital thieves. And they are very clever and resourceful at stealing; the point is that to them theft does not seem so reprehensible as does the retention of something that another person needs. Yet the society is not communistic; all property pertains to individuals and the people are very acquisitive. Generosity in giving, however, is valued, too, and the ideal state would seem to be the one in which all families have their own property but in equal amounts. 826

Purely commercial relations between the Indians themselves are almost nonexistent. Between Indians and Mestizos commerce is frequent but extremely petty and subsistence-oriented. The Indians rarely hold any money; it intermediates between production and consumption sometimes but not for more than a very brief interval. "Wealth" is not money. It is the bounty of a good family, good friends, and the security of health, fertile land, and animals. Animals, being the most "liquid" of these resources, are the most frequent measure of prosperity. SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

Marriage customs are unspecific. The only restriction is that first cousins should not marry. Marriages are not arranged by the families, and the widespread Mexican Indian custom of "robbing" is typical. The boy takes his bride to his father's home to wait for the girl's family to get over their (real or feigned) anger. They may live there up to a year or so, after which a separate house is built and some of the father's land bestowed on the son. This is the ideal patrilocal pattern, but it is frequently altered by acquisition of land elsewhere from the ejido or from the girl's parents. The marriage is consensual—there is neither church nor civil marriage among the Indians—and it is a fragile alliance. It is common for the firstborn child to be adopted by the boy's parents, but this is not universally done. All children are baptized in the church, hence there must be padrinos of the baptism for each child, but there are no others inasmuch as confirmation and church weddings are not practiced. Compadres are frequently close relatives, often siblings. Only very rarely are Mestizos and Indians compadres, yet the word is a common term of informal address between members of the two groups. The pattern of kinship terminology is highly "descriptive" in that all four grandparents are distinguished, mother's sister

NORTHERN TEPEHUAN

and brother and father's sister and brother are all distinct from each other and from mother and father and further categorized by younger-older criteria. In ego's generation, however, cousins and siblings are undistinguished and there is no cross-parallel nor sexual dichotomy. "Elder brother," however, has a special term of respect in address. Children are not characterized as younger or older in terminology, and the sexes are distinguished only by an infix. Grandchildren-grandparents' terms are selfreciprocal as are nephew-niece with uncleaunt. Descriptive terms are used for affinals except in ego's generation, where brotherin-law and sister-in-law are the same word. In no case do terms vary with the sex of the speaker. Terms of address are frequently distinct from those of reference. Personal names are Spanish and freely used in address. The politico-religious organization exists alongside the political organization of the Mestizo community and is allowed to adjudicate most of the problems and crimes involving Indians. Each of the six gobernancias has a gobernador and assistant elected for a two-year period, changing moieties each term. A formal meeting of the gobernadores takes place January 6 each year in Baborigame and at other times when some problem arises which involves the whole tribe. Each gobernador is supposed to represent the wishes of his own district. Over the whole tribe stands the capitángeneral, appointed for an indefinite term by the gobernadores. The capitán-general has one assistant and seven justicias appointed by him along with one capitán, a sargento, and several soldados. The major function of capitán-general and his aides is to maintain order and to judge crimes. Punishment is by public whippings (done by someone of the moiety opposite to that of the criminal) at a post erected in the convento, a spacious walled enclosure adjacent to the church in Baborigame.

The gobernadores and the capitán-general also appoint certain officials who have only ceremonial duties. Each gobernador appoints five fiesteros for his own district for a one-year term. Their duties are the upkeep of the church and to provide beef, tesgüino, and matachines dancers at the fiesta of August 15 (Virgen Santísima). The capitángeneral appoints four fiscales in each region for an indefinite term. Most of their duties take place in Holy Week, when they take care of the images, see that the church and convento are swept, and so on. The seven justicias are in charge of the fiesta of January 6, for which they provide bulls and tesgüino. Other minor ceremonial officials are eight cabos, who have various duties during Holy Week. RELIGION AND WORLD VIEW

Much of the religion of the Indians is a folk-like Catholicism remaining from the time of the Jesuits and modified somewhat by later contacts with Mestizos. In this summary the more peculiarly local and "Indian" variants will be emphasized. The Creator is called Diusiiroga (literally "God our Father"). One of God's helpers is Ku'kúduli, the Deer God, custodian or guardian of deer; Úgai is another god or spirit manifesting itself as a light in the sky when someone dies; Kukúvuli is a mountain god or spirit which also, as in Spanish mythology, takes the form of an owl when it announces a death; and ^vadli'kid^ is a spirit who makes winds. Rituals are mostly Christian in origin, with emphasis on signs of the cross and on incantations involving the phrase "Nombre de Dios." Most of the lore is old-Spanish, including such usual items as the influence of the phases of the moon, the hot-cold dichotomy in food and illness, evil-eye, susto, Tuesday and Friday as unlucky days, and herbal love potions. Folktales are of the widespread rural Mexican style and subjects. 827

ETHNOLOGY

Rural Mexican remedies are in use, and the typical beliefs about the causes of illness are held. Curing in the form of shamanism, however, seems to have a strong aboriginal basis, mixed with certain Mexican elements. The shaman is a diagnostician, hence he may be used to discover lost objects and clear up mysteries other than the causes of illness. He is called bajadlos (who "brings God down"). The petitioner and his family assemble in a house and make offerings of tesgiiino to God. The shaman then in total darkness chants and rattles his gourd to lure God to the roof of the house. Finally he ascends a ladder to the storage place under the roof, whence the people hear confused mutterings as he and God converse. After the seance the bajadios sleeps and God's message comes to him in a dream. Ordinarily illness is revealed to have been caused by a particular person, and in some cases death by illness has been treated as homicide and the person accused by the bajadios is taken to the capitángeneral and publicly whipped. AESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL PATTERNS

Music is the old-Spanish matachines tunes. The violin, gourd rattle, and reed whistle are the instruments, in contrast to Mestizo music which features guitars. There is no dance other than the standard matachines. There is no drama except those elements included in the religious fiestas. The typical game is correr la bola, just as among the Tarahumara. In a woman's version of ball-running two small hoops of twisted grass are thrown ahead with sticks about 1 m. long. Otherwise it is exactly like ball-running. The formal social gatherings are on the ceremonial occasions. The most important of these take place during Holy Week, particularly Thursday through Sunday. The liberal use of tesgiiino and ball-running are

828

local additions to the folk-Catholic processions and dramas. January 6 is the next most important fiesta, marked by sacrifice of bulls, tesgiiino drinking, and matachines dances. The fiesta of San Francisco, celebrated on October 24 to coincide with the completion of the harvest, is the other important ceremonial day. Beef, tesgiiino, and matachines dances are the focus of the entertainment. LIFE CRISIS RITES

Pregnancy is accompanied by few taboos. The only fear of "marking" the child is that a lunar eclipse will cause deformation. Delivery is made in a kneeling or squatting position with the husband clasping the mother under the arms from behind. Heat is applied to the mother's stomach after delivery. The umbilical cord and afterbirth are buried deeply because of a great fear that dogs will eat them. The baby is washed immediately and given the breast as soon as possible. The mother observes the oldCatholic dieta which taboos "cold" foods and bathing for 40 days. The second-born of twins is killed. Puberty is not ritually celebrated. Unceremonialized marriage takes place in the middle teens for girls and in the early 20's for boys. Illness and death are attributed to spirits and witchcraft. The dead are usually buried in the church cemetery. It is believed that the soul remains around his house for one month and goes away when a fiesta of farewell is held for him, during which his best clothes, food, and tesgiiino are laid out for his journey. The house is abandoned because after this period there is fear of the soul's malevolence should it return. Four months after the death another fiesta is held and another one year later. The souls go to the sky, but there is no clear conception of the nature of the afterworld.

NORTHERN TEPEHUAN

REFERENCES Aldama, 1945 Alegre, 1841 Basauri, 1929 Beals, 1932a Lumholtz, 1891, 1902 Mason, J. Α., n.d., 1948 Ocampo, 1950 Warwick, n.d.

829

40. The Yaqui and Mayo

EDWARD Η. SPICER

B

Y THE 1930's the Yaqui and Mayo were reported to be the only surviving members of the Cahitan subfamily of the Taracahitian family of the Uto-Aztecan stock (Beals, 1945a, pp. 1-3). Taracahitian had been the largest linguistic family in northwest Mexico at the time of Spanish contact, and Cahitan was the largest subfamily. Sauer (1935, p. 5) concluded that there were at least 115,000 Cahitans and that Yaqui and Mayo constituted 60,000 of these. The Yaqui were widely dispersed throughout Sonora with heavy concentration in the aboriginal homeland along the lower reaches of the Yaqui River in southern Sonora. They were also living in southern Arizona, in California, and elsewhere in the western United States. A conservative estimate of Yaqui population for Sonora and Arizona in the 1940's was about 15,000 (Spicer, 1947). Mayo were not so widely scattered; they lived along the lower courses of three major rivers of northwest Mexico, the Fuerte in northern Sinaloa and the Mayo and the Yaqui in southern Sonora. There were reported to be more than 830

30,000 Mayo (Caso and Parra, 1950, p. 70) in 1950. The language of the Yaqui and Mayo was named Cahita by the Jesuit missionaries in the 17th century (Buelna, 1890). This was a misnomer, like many names applied by the Spaniards. In the language of the Indians the word meant "nothing" and may have been used as a reply to Spaniards who asked the name of the language on first contact, indicating that the Indians did not understand what was being asked. Yaqui, Mayo, and Tehueco were reported by the first missionary to describe them as being dialects of a single language (Buelna, 1890, pp. 5-6); Yaqui was the dialect of the Yaqui River area, Mayo of the Mayo River area, and Tehueco one of several of the Fuerte area. Numerous other groups of Cahitan-speakers were named in the early accounts, but no descriptions of the other languages were made. It is not known how closely the Cahitan languages were related or the degree of differentiation into dialects. The evidence available points to a considerable homogeneity (cf. Beals, 1943a, pp. 1-2).

FIG. 1—MAJOR PLACES OF MAYO SETTLEMENT. (Adapted from map by Patrick Gallagher in Erasmus, 1961.)

ETHNOLOGY

In the 1900's there were only dialect differences between the languages spoken by people who called themselves Yaqui and Mayo. There were far more monolinguals among Mayo than among Yaqui. In 1950 nearly 7000 Mayo over the age of five, or between one-fourth and one-fifth of the total, were reported to be monolingual (Caso and Parra, 1950, p. 70). For Yaqui there were reported fewer than 300 monolinguals over the age of five years (ibid, p. 70). This condition reflected the history of the two groups. The Yaqui after 1886 were forcibly dispersed by the Mexican government to all parts of Sonora, to the Valle Nacional in Oaxaca, and to Yucatan. Many fled the deportation program to the United States and took up residence there. These circumstances led not to the loss of the Yaqui language, which was preserved wherever family groups clustered, but to the learning of Spanish or English as a second language on the part of all Yaquis. Although some Mayo were caught up in the deportation program for Yaqui, the great majority remained in the vicinity of the Mayo River or moved south to the Fuerte River area in Sinaloa. No clear determination has been made as to the origins of the several thousand persons now living on the Fuerte River who call themselves Mayo (Beals, 1945a, p. 3; Gill, 1957, pp. 99-131). Although closely linked throughout their known history, the historical experience of the Yaqui and Mayo has been very different and probably accounts in large part for the observed cultural differences between the two groups in the 20th century. Engaged in periodic warfare with one another before Spaniards entered the area, the Mayo sought immediate alliance with the Spaniards whereas the Yaqui resisted conquest. The Yaqui fought and defeated Spanish soldiers in 1533 and again in 1609-10; they were in fact not conquered during this early phase and ultimately asked for Jesuit missionaries, who came in 1617 unaccom832

panied by soldiers. Both Mayo and Yaqui underwent more than 125 years of peaceful contact with Jesuit missionaries following 1617. In 1740 a revolt broke out in the Mayo country. Fighting was bitter, involved both Mayo and Yaqui, and led to the reported killing of 5000 Yaqui in the final battle. A few years after the War for Mexican Independence a vigorous Yaqui leader named Juan Banderas organized a successful revolt against the new state of Occidente. The revolt was organized chiefly by the Yaqui and two Opata leaders. Opata, Lower Pima, and Mayo all joined with Yaqui; Mayo leaders were prominent in the fighting. The Indians in their coalition were successful in driving most Mexicans out of their territory for a year or more. In 1832, however, Banderas was captured and executed, and the movement for Indian independence from Mexico lost impetus except among Yaqui and Mayo (Zuñiga, 1835; Paso y Troncoso, 1905, pp. 50-51). The 19th century was a period of smouldering resistance to domination by Mexicans on the part of Yaqui and Mayo. They fought on various sides in the struggle for power between caudillos. Indian-Mexican hostility culminated in fighting in the late 1870's and 1880's. Under the leadership primarily of a Yaqui, Juan Maria Leyva (Cajeme), Mayo and Yaqui organized over a period of years to fight for the expulsion of all Mexicans from their territories. A series of battles in the early 1880's led to the capture of major Mayo leaders and their execution and finally to the complete disintegration of any fighting force in the Mayo country. Yaqui continued to fight under the leadership of Cajeme, who had had extensive experience in the Mexican army during the wars against the French. In 1886 the Yaqui were severely defeated, and in 1887 Cajeme was captured and executed (Corral, 1887). After the defeats, as the Mexicans occupied the two areas with troops and sought

YAQUI AND MAYO

to pacify the Indians by offering security through work on haciendas in the Mayo country and the giving of parcels of land on the Yaqui River, the tribal reactions were quite different. In the mountains north of their river the Yaqui maintained a guerrilla force, which continued to fight, with occasional intervals of peace, on into the early 1900's. The clearly defined objective of expulsion of Mexicans from their territory and independent local government seemed always present in the minds of the succession of Yaqui leaders (Hernández, 1902, p. 142). Yaqui military resistance was never fully broken despite an organized campaign of deportation on the part of the Mexican government which ended only with the overthrow of the Díaz regime in the 1910 Revolution. The Mayo, on the other hand, ceased all military resistance after the defeats of the early 1880's. Large numbers accepted work as peons on the numerous haciendas. In 1890 a prophet movement appeared among them (Troncoso, 1905, pp. 181-84) which affected all Mayo, but to which Yaqui paid no attention. A young woman who became known as Saint Teresa reported supernatural knowledge of a coming flood which would destroy all Mexicans and leave only Indians alive. Numerous young men and women began to preach the new doctrine and the way to be saved. The Yaqui never ceased their uncompromising resistance to domination. Guerrilla bands fought until 1918 in various parts of southern Sonora, supported in part by food and funds relayed to them from Yaqui scattered over Sonora working on the haciendas. Even in the 1950's Yaqui-Mexican relations remained explosive, and Sonora newspapers were accustomed to print headlines presaging "Yaqui revolts" whenever difficulties of any kind developed. On the other hand, Mayo had been subdued long enough so that Mexican school textbooks described them as an inherently peaceful people in contrast with Yaqui. Their communities

were for the most part infiltrated by Mexicans, and local government was out of their hands as an ethnic group. A Mayo, Román Yucupicio, became governor of Sonora in the 1930's. Ethnographic knowledge of Yaqui and Mayo culture in post-Spanish times begins with information collected in the 1880's. The climax of the Yaqui-Mexican wars came in 1886. The conflict stimulated much interest in the Indians. Ramón Corral as a high state official interviewed the Yaqui leader, Cajeme, before his execution and became interested in the Indians; he gathered material for a short biography of Cajeme and wrote sketches of the history and ethnography of several Sonoran tribes, including the Yaqui and Mayo (Corral, 1887). Bancroft, the United States historian, about the same time published his extensive Native Races of the Pacific States (188389). It was Fortunato Hernández who began more comprehensive firsthand studies of the Indians of Sonora. He was a medical doctor living in Hermosillo, educated in the tradition of the científicos of the Díaz period; his volume on Las Razas Indígenas de Sonora (1902) was stimulated by a need to understand the Yaqui resistance, which appeared entirely irrational to Mexicans. The volume was a compilation of data on language, history, and ethnography from many sources and inaugurated scientific ethnography in Sonora. Systematic study in the tradition of modern ethnology began with the work of Ralph Beals (1932a, 1943a, 1945a), whose orientation toward historical reconstruction by interpretation of trait distributions led to understanding of the place of Yaqui-Mayo culture in North American ethnography. Holden, Erasmus, and I have offered further contributions. My studies have been oriented toward the description of functioning communities rather than historical reconstruction and toward the delineation of processes of cultural change (Spicer, 1940, 1943, 1954a, 1954b, 1961). 833

ETHNOLOGY

Yaqui ethnography is probably better known than Mayo. Our knowledge of Mayo culture is based heavily on the general survey made by Beals in the early 1930's (Beals, 1945a) and on studies by Erasmus consisting of the community study of Tenia in the 1940's (Erasmus, 1948) and subsequent intensive economic and structural studies of various Mayo communities in the 1950's (Erasmus, 1961). Our knowledge of Yaqui ethnography is based on Beals' early survey (1945a); on my two studies of an Arizona and a Sonora community (1940, 1954b), which were made in the 1930's and 1940's respectively; on Holden's observations of particular aspects of culture in Torim (1936); and on intensive studies of Easter ceremonies (Painter and others, 1955; Painter, 1960) and other aspects of ritual in Arizona (Wilder, 1941). The cultures are perhaps better known than any other cultures of northwest Mexico. Contemporary study of Yaqui and Mayo culture reveals two very different phases in the development of what was essentially the same cultural type 100 years ago. Beals has made a sensitive comparison of modern Yaqui and Mayo culture. He regards the difference in general configuration as preSpanish in origin. Although tending to see psychological factors as important determinants, Beals regards the problem as unsolved (1945a, pp. 211-15). I view the differences as resulting from historical factors which have been operative chiefly over the past 80 years but with roots in the Spanish contact situation somewhat farther back (Spicer, 1961; 1954b, pp. 207-08). Essentially my view is that the characteristics of Yaqui culture which Beals well sums up as "nationalism" are primarily a result of very strong integration of the Jesuit-created towns under conditions of comparative isolation during the first 150 years of Spanish contact. This town organization developed even tighter integration under pressure of Mexican attempts at domination which were unsuccessful until the 1880's. Success834

ful Yaqui efforts for independence, from the 1820's until the 1880's, stimulated solidarity of Yaqui vis-à-vis Mexicans and brought about strong organization of town government, church institutions, and military sodalities. Until 1887 these tightly organized communities were going concerns governing strictly the lives of all Yaqui who lived in them. During this time a vigorous folk culture integrated at the level of the town came into existence. Since that time this culture continued to exist despite the temporary breakup of the communities after 1887 and later infiltration by Mexicans. Mayo towns were never quite so tightly organized as Yaqui because of Spanish interference from the 1680's on, partly as a result of reduced population and partly because of Spanish and Mexican colonization in the heart of the Mayo country on both the Fuerte and Mayo rivers. Mayo were not able to achieve quite the solidarity of the Yaqui towns during the 19th century for similar reasons, and their breakup was more complete in the latter part of the 19th century. Thus, according to this interpretation of history, Yaqui culture of the mid-20th century was a revival of what had been an unusually tightly integrated system of folk culture, whereas Mayo culture was a disintegrating system of what had never achieved quite so tight an integration. The forces of disintegration which had struck Mayo culture with great intensity during the defeats of the 1870's and 1880's did not begin to have similar effects on Yaqui culture until perhaps the 1940's. In this interpretation, the Mayo turn to Messianism as early as 1890 and their continuing interest in magical nativistic religion to the present is consistent with the cultural processes operative in Mayo communities. Similarly the Yaqui devotion to practical politics and military means of maintaining their identity is consistent with their experience. The Yaqui culture of the 1930's and 1940's about which we know a good deal had developed its dominant patterns by

YAQUI AND M A Y O

the late 1800's. These patterns differed more in intensity from Mayo patterns than in fundamental type. We shall attempt to describe Yaqui culture as a system of common understandings and then indicate the differences of Mayo culture and the variations in the two as a result of recent influences from the dominant Mexican culture. The general type of Yaqui-Mayo culture was that of a sacred folk culture organized at the level of the autonomous town, or village community, of 2000-4000 inhabitants (Steward, 1955, pp. 52-56; Redfield, 1953, p. 47). The unit of Yaqui society was the small community devoted to subsistence farming. Yaqui had farmed the river bottoms of the Yaqui River for an unknown period before the arrival of the Spaniards. They raised corn, beans, squash, and probably cotton. They also cultivated amaranth. Their farming techniques were simple. They relied on the annual overflow of the river, on the heavy rainfall of summer, and to some extent on the lighter rainfall of the winter months. They were able to raise two crops a year without building any extensive irrigation works, and it is doubtful that they employed ditches in their farming except for temporary channels to distribute the flood water more conveniently when the annual overflows arrived. Jesuit missionaries reinforced Yaqui farming by the introduction of livestock, which became important before the end of the 1600's, and by the introduction of new crops, particularly wheat and watermelons. Yaqui produced a surplus which was used by the Jesuits in extending their mission system northward and to Baja California. This system of twocrop farming supplemented by livestock, particularly cattle and sheep, was continued by Yaqui through the 19th century and was taken up again after 1920 when the disturbances following the 1910 Revolution ended. In addition they supplemented farming with a wide variety of wild foods, the most notable being mesquite beans of which

FIG. 2—POTAM VIEWS. 1, Yaqui house, storage of corn and pumpkins on roof. graphed by Tad Nichols.) 2, The Potam viewed from the Guardia. Guardia cross foreground. (From Spicer, 1954b, pl. 2.)

showing (Photochurch, in right

meal was made, many different cactus fruits, and oysters and clams of the coastal region of their territory. Deer and large tree-dwelling wood rats were abundant and extensively hunted, and some Yaqui fished successfully. In general Yaqui lived in a habitat of abundant food. The chief difficulties were not uncertainty of water supply but rather excessive floods which occasionally wiped out fields completely. Consequently we find little ceremonial interest in weather control and in fact no focus in religion on subsistence activities, with the exception of maintaining good relations with the supernaturals who controlled the deer. 835

ETHNOLOGY

The technology was simple but basically that of farmers the world over. They made pottery which was of paddle-and-anvil construction and probably rarely decorated. They wove cotton cloth on horizontal belt looms (for Mayo, see vol. 6, Art. 8, figs. 3, 6), and probably also made fiber textiles. One of their major craft interests was in making basketry (for Mayo, see vol. 6, Art. 6, fig. 9,a), particularly mats. For mats they employed the abundant native cane, which was split, hammered flat, and woven into large twilled forms which were used for house coverings and for sleeping mats. Pottery and loom weaving were almost lost arts by the end of the 19th century, possibly as a result of the disturbed conditions of life on the Yaqui River resulting from warfare with Mexicans. Yaqui early adopted Spanish forms of clothing, including cotton trousers and twilled palmetto hats for men and embroidered shirtwaists and anklelength skirts for women. Their need for cotton clothing was a basis for development of trade with Mexicans during the 19th century and continued to be so during the 20th century. They made extensive use of a single-thong, leather-sole sandal as late as the 1950's. House types (fig. 2) were similar to those of rural Mexicans, consisting of flat-roofed rectangular forms made either of adobe bricks or, more commonly, of cane and mud wattle, with dirt-covered roofs. There was little distinctive in Yaqui material culture by the 1930's from that of rural Mexicans of the Sonoran region. Their food patterns were also closely similar, consisting of wheat- or corn-flour tortillas, pozole, atole, tamales, beans, meat and chile, and other common Mexican foods. It was only in connection with ceremonial paraphernalia that any really distinctive material culture patterns were to be found by the 20th century. The Yaqui subsistence-farming economy was supplemented by trade with Mexicans. Yaqui had never developed a market system of their own before the coming of the 836

Spaniards and apparently did not do so during the period of mission communities. During the 19th century individual Yaqui engaged in trade with the growing Mexican towns of Sonora, such as Guaymas, transporting corn, beans, mats, and parakeets by burro which they exchanged for cloth, metal goods, coffee, and sugar in the Mexican markets. By the 1930's trade was carried on almost entirely within the Yaqui communities through Mexican storekeepers who maintained residence there. There was also considerable supplementation of farming with wage work on Mexican ranches and in mines in Sonora. Money was generally used and had been since Jesuit times. Yaqui settlement pattern was that established under Jesuit influence before the middle of the 1600's. The whole length of the lower 60 miles of the Yaqui River flood plain was divided into territorial units called "pueblos,'' or towns. There were eight of these (fig. 3), the Jesuits having concentrated Yaqui, who were living in scattered rancherías, around eight churches evenly spaced over the length of the lower river area where most Yaqui rancherías were located. Each town had jurisdiction over all the people living within the demarcated territory surrounding a church. The boundaries between the town territories were marked at intervals with groups of three large wooden crosses 7 or 8 feet high. In the 1940's, although Yaqui still thought in terms of the eight towns, they were no longer located as they had been in Jesuit times or even in the 19th century. The water of the Yaqui River no longer flowed to the gulf past all the eight town sites established by the Jesuits. Large amounts of water had been diverted to irrigate tracts south of the Yaqui River where Mexicans and North Americans had settled and where a large city, Ciudad Obregon, was developing. This had left the old sites of the three westernmost town centers without water—Belem, Huirivis, and Rahum. Belem territory was so completely waterless that there were no

YAQUI AND MAYO

FIG. 3—THE E I G H T PUEBLOS, 1947. (From Spicer, 1954b, fig. 3.)

people living there. (It should be said that in 1960 Belem was again occupied by families whose support was by wage work in neighboring Guaymas and Ciudad Obregon.) There was a little water for domestic supply at one point in Huirivis territory, where a few families were struggling to rebuild the old town, while the majority of persons from that territory lived in the town of Potam. Somewhat more water was available for farming as well as domestic use in the territory of Rahum; here the old town site had been reoccupied and the people were struggling to continue. The only towns of the former eight which did not have to make such desperate efforts to exist were the three central ones—Potam, Vicam, and Torim. Two eastern ones—Cocorit and Bacum—had been settled by Mexicans, who had taken over the town government. The people of one of these, Bacum, had moved across the river and were attempting to re-

build their old institutions at a site called Bataconsica. Thus the pattern of the compact town, developed in the Jesuit period, was a strongly held ideal which Yaqui were trying to re-create. The internal form of the town centers constituted a mixed pattern. Each was lived in by Mexicans as well as Yaqui. Mexican storekeepers, military personnel, and schoolteachers lived in adobe houses built contiguously and flush with streets laid out on a grid pattern. Small sections of each of the towns took this form, and some Yaqui built and lived in the same style of houses. The larger part of each town consisted of separate households laid out irregularly. The usual Yaqui household consisted of one or two rooms, either detached or adjacent, with somewhere near an open ramada for cooking with a fireplace of mud raised a couple of feet from the ground, and perhaps other ramadas for lounging and for 837

ETHNOLOGY

sleeping in hot weather. It was usually surrounded by a woven cane fence 6 or 7 feet high. The town as a social unit was a product of Jesuit organization using Spanish conceptions of government. It was also a product, but in lesser part, of Indian ideas and traditions. The conditions under which the two traditions had combined were, first, 150 years of peaceful interaction between Jesuit missionaries in small numbers and some 30,000 Yaqui and, second, a century of conflict between Yaqui and Mexicans. The first set of conditions had resulted in a well-knit, self-consistent integration of governmental traditions; the second set of conditions had intensified Yaqui interest in their relative autonomy experienced during the Jesuit period, in their collective land management system, and in their mixed Catholic-aboriginal religious system. The town, under stress of warfare in the 19th century, had become a highly organized, sharply focused social unit. The town did not allow of a permanent tribal organization. Yet it was long-standing tradition with Yaqui to organize as a total tribe to protect their tribal territory. This was the case at the time of first Spanish contact and it continued to be for the next four centuries. However, even during the 19thcentury wars with the Mexicans in which the Yaqui towns were constantly working closely together, no real tribal organization emerged. Once a battle or series of battles was over, each town asserted its autonomy again; only during wartime was there an organization in which any town recognized a leadership above its own governors. In the 1930's the Mexican army of occupation in the Yaqui country sought to create a tribal organization as a means of communicating with the town governors, and to some extent a go-between organization developed, but the Yaqui conception remained rooted in the autonomy of the towns. Again President Cárdenas in 1939 acted as though a unified tribe existed when he issued a de838

cree setting aside a portion of the old tribal area as exclusively under Yaqui ownership. However, on into the 1950's no real working tribal organization recognized by the town governments came into existence. In 1958 a federal government-sponsored plebiscite was held for the purpose of determining whether Yaqui wished to continue the colonial town type of organization or set up a municipality structure articulated with the state of Sonora. Yaqui voted overwhelmingly for the continuance of the old towngovernor system. Thus the unit of government remained essentially what it had been since the days of the Jesuits, and the articulation of this with the state of Sonora and the nation of Mexico remained undefined. Yaqui were deeply resistant to the growth of a new level of integration involving them formally in the nation by which they had been dominated. The town was an organization in which five realms of authority were integrated. These realms, or ya'uram, were the civil, the church, the military, the fiesta, and the customs authorities. Each had its officers in hierarchical arrangement. The civil authority derived from the Spanish governor system and consisted of five governors elected annually, together with assistants; they managed land assignments, presided at trials, coordinated the activities of all five authorities, and controlled relations with other Yaqui towns and with Mexicans. The church was a complex organization with a governor, a hierarchy of maestros in charge of all church-centered ceremony, and two ceremonial organizations for men and two for women. Both the regular round of ceremonies following the Catholic calendar and crisis rites from baptism to funerals were organized and managed by this hierarchy. The military society consisted of a sodality of officers with Spanish military titles dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe; their functions besides organizing war parties in time of war were as guards of the governors and as important performers in

YAQUI AND MAYO

most ceremonies. The fiesta authority had responsibility for the annual ceremony to the town saint and for carrying out funerals; it was a self-perpetuating group of dual functionaries known as the Moors and the Christians. The customs authority was ritually the dominant authority, assuming absolute control of the whole town once each year during Holy Week; it consisted of two men's sodalities dedicated to the service of Jesus and to Christ the Child with highly important duties during the winter ceremonial season. This organization with a roster of some 60 distinct offices met at least once a week on Sundays throughout the year. Its meetings were open to all Yaqui of a town; in the meetings special speaking privileges were given to older men who had held office in the civil authority at some time during their lives. Procedure, under the chairmanship of the first governor, was democratic, all townsmen being permitted to speak, but there was no vote and no majority rule; the basic theory of procedure was that unanimous agreement could be reached as a result of open discussion of issues. The Yaqui kinship system was bilateral. The terminology was bifurcate collateral with Hawaiian cousin terminology. The household showed no clear tendency toward any one form of composition. Marriage was ambilocal or neolocal. The usual household consisted of several nuclear families, related sometimes through the male line, sometimes through the female line, but also often including families related only through ritual kinship. Men sometimes had two or more mates, but there was a strict proscription against repeating the marriage ceremony, so that often a man might have undergone marriage with only one of the women of his household, often with none. The Catholic prohibition against divorce was accepted, but the changing of mates was very common with no accompanying ceremony. Within a household no tradition of male or of female dominance was apparent. The

oldest person, providing he or she was competent, was usually the ultimate authority, but ordinarily decisions were group matters. The cooperation of households in economic and ceremonial matters was highly developed through the operation of a ritual kinship system which was a combination of the Catholic godparent system and a native kind of ceremonial sponsorship, the precise structure of which is not known. The Yaqui ritual kinship system was an elaborate one, evidently stimulated by the European introduction and also probably elaborated as a result of the forced breakup of real genealogical kin groups during the period of deportation. The basic obligation was that of caring for a person at death, an obligation which originated in the ritual sponsoring of a person at baptism, confirmation in the church, marriage, or entrance in any of the ceremonial sodalities. The number of sponsors or godparents that one might have was unlimited, because sponsoring for one of the customs sodalities could be repeated indefinitely. It was thought necessary to have three pairs of sponsors or ritual kin, because the death ritual required six persons. All sponsors of the same person were coparents, kompalem, to one another as they were to the parents of the person sponsored. There was thus a complicated network of relationships created by the ritual kinship system which operated to knit many otherwise unrelated households into cooperating units. Much of the vast obligation in ceremony was met through this system, which supplemented the kinship obligations in a very important way. Yaqui religion was inextricably intertwined with the town organization, and an important function of the ritual consisted in the constant redefinition and sanctioning of the autonomous town orientation in Yaqui culture. The religion may be described in terms of a number of recurrent activities oriented to the honoring of certain supernatural beings. There were five such sets of activities: (1) devotions to Jesus man839

ETHNOLOGY

aged and carried out by the two men's sodalities of the customs authority which took place from January to May; (2) devotions to the Virgin Mary, also called Our Mother by Yaqui, managed by the church and with a prominent part played by the men's sodality called the matachines; (3) devotions to the spirits of the dead which went on weekly and monthly throughout the year but which reached a climax annually in the celebration of the Days of the Dead in November; (4) devotions to the Virgin of Guadalupe which also were a regular feature of ceremony throughout the year but which came to a focus on the Day of Guadalupe in December; and (5) annual devotions to the patron saint of the town, which varied from town to town depending on the patron but most of which occurred in the summer months. There was a strong sense of contrasting season in ceremony; the dry months of winter and spring were the period of the dominance of Jesus and the forbidding and disciplining men's organizations which served him especially. The summer months of rain, river overflow, and ripening wild and cultivated foods were the period of the presence of Our Mother and her brightly costumed devotees, the matachín dancers. The cult of Jesus had been deeply integrated into Yaqui life since Jesuit times. The two men's sodalities responsible for the ceremonies of Lent and Holy Week each year were composed of members dedicated by lifetime vow to their service. They assumed control of the town during their ceremonial season and strictly enforced attendance at ceremonies and taboos on work and sexual intercourse during Holy Week. Their organization showed many features in common with Western Pueblo ceremonial sodalities, but there were also similarities in their costume, particularly their masks, to the devil-clowns of 16thcentury European religious drama. The Lenten ceremonies were complex dramati840

zations of events in the life of Christ, which Yaqui mythology now represented as having taken place in the Yaqui country. The sacredness of the land in the face of the threat of Mexican encroachment had been reinforced in this way and by the combination of the Christian and the native Cahitan flood myths (Spicer, 1945; Giddings, 1959). The cult of the Virgin Mary was also of great importance. She was identified with various forms of the cross and with the Yaqui traditional female supernatural called Our Mother. The beginning of the rainy season in late June and early July was heralded with household fiestas dedicated to the Virgin and participated in by the matachín dance organizations of the various towns. Matachines traversed the whole length of the Yaqui country, going to dance wherever they were asked. The beginning of the rainy season was climaxed in a celebration of the Virgin of the Road, at which the matachines of all the eight towns danced together in one great and colorful ceremony. The cult of the dead was ever present in Yaqui devotions, each family keeping a book in which the names of the ancestral dead were written down and which was placed on the altar, ideally, at every ceremony as a means of honoring the ancestors. Burial grounds, concentrated around the churches of each town, were the scene of family gatherings at least one night a month throughout the year and also of formal offering of services by church functionaries in the presence of the family members once a year on the Catholic ceremonial days of All Saints and All Souls. The Virgin of Guadalupe was the patroness of the military organization of the town, all officers being dedicated to her for life. Her image was carried by the top ranking captains in every Sunday service and on other ceremonial occasions. A dance called the Coyote dance, but not representative of that animal, was performed by the mem-

YAQUI AND MAYO

bers of the military sodality on many ceremonial occasions, together with their ritual saluting of the sun. The annual fiesta honoring the patron of the town or of the church varied in detail from town to town, each having its distinctive features, such as a rooster pull at Vicam, but there was a general pattern common to all. Managed by fiesteros who were part of the town governmental system and who chose their own successors each year, it was a complex event in the form of competing fiestas. One fiesta was sponsored by the fiesteros called Christians who were denoted by blue headdresses and the other by the red fiesteros who were called Moors. Games and nonsacred dances were a part of the activities as well as feasting. The climax was a ritual battle between the Moors and the Christians and a final bacchanalia in the church. Quite apart from the church-sponsored activities were the dances and activities of the pascola (fig. 4) and deer dancers. They were separate in that they were removed from the sacred context, but physically their dances were combined with many church ceremonies and particularly with those which centered at private households. The pascola dancers performed as a result of dreamed vision rather than ritual vow to a supernatural and derived their knowledge from animals of the "woods" rather than Christian supernaturals. Together with the deer dancer, they perpetuated through their dances, music, pantomime drama, and storytelling much art and knowledge which had not originated in the European tradition. Yaqui ceremonialism was demanding on the individuals who participated in it and these constituted many persons in every community. Ceremonies were frequent. Interest in ceremonies was high. It was clear that the ceremonial system was a major, perhaps the major, orientation of Yaqui. It was a system which bore little relation to

FIG. 4—TWO TYPES OF PASCOLA MASK. (From Spicer, 1954b, fig. 7.)

subsistence and the problems of making a living. A major focus was the maintenance of Yaqui territorial integrity and the autonomous town system and the stimulation of solidarity among Yaqui. The cement of the whole system was the dedication of individuals by vow to serve the supernaturals for life or for shorter terms as singers, dancers, soldiers, or in other offices. The vow was an insurance against the recurrence of illness. It should be recognized, therefore, that a second major focus of this religious system was curing and the maintenance of good 841

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 5—CEREMONIAL PARAPHERNALIA. A, Helmet masks of Chapayeka, 1942. B, Paraphernalia of the Judas Society. (From Spicer, 1954b, fig. 9.)

health. The group ceremonials shared this function with the activities of individual practitioners of herbal and magical curing. In every village there were several hitebim, or curers, some of whom through dreams gained power to ward off illness caused by witches. Although most of the external forms were Spanish in origin, the fundamental orientation of Catholic Christianity, namely, salvation of the individual soul and the objective of heaven had not been incorporated into the ceremonial system. The objective was rather the perpetuation of the "Eight Pueblos" and their exclusive possession by Yaqui. Yaqui art was subsumed in Yaqui ceremonialism. The major emphasis was on 842

dance and music. Dance was exclusively reserved for men, and there were no purely social forms of dance. There were, however, both sacred and secular forms. Dance steps were chiefly Indian in tradition; choreography, as in the matachín dances, European. Both native and European musical traditions were important, and guitars, violins, and harps were used as well as native flutes and drums. What little decorative art existed was related to ceremonial paraphernalia (figs. 4, 5)—both geometric and realistic elements on masks, the lance heads of the member of the men's sodality representing Pontius Pilate, and on a few other ritual objects. Pottery was not decorated, and weaving had died out. Storytelling had become formalized in the activ-

YAQUI AND MAYO

ities of the pascolas, who specialized in the art of fiction, particularly the humorous story. Poetry was alive both in the form of the traditional deer songs and in popular songs composed to Mexican music by young men. This sketch of Yaqui culture may serve as a basis for considering the modern ethnography of Cahitans in general. It is based also entirely on observations and investigations made in towns on the Yaqui River in 1939, 1941-42, 1947, 1956, and 1958 (Spicer, 1954b). Beals' account (1945a) of Mayo and Yaqui culture in the 1930's indicates that there were only minor differences in detail as between Yaqui and Mayo culture traits. Such details as that matachín dancers may be either girls or boys among Mayo and are always male among Yaqui, or that houseyard crosses are commonly carved and decorated and may be 7 or 8 feet tall among Mayo whereas they are uniformly plain and rarely more than 4 feet tall among Yaqui are interesting and indicative of differences in the acculturation processes as they have operated among the two peoples. There are many other such differences in ritual, the elements of material culture, and minor belief. Study of these will no doubt shed light on the processes of cultural variation, but nevertheless they are only details. The two cultures had a common origin and shared a large body of culture elements. But there were differences of considerable importance between modern Yaqui and Mayo culture. Beals found in 1932 that the political organization—that is, the town governmental system—had broken down among Mayo (Beals, 1945a, pp. 83-90). The civil authority was known only from memory, and apparently this was true also of the military authority. There remained in curtailed form the church organization, the customs authority, and the fiesteros. It appears that Mayo communities did not have continuity through the 19th and 20th

centuries as Mayo-managed towns. This was in contrast with the situation on the Yaqui River, where although towns were disrupted in the 1880's and brought under Mexican control, most Yaqui town organizations came back into operation at the latest by the 1920's. Mayo communities in the 1930's and later were of two general kinds: on the one hand, there were areas of Mexican towns, such as in Navojoa, Echojoa, Los Mochis, and others, in which Mayo were concentrated. On the other hand, there were newly settled villages, such as Tenia, away from the river (Erasmus, 1948) where Mayo went after release from hacienda service following the 1910 Revolution. In the urban segments the Indians were living under the domination of Mexicans in the larger community. It was to be expected that the civil and military organization would disintegrate under these circumstances. It is more surprising that there should have been no revival of town government in the newly settled communities, but this seems to have been the case and may be attributed to cultural loss as a result of infiltration of Mayo communities in the 19th century and cultural disintegration experienced as peons on the haciendas. We may assume that the culture-bearing unit among Mayo had ceased to be the colonial type of town and had become the family or friendship group within the unstructured urban segments of the Sonora and Sinaloa Mexican towns. There is no question, however, that ceremonial activity of the same type and organized along the same lines as the Yaqui went on in these segments (Beals, 1945a) and this continued to be the case through the 1950's. Easter ceremonies of the same general type, for example, continued to be given at places such as San Miguel on the Fuerte River and at Masiaca. Mayo ceremonialism was the persistent element of the culture. It was, moreover, continuing to develop, as indicated in the 843

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rise of a new religious cult in 1957 near Ahorne on the Fuerte River (Erasmus, 1961). This had its origin in the vision of a young man who claimed to have seen God and received instructions for the giving of a modified type of fiesta. The prescribed ceremonies utilized all the old forms, including matachín and pascola dancers, but combined in new ways and in a ritual context which gave greater separation from the church organization. This cult, which embodied so many elements of older Cahita tradition, spread rapidly among Mayo and had been accepted by a few Yaqui by 1960. It was indicative of the continuing strength of Indian tradition outside the context of the old town complex. Yaqui lived not only in the old or relocated towns of the Yaqui River valley but also in the cities of Sonora and Arizona. They had established settlements of several hundred on the outskirts of Ciudad Obregon, Empalme, Guaymas, and Hermosillo, and were to be found in smaller groups almost everywhere in the state. In the Sonora cities, much the same process had taken place that had characterized the Mayo, but there was less cultural loss and more vigorous organization. Each of the urban segments, or barrios, continued to give annually an Easter ceremony (Barker, 1957) managed by the men's sodalities as the climax of a ceremonial year which included the whole round of personal crisis rites—weddings, confirmations of various kinds, and funerals. A ceremonial organization was

844

maintained, while civil and military organization had disappeared or shrunk to include only a "governor" who acted as a gobetween with officials and other non-Yaqui. In economic life the urban Yaqui of Sonora were completely absorbed into the lower levels of the wage system. Conditions were much the same in the Arizona Yaqui communities. It appeared, however, that there was more retention of cultural content but in a more atomistic context of social life. Whereas church organization tended to remain intact in the Sonoran urban segments, in Arizona this was not always true. Even in the settlement with greatest internal solidarity (Spicer, 1940) images were owned by individual families and the office of church governor had disappeared along with the civil and military offices. It should be said, however, that the military organization had persisted in Arizona until the 1940's. Other aspects of ceremonialism were different in detail but not in general plan, and it was clear that this was the persistent feature of the old folk culture under new conditions of participation in a wage economy. There was a strong sense of identity as Yaqui in both the Sonora and Arizona communities and this was related to a coherent conception of their own history, which was fostered in formal sermons and in contacts with the river towns. Interest in the "Eight Pueblos" and in the traditions of fighting for their defense gave a basis for ethnic distinction and pride in their past.

YAQUI AND M A Y O

REFERENCES Bancroft, 1883-89 Barker, 1957 Beals, 1932a, 1943a, 1945a Buelna, 1890 Caso and Parra, 1950 Corral, 1887 Erasmus, 1948, 1955, 1961 Fabila, 1940 Gámez, 1955 Giddings, 1959 Gill, 1957 Hernández, 1902

Holden and others, 1936 Kurath and Spicer, 1947 Painter, 1960 , Savala, and Alvárez, 1955 Paso y Troncoso, 1905 Pérez de Ribas, 1645 Redfield, 1953 Sauer, 1935 Spicer, 1940, 1943, 1945, 1947, 1954a, 1954b, 1961 Steward, 1955 Wilder, 1941 Zuñiga, 1835

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41.The Tarahumara

JACOB FRIED

THE TARAHUMARA are a Uto-Aztecan-

speaking tribe inhabiting the mountainous southwestern corner of the state of Chihuahua (figs. 1-3). They call themselves rarámuri, meaning runners-onfoot. Their culture is of the basic ranchería pattern, linking them to the Cora-HuicholTepecano group to the south, the SonoranSinaloan group to the west, and the PimaPapago group to the north. Three subcultural groups are readily discernible: mountain dwellers (pagótame), canyon dwellers (poblanos), and pagans (gentiles). The first two show marked Spanish-Mexican influences in their culture and contrast mainly in adaptation to their ecological settings. The canyon dwellers, who represent 10-12 per cent of the Tarahumara population, have had more stable contacts with Mestizos, and are more acculturated than the sierran group. The pagans, who live in nearly inaccessible and desolate areas, are even more staunchly conservative of the aboriginal life-way. GEOGRAPHY

The sierra in southwestern Chihuahua takes 846

the form of a high broken plateau. Deep gorges and lesser canyons abound; the terrain is covered by forests of pine and oak. There are few extensive level tracts of land suitable for large-scale agriculture, and the soils are thin and poor. The climate is generally cool and stimulating in the mountains; the deeper gorges are markedly warmer. There is a summer rainy season. HISTORY OF MAJOR POSTCONTACT EVENTS

Jesuit missionaries visited the Tarahumara as early as 1608, but did not establish the first permanent mission until 1639. By 1648 six pueblos (church-centered communities) were in existence. From 1645 to 1690 native resistance to Christianization and pueblocentralization caused considerable bloodshed. Rich silver and gold mines were discovered in southern Chihuahua in the early 17th century, and with extraordinary rapidity the Spaniards located numerous mining regions deep in Tarahumara country. Ensuing clashes between miners and Indians led to urgent attempts by army and civil officials to pacify the natives. Thus, along

FIG. 1—THE TARAHUMAR COUNTRY, PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS. (Adapted from Pennington, 1963, Map 4.)

FIG. 2—THE TARAHUMAR COUNTRY. Heavy solid line: Early 17th-century boundaries. Heavy broken line: Boundaries after westward expansion of the Tarahumara in the 17th and 18th centuries. Light broken line: Territory occupied by peoples with distinct cultural affiliation with the Tarahumara. Dates are those of the earliest references to the Tarahumara west of the early 17th-century boundary. (Adapted from Pennington, 1963, Map 1.)

FIG. 3—THE TARAHUMAR COUNTRY. Boundary as of 1959 outlined. Hard surface road from Cuauhtemoc to Chihuahua and southeastward. (Adapted from Pennington, 1963, Map 2.)

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ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 4—PUEBLOS STUDIED BY THE AUTHOR

FIG. 5—YOKING OXEN, NOROGACHIC PUEBLO

with the religious authorities, civil authorities tried to impose a more manageable political order on the dispersed Tarahumara by setting up special native "governors" and "captains" (police). The expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767 removed one immediate source of acculturative pressure. From 1800 to 1825 Apache raidings reached a crescendo of violence and terror. Pancho' Villa's Mexican raiders roved the region in 1917 spreading disorder and disease. Though Catholic missionary efforts were renewed and Mexico passed through the revolutionary period of political and land reforms in the first two decades of the 20th century, the basic integrity of Tarahumara culture was not seriously threatened. Renewed efforts by the federal government to ameliorate harsh economic conditions, raise educational standards, and politically integrate the dispersed local groups, begun in the 1930's and continuing into the present, have so far produced only modest successes. (See Plancarte, 1954, pp. 81-96, for details on the work of the Instituto Nacional Indigenista in planning culture change.)

Mining and lumbering activities since the early 1940's seem to exert strong attractions only on those Tarahumara already closely associated with established Mestizo centers. Today, the Tarahumara remain one of the least acculturated tribes in the Americas.

850

POPULATION

Population can be only roughly estimated for this mobile, highly dispersed tribe at somewhere between 40,000 and 50,000. HISTORY OF ETHNOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AND MAJOR SOURCES

Modern ethnological investigations began with Lumholtz (1902), who very thoroughly traveled throughout the Tarahumara country in the early 1890's. In 1925-26 Basauri (1929) carried out three short field trips and published a brief, highly condensed general monograph. The most detailed ethnographic account available, one based on intensive field investigation lasting over nine months (1930-31), is that of Bennett and Zingg (1935). Plancarte (1954) has produced a well-balanced sum-

TARAHUMARA

mary of the culture, together with an assessment of culture-change problems, based on over six years of residence among the Tarahumara. The results of my eight months in the field in 1950-51 studying social control have been recorded (1952, 1953). Many of the ethnographic data in this article were obtained during this field trip. Passin's account (1943) of kinship organization is the most comprehensive available. Interpersonal relations and outstanding characteristics of Tarahumara personality were described by me (1961) and by Passin (1942). An assessment of value orientations was attempted by Zingg (1942). The best sources of ethnological information concerning the early contact and Jesuit periods are Alegre (1841) and Treutlein (1949). The latter is a particularly good source on the founding of mission centers and the struggle against aboriginal culture patterns. Champion (1955) described culture contact and acculturation since 1890. Despite the classic work of Bennett and

Zingg, much more needs to be known about regional variation of culture. The gentiles especially deserve intensive study. SUBSISTENCE SYSTEMS AND FOOD PATTERNS

The Tarahumara are primarily agriculturalists, the basis of their diet being corn, beans, squash, and potatoes. Goats, sheep, cattle, and dogs are important domesticated animals; the goat is the commonest. Pigs and chickens are kept only by the more acculturated Indians. Fruit is grown almost solely for sale to Mexicans. Cattle are prestige animals, but by no means all families own them; indeed, some families possess no stock at all, a sign of poverty by Tarahumara standards. Because the terrain is neither rich nor available in broad open spaces a family usually grows the crops in two, three, or even more individual small pockets of soil, often separated by several kilometers. Animal dung, when available, is the universal fertilizer.

FIG. 6—TARAHUMARA FISHING WITH BLANKETS, RIO FUERTE. (From Lumholtz, 1902, 1: 405.)

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ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 7—PLANTING CORN, BASIWARE PUEBLO

Corn in the form of pinole or isquiate (parched ground cornflour in water) is by far the commonest food; beans, squash, and several wild greens follow in importance. Wheat and potatoes are minor. Tesgüino (corn beer) is a very important food. It is taken in great quantities during the frequent fiestas and work parties (tesgüinadas) that are the basic social and economic events of community life (fig. 24). Goat, sheep, and cattle meat are eaten usually only on ceremonial occasions or work fiestas, but no such event would be complete without meat and corn beer. Tobacco is grown and passionately enjoyed in cigarette form. Hunting of deer, wild turkey, squirrels, rabbits, and field mice, and fishing (using vegetable-root poisons) are of secondary economic importance. Lumholtz (1902, 1: 405) illustrates Tarahumara fishing with blankets (fig. 6). Fields are first cleared and fertilized, and then fenced off to keep out both domesticated and wild animals. They are then tilled by a yoke of oxen dragging a wooden 852

FIG. 8—WOMAN WEAVING BLANKET, GUACHOCHIC PUEBLO

plow (fig. 5). A digging stick is used in planting, a hoe in cultivating and weeding (fig. 7). Corn and squash are grown in the same field, beans in separate upland clearings. Dried corn is prepared for eating by being first toasted, then ground to a flour on a metate. Meat, beans, and greens are boiled. The typical Tarahumara meal is one of pinole or isquiate, with boiled beans or wild greens if available. The pattern of eating is one of extreme variability, ranging from whole household participation to individual taking of snacks whenever hungry. In general, eating, like all other activities of life, follows no compulsive, inflexible routine. SETTLEMENT PATTERNS

The basic settlement pattern is the ranchería, a scattered grouping of families living in relative proximity. A ranchería is made up of household clusters, each consisting of a single-roomed log house and one or two log grain-storage cabins, and a small flat clearing or patio for dancing, feasting, or

TARAHUMARA

working. These are scattered along a small valley with a stream or arroyo close by. Large rancherías may have as many as 15 or 20 houses, but the more usual number is five or six. The component households of a ranchería, as well as the members of a single household, are highly mobile in space and time. Families must tend their several agricultural plots, scattered over many kilometers all during summer and early fall, and in winter many households move with their herds to sheltered canyon sites. But wherever the most valuable parcel of land is located, there a more substantial house and storage cabin are constructed; this is the "home" ranchería. The ranchería is a most important local group. There are lines of social and economic interchange between members of a ranchería, but these are not of a sustained or continuous nature. (See section on Social Organization below.) SEASONAL MOBILITY PATTERNS AND SOCIAL GROUPINGS

Seasonal mobility is a major feature of Tarahumara life. In winter, those who have animals and land, and houses or caves in the deeper canyons, retire to these protected habitations. But not all families are winter migrants and cave dwellers. Many remain in the high sierras, because they have neither land nor animals to be protected; some, however, move to caves still higher in the mountains where they can be closer to a good wood supply. Thus, the social groupings of households change with the seasons. Those who move to canyon caves or houses have a new set of neighbors. In some cases, members of different pueblos may move closer together. These winter groupings are broken when, with the advent of spring, families move back to the sierras. Now they have other neighbors in different rancherías where they own land, and the personnel of fiesta and work parties varies.

FIG. 9—TARAHUMAR ARROW (From Lumholtz, 1902, 1: 262.)

RELEASE.

TECHNOLOGY

Tools The most important tools are steel axes, iron knives, hoes, chisels, crowbars, and an iron key for striking sparks. These, and needles for sewing clothing, are secured by occasional trade with Mestizos. Techniques of Processing and Manufacture The most plentiful raw material is wood. Large trees, once felled, are split by axe and oak wedges to make boards, beams, roofing, and fencing. Blankets are woven by women from sheep's wool on a simple horizontal loom (fig. 8). Goat and cow hides, prepared for 853

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 10—TYPICAL GRAIN STORAGE ANITA PUEBLO

SIERRA HOUSE AND STRUCTURE, SANTA

FIG. 11—TARAHUMAR D W E L L I N G S . a, Stone and wood, typical of headwater region of the Rio Fuerte and Rio Conchos. b, Canoas leaned against a ridgepole supported by two forked branches. (From Pennington, 1963, pls. 32, 33.)

trade with Mestizos, are crudely tanned with animal brains or oak bark. The basic household utensils consist of a stone metate, various sizes of clay pots (comales) for toasting, boiling, and storing foods; clay dishes; gourds split in half for dippers and water carriers; long wooden spoons; twilled baskets of single or double weave of various sizes for storage. The cane flute and single-faced drum (sheepskin over a split wood round frame) are ancient Indian instruments, but the violin and guitar are also manufactured by the Tarahumara, copying Spanish designs faithfully. The weaving of colorful wool sashes 854

and narrow hair ribbons represents the highest aesthetic efforts of these people. Bows and arrows (fig. 9) are still being made. A variety of traps for small game— squirrels and rats—are commonly seen about a house. The plow is made from a conveniently shaped tree with a branch projecting at the right angle, fitted with a steel or stone point. Houses The typical sierra house is rectangular, with a gabled roof made of grooved overlapping single logs or shingles. Front and

TARAHUMARA

FIG. 12—GRAIN STORAGE SANTA ANITA PUEBLO

STRUCTURE,

FIG. 13—STONE STORAGE STRUCTURE NEAR NARARACHIC. (From Pennington, 1963, pl. 7.)

back of the structure are closed by leaning boards upright against the frame; these are removed and replaced as entrance or exit is required (fig. 10). The use of doors and latches is not common in isolated sections. Stone (fig. 11,a) and adobe houses are found in the canyons. The fireplace often consists of no more than a simple arrangement on the hardpacked earth floor. In some cases a stone and mud chimney collects and conducts the smoke to the roof. In the summer a simple brush shelter can be built on the far end of the patio for cooking or working purposes. The grain bins are more carefully constructed than the residences, with walls,

floors, and ceiling made of nicely fitted planks, held together by careful notching of the ends (fig.. 12). The corn-drying structure, erected near the cornfield, is somewhat smaller and simpler, being made of rougher log or hewn boards. Household furnishings are extremely simple. Mats of twilled fibers and a few goat skins, together with the rough wool blanket, make up the usual bedding. Storage is on the ground in baskets or crude wooden chests, or up along the edges of walls where they join the roof beams. Chairs and tables are not used. Outside, simple feeding troughs of grooved logs, animal pens, and corrals are usually found. 855

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FIG. 14—TARAHUMAR MEN. (From Lumholtz, 1902, 1: 149.)

Dress and Ornament The typical male attire (fig. 14) consists of a diaper-like breechclout held in place by a colorful woven sash, a cotton broadsleeved blouse of colonial Spanish type, a plain white cloth headband to keep the hair in place, and, in colder or wet weather, a heavy woolen fringed blanket. Cowhidesoled sandals are worn, though barefootedness is very common. As a survival of Jesuit influence, nearly all men wear a simple rosary of Job's-tears with a cross pendant. A small leather wallet, to hold money, tobacco, matches, or a knife, completes the costume. The women's dress (fig. 15) consists of from one to five loose cotton skirts, depending on the season, held in place by a somewhat wider woven sash than that used by men. They wear either a shirt similar in cut 856

FIG. 15—TARAHUMAR WOMAN. (From Lumholtz, 1902, 1: 150.)

to the man's or a simple poncho-like garment made of a single piece of material. Footgear is the same as the men's. The hair is also held in place by a headcloth or, less commonly today, by a narrow, artistically decorated woven ribbon. A shawl serves to carry children, firewood, grain, wild greens, or fruit. Strings of beads made of seeds or colored glass are worn by all women as well as the rosary and cross. Hair is combed and cleaned with pine-wood combs.

TARAHUMARA

Transportation The Tarahumara are proud foot-runners, who ordinarily disdain the beasts of burden, the burro or horse. The typical carrying device is a sturdy blanket carried over the shoulder, or the cloth shawl of the woman. Heavy weights, like logs, are balanced on the shoulders. Burros are used in the Mestizo manner for heavy transport, and many Tarahumara who engage in trade own them. Weights and Measures Every Tarahumara owns a box for reckoning grain. It measures 7.5 by 7.5 by 3.4 inches and holds half a decaliter. The meter of cloth and the Mexican peso, as standards of value, and the single day of work as a unit of time, are used in dealing with Mestizos. Informally, a gourdful of liquid or an ordinary-sized eating dish serve as crude approximations of quantity. Otherwise, Tarahumara estimate weight by hefting or by size, trusting to their practiced eye. ECONOMY

Division of Labor The primary economic unit of Tarahumara society is the nuclear family. Because of the simple composition of this unit, and the variety of tasks carried out daily, the patterns of work division are inherently flexible. Though it is the ideal pattern that agriculture is men's work, care of the house and children and certain domestic manufactures, women's work, and herding a task for children, such a division of labor is subject to much variation in practice. On occasion, men may cook or wash clothes, even sew or make reed baskets. Herding is in fact done not only by women and children but also by men. Similarly, some women are quite skillful in the use of axe or hoe. Thus, despite the ideal pattern, various situational factors influence task performance: e.g. lack of children, disruption of harmony due to interpersonal disputes, mobility in the annual cycle which separates family members,

inefficiency of a spouse at a task, and personal preferences for certain type of activities (some men like to weave or herd, for example). Specialization and Trade Technology and economic organization are too simple to support occupational classes. Basic activities can be accomplished by the members of a single household (with occasional help of neighbors or relatives) using very simple tools. The normal man can, with some assistance, build his own house, storage bins, fences and corrals, make his own plows, digging sticks, axe and hoe handles. His wife (ideally) can manufacture clay dishes and pots, weave blankets, and sew all the family's clothing. However, this does not mean that every household necessarily produces all its own artifacts. Actually, the Tarahumara get an important segment of their material culture from Mexicans: axe and hoe heads, needles, knives and cloth. Salt is another such necessity. From trade with Indians living in the hot canyons, they obtain vegetables, medicinal plants, gourds, plant fibers, reeds, and special wood. Not all women, in fact, produce all the blankets, pots, mats, or baskets they use. Sometimes raw materials or skill or both may be lacking. Especially good pots, blankets, or baskets, produced in certain pueblos noted for their superior abilities, are acquired through trade or barter. This is a modest sort of ranchería or geographical specialization. However, this does not invalidate the essential self-sufficiency of the individual household. Property Individual ownership of all forms of property is a cornerstone of the culture. There is never any doubt (if there is, it leads to a dispute before native officials) as to who owns a given artifact, blanket, pot, animal, parcel of land, or fruit tree, or what happens to these in case of divorce, 857

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death, sale, or loan. A person who fails to respect individual ownership, even within the nuclear family, either by use without permission or by theft, is subject to strong punitive action by native officials. In marriage there may be joint use of each partner's property, but, as divorce cases show, the property reverts to its original owner, and all property accumulated by joint efforts is carefully and fairly divided between them by the native officials. Property (land, animals) is inherited separately from each parent, and upon their death it is to be divided equally among all the children. A widowed spouse in theory receives nothing, but in every case recorded a widow (but not a widower) inherits some of her husband's property, for accepted economic reasons. Property of a deceased unmarried person is divided among his siblings or close relatives. However, in keeping with the sense of fairness so strong among the Tarahumara, native officials often make special arrangements to punish a spouse guilty of bad behavior or to award property to the more needy partner. Clearly, these officials operate on the principle that any division of property must secure the individuals from want, wherever practicable. Production and Consumption

Units

Though the primary economic unit is the nuclear family, it is not a completely selfenclosed social or economic unit. The households of a ranchería are linked by mutual work fiestas (tesgüinadas). The work party permits a household to recruit additional labor for certain heavy or sustained types of work where large numbers of workers can effectively be employed simultaneously, such as clearing fields, plowing, weeding, building houses, corrals, and fences. Trade with Mestizos Trade with, and at times even economic dependence on, the Mestizo has been a feature of Tarahumara life for hundreds of 858

years. Certain basic necessities of life—axes, hoes, needles, thread, salt, cloth—are secured by trade. In periods of drought and poverty, when relatives or neighbors cannot help, the Mestizos are sources of food and money. Thus, the Indians go among Mestizos, hiring themselves out as occasional agricultural workers or herders in order to overcome periods of economic or interpersonal stress, and Mestizos travel among Indians in order, through trade for corn, wheat, fruit, hides, blankets, and animals, to supplement their often meager resources. Despite a basic hostility and mutual contempt, Indians and Mestizos often find they need each other. Trade contacts take the form of a rather formal personal relationship between a Mestizo and his Indian trading partner. Such a partner is called noráwa. Only a known Mestizo could transact business with the wary, suspicious Tarahumara. Trade between Indians of the canyons and the sierras also follows this noráwa pattern, for the Tarahumara are equally shy of Indian strangers. Labor Export As the Tarahumara are not always selfsufficient, they may have to work for a "rich" Indian (one with considerable landholdings and herds of animals) or a Mestizo. In addition, miners have for centuries employed Tarahumara as beasts of burden, runners and messengers, and as transport workers. Wealth and Its Use Tarahumara society is essentially egalitarian; personal freedom and independence are jealously guarded possessions of everyone. Prestige, in the ideal pattern, is given to those whose behavior merits high regard. A wealthy man may well be respected, but this would not be based solely on his wealth in land, animals, and especially cattle. The Tarahumara do not display wealth either in their dress, possessions, or housing. In-

TARAHUMARA

deed, the rich often attempt to hide evidence of wealth for fear of being asked for loans of food or oxen, or being called upon to donate animals for religious sacrifices. Despite ideal norms that stress generosity and mutual economic assistance, the Tarahumara are not an open-handed people, and social pressures are at times needed to coax individuals to meet social or religious obligations. Participation in certain religious fiestas requires the participants to buy expensive costumes, or donate goats or cows for sacrifice. Not all persons selected to fill important ceremonial offices are pleased with their nomination and some seek to avoid the expenditure of resources and time. A clash between personal values and group-centered ones frequently occurs. SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

Family and Kinship The Tarahumara family is of the nuclear type: father, mother, and unmarried children form the core of a household. Marriage is usually monogamous, but isolated instances of polygynous and even polyandrous households are to be found. In first marriages, temporary matrilocal residence is the preferred pattern, but both patrilocal and neolocal types are possible depending on economic or personal factors. Marriage rules are not clearly formulated. Close cousin marriages are usually avoided; most couples are members of the same pueblo. Trial marriages are still common. If after a year or so the partners are satisfied, they are then formally married by native officials, and in that case, marriages are more likely to be stable. Thus, aboriginal patterns (polygyny and trial marriage) are still conserved alongside the Catholic Spanish-imposed marital patterns. In a discussion of family and kinship behavior (not structure) it is necessary to point out the marked variability and flexibility of all institutions as a general cultural

characteristic. Ideal norms, as verbally expressed by informants, are usually "preferred" rather than "compulsory" ones; alternative patterns exist to permit different responses to the variety of special conditions—high spacial mobility, divorce, death, poverty of resources, and physical isolation. In its formal structure Tarahumara kinship terminology shows a perfectly bilateral arrangement with such refinements as differentiating between older and younger siblings and names for third and fourth generations above ego. Formally, one may expect the closest cooperation, aid, and companionship from ego's own generation. This can stretch beyond siblings to cousins and second cousins, reckoned bilaterally. However, in actual behavior, the Tarahumara react to all persons, kin or non-kin, alike in terms of personal feelings of friendliness or antagonism, so cousins or siblings can be either friends or deadly enemies. The generation immediately above or below ego assumes importance likewise to the degree that actual contacts are rewarding between members of these age strata, but usually siblings of both mother and father are the kinsmen to whom the child typically develops closest ties. These are, in fact, persons most often visited and who most often give economic aid, or care for children. Grandparent-grandchild relations conform to these mentioned for parents' siblings. Where contacts are intense, as in temporary matrilocal residence, close ties are formed. As for affinal relations, depending on residence patterns and personal preferences, there can be close or distant social and economic ties. Siblings-in-law of the same sex often have strong bonds of mutual aid and friendliness. A joking relation between siblings-in-law is usually expressed during tesgüinadas and takes the form of teasing, good-natured wrestling, and humorous insults; between siblings-in-law of opposite sex, the sexual teasing is even more pronounced. Grand859

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parents also tease children in public in this manner. There are no avoidance practices. Compadrazgo (ritual kinship) among the Christianized Tarahumara is recognized, but seems to be limited to baptism rites, and hardly seems functional in any other context. Local and Territorial Units Though the isolation of the Tarahumara family unit is one of the outstanding characteristics of the culture, it is of course a relative matter. The ranchería is the local grouping of the greatest significance because it is between the few households of a ranchería that most frequent face-to-face contacts that influence social and economic life of largely independent and self-sufficient households occur. Neighboring houses are occasionally linked by mutual work-aid patterns and combined religio-economic fiestas as well as kinship ties (see sections on Religion and Fiestas below). Ranchería members most often lend food, care for children, or borrow oxen from each other. Such mutual assistance is actually most common between relatives, especially when persons who reside close by are on friendly terms; otherwise, convenience and proximity can outweigh kinship as selective factors. The Tarahumara do not form a politically cohesive group. There are still no effective tribal leaders, councils or special associations that succeed in unifying the scattered independent, isolated component groups, despite the earnest attempt in 1938 to create a cohesive political organization through convening a congress of all the Tarahumara leaders (gobernadores). The pueblo is the basic territorial and highest political unit of the society. Each pueblo's boundaries enclose an area of some 15 miles in radius. Each pueblo has a religio-administrative center composed of a church and, usually, a courthouse-jail (comunidad) which serves as a gathering 860

place. Members of the dispersed rancherías convene here to participate in religious festivals, bring grievances and disputes for adjudication, attend footraces, and, informally, to meet friends, to arrange various affairs, and to gossip. Pueblo affairs are controlled and directed by a body of native officials, some of whom are elected directly by vote of all adult members, others, appointed by the elected officials (see section on Political Organization below). Interpueblo contacts are fostered by (1) trading relationships (noráwa), (2) attendance of tesgüinadas, (3) seasonal mobility patterns, (4) pueblo exogamy and matrilocal residence, (5) interpueblo footraces, and (6) fiesta attendance. Political and Religious

Organization

The modern Tarahumara culture displays a remarkably transparent coexistence of Spanish-Christian socio-cultural patterns with aboriginal Indian ones. At the pueblo level, the Spanish-Christian oganization predominates, and at the ranchería level, the Indian. At the pueblo level, modern native officials have maintained a striking identity in name and function, actual behavior, and ideology to their prototypes, chosen and trained by the Jesuit missionaries of the 17th century to carry on the internal administration of their missions. Although the numbers and names of native officials show local variations, the gross pattern is the same; namely, a gobernador (siríame) and his assistants, called by such terms as mayor, capitán, teniente, fiscal, and soldado (fig. 16). The duties of the gobernador combine religious and secular elements. He organizes the elaborate Christian church fiestas: fixes the dates, designates the persons to contribute food and animals, and the dance leaders. Of equal importance is his function as chief judge and informal adjudicator of in-

TARAHUMARA

FIG. 16—NATIVE OFFICIALS, HOLY WEEK CHURCH FIESTA, CHOGUITA PUEBLO

FIG. 17—NATIVE OFFICIALS ADJUDICATING A DISPUTE, SAMACHIQUE PUEBLO

ner and interfamily disputes. By means of stereotyped oratory, he delivers at all public affairs admonitory sermons that actually are summaries of the ideal norms of the society, specifying in detail what is right and proper and what is wrong and punishable. The adjudication of disputes over land, animals, inheritance, or property division, as well as punishing crimes, is a formal procedure, with the gobernador and his chosen officials serving as judges, each solemnly holding a special staff of office, a symbol of power and authority (fig. 17). The mayor promotes and arranges marriages, specializes in the affairs of children, and settles domestic difficulties of marriage partners. Like the gobernador, he has the power to intervene if he deems it necessary. In general, he operates by warnings, admonitory talks to lazy, ill-tempered, uncooperative or neglectful spouses, or disobedient children. In theory, corporal punishment is an exclusive right of the native officials; public

whipping is the severest form of punishment. The sermons delivered to correct offenders represent a shaming type of punishment. At the ranchería level, the non-Christian religio-magical practitioner and the pueblo officials are actually not in conflict, but maintain compartmentalized as well as cooperative relations. The two systems, in fact, carry out similar and overlapping religious and social control functions. Pueblo officials mediate between man and the supernatural world in its Christianized guise, and the church fiesta is the ceremonial vehicle. The native practitioners are priest-doctors who mediate between man and the supernatural world of souls of the dead, animal "beings," mythical water-serpents, rusíwari and disagiki (invisible malignant beings), and witches and sorcerers. The ranchería fiesta is the ceremonial vehicle of the priest-doctor. Dancing, the drinking of tesgüino, and food offerings are the basic elements of the complex (fig. 18). 861

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FIG. 18—FOOD OFFERINGS ON ALTAR, RANCHERÍA CURING FIESTA, NOROGACHIC PUEBLO

Both systems of religion are used to insure health of man and his animals, good crops, and fine weather (see section on Sickness and Curing). In terms of social control, fear of sorcery and retaliation by witchcraft in conflict situations both causes and prevents overt conflict. Relation of Pueblos to Local and Federal Government The connection between the official machinery of federal, local, and municipal government and the isolated autonomous pueblos is a most tenuous one, except in the most acculturated zones. Plancarte (1954, pp. 35-37) gives an account of political relations and history of attempts to establish closer ties. RELIGION AND WORLD VIEW

Basic Religious Concepts and Ritual Tarahumara religion is both a compartmentalization and a blending of two traditions: Spanish Catholicism and aboriginal 862

FIG. 19—"MONARCO," LEADER OF MATACHÍN DANCERS, SANTA ANITA PUEBLO

Uto-Aztecan. One is based on the native official-church/fiesta-pueblo setting; the other on the shaman-ranchería fiesta-local group setting. The Christian elements, however, are heavily overlaid with aboriginal culture elements of dance, costume, and ritual technique; and despite the fact that the Catholic ceremonial calendar of events is adhered to, the resultant ceremonies are syncretic. The native fiestas, on the other hand, are clearly Indian. The symbolic entities here include the souls of the dead (who are greatly feared and given rich ceremonial recognition), animal entities associated with the dead (the owl with male, the fox with female, and a bird with children's souls; see Section on Folklore below). References to sun and moon deities may also be noted at times. The ritual importance of the rain dance (the dutúburi), the sacrifice of animals, the corn beer offerings, and flute and drum music, together with Dionysian abandon in drinking and sexual behavior are Indian in form, spirit, and function.

TARAHUMARA

Catholic religious elements include: a vocabulary of terms such as Jesus, Mary, God, hell, sin, and the names of some saints; universal use of a rosary and crucifix; the manner of making the sign of the cross; and an abbreviated church service led by a maestro. The church fiesta dances are carried out by a set of dancers called matachines, supported by chapeones, and led by a head dancer, the monarco (all Spanish terms) (fig. 19). The ordinary Tarahumara knows little or nothing of Christian theology, except what he learns through the sermons of the gobernador, who pronounces obviously Jesuit-inspired principles of ideal social conduct, laced with stereotyped references to Jesus, Mary, and the Devil. The concept of an important god-figure, called Onorúame or Tata Dioshi (dios, in Spanish), contains a mixture of Christian and Indian ideas. While he is said to look like a handsome bearded man, he has a particular liking for corn beer, white oxen, and goats, and occasionally visits humans to request sacrifices and fiestas. The association of Onorúame with Jesus is strengthened by the common use of the crucifix by priest-doctors in their curing rituals. Mary is identified, somewhat vaguely, with a female deity (the moon?), a counterpart to Onorúame. The Christian devil is an important figure and is occasionally associated with Chamúku, an aboriginal evil being who lives in a whirlpool or a deep cave and who steals souls, causing illness and strife. The deep intertwining of Catholic and Indian concepts is manifested in the patio arrangements for the curing fiestas. The main altar with its three crosses and offerings to Onorúame has its aboriginal counterpart in a smaller altar, erected opposite it, which is for the souls of the dead. A third, tiny altar for the owl and fox spirits is also included. Major church fiestas are celebrated on the following dates: Guadalupe (December 12), Noche Buena (December 25), Pascua Reyes

FIG. 20—CHANTER OFFICIATING AT FIELD CURING FIESTA, SANTA ANITA PUEBLO

(January 6), Holy Week, Easter, and Candelaria (February 2). Ranchería fiestas are of various kinds: curing ceremonies for the health of animals, men, and crops; for rain; for good weather; first-fruit fiestas (green corn) and harvest ceremonies; and a series of fiestas for the dead (fig. 20). Folklore Aboriginal religious beliefs center about the concept of the soul (especially soul-loss as a cause of illness in man and animals), certain malignant spirit entities (disagiki, rusiwari—tiny, birdlike beings), a water serpent, korimáka (a devil-like being), souls of the dead, and witchcraft and sorcery. The wind is personified as a good being, the whirlwind as an evil one. Whirlpoolbeings are evil, fat, and piglike, and can cause disease (seize souls). The rainbow is sent by evil underground beings; a shooting star is a sorcerer flying to seize souls. Owls, snakes, certain birds, toads, lizards, and other animals are feared in connection with 863

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native concepts of disease. There is a rich body of animal tales and others related to the mythological past. Sickness and Curing Souls of the recent dead, contact with malignant beings and animals, and even ordinary persons (in dreams) can cause illness in both man and beast. Thus, disease and its causes are related to the native religious belief system. Doctors (owirúame) are therefore also priests. Curing ceremonies (see vol. 6, Art. 20, fig. 8) involve the whole elaborate fiesta pattern with its sacrifices, offerings, drinking, singing, and dancing. Some owirúame practice curing by extracting maggots or bits of wood or stone from ailing parts. At times simple herb remedies are prescribed. A few peyote shamans still exist who cure by ritual eating of peyote. Sorcerers (sukurúame) are greatly feared and respected (see vol. 6, Art. 20, fig. 7), for they cause illness by seizing souls in dreams (sepawúmera, 'to eat the soul') and only they can effectively combat other sorcerers. Cosmogony and Cosmology The blendings and blurrings of Catholic and pagan beliefs make it difficult to lift out Tarahumara theological concepts; they are not systematized or well understood. In general, God (Onorúame) made the world and regulates it. At first the sun was too close to the earth, burning and scorching it, but six mythical beings danced the dutúburi and so moved the sun back. Men and animals were made from clay. A heaven and a hell exist. The dead journey slowly after death toward heaven if they have been "good." Heaven is apparently much like this earth. AESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL PATTERNS

Arts and Crafts The aesthetic and artistic aspects of Tarahumara life are not highly developed or or864

ganized. The only notable exception is in the field of the religious ceremonial, where heavy acculturation is prominent. The culture is practical and materialistic in orientation, and the considerable leisure at times available is not often used by Tarahumara to pursue aesthetic values. They prefer to sleep, hunt, fish, or advance practical matters by making hoe or ax handles, hide rope, or split logs. Not least, they are quite capable of doing nothing, all by themselves, for hours at a stretch. Painting and sculpture are almost entirely lacking; they appear only in the occasional crude carving seen on wooden crosses, and in the painting of the body on ceremonial occasions. Pots, containers, spoons, houses, and other items of material culture are of simple, functional character. Aboriginal design elements found in body painting (zigzag and dots) and in pottery, blankets, head ribbons, and sashes (geometric, repetitive motifs) are obviously those of the general ranchería Uto-Aztecan tradition. Music and Dance Music shows the existence of two traditions, Indian and Spanish, but the Indian is still clearly aboriginal while the Spanish has been subtly Indianized. In the ranchería setting, the flute and drum, the deer-hoof rattle, and the wood hand-rattle accompany the chanting, which is made up of short repetitive phrases. In the church fiestas, the violin and guitar accompany the dancers. However, the Tarahumara are not averse to mixing the two modes. In larger ranchería fiestas, before and during the Catholic ceremonial fiestas, the dancers and musicians can practice and perform alongside their aboriginal counterparts (dancing dutúburi). Similarly, during the church fiestas the aboriginal dancers and their musical accompanists perform. The dance (see vol. 6, Art. 9, fig. 10) is the most complicated, elaborate, and organized of Tarahumara activities. In church

TARAHUMARA

FIG. 21—BOYS PRACTICING FOR HOLY WEEK CEREMONIES, CHOGUITA PUEBLO

fiestas various troops of dancers elaborately dressed in fantastic Spanish-Indian folk costume (matachines) are organized and sponsored by chapeones. These dances are simplified versions of old Spanish folk dances. Lines of dancers execute simple parade maneuvers, circling and turning according to the directions of the leader (monarco). Another important group of dancers, pascoleros, wearing deer-hoof rattles and metalrattle belts, lead dance groups of men and boys whose bodies during Easter fiestas are elaborately painted (fig. 21). The most important aboriginal dance is the dutúburi, which is danced in the patio before an altar in ranchería fiestas. The leader is a chanter, who uses a rattle and hums repetitive short phrases. The men attending the fiesta dance in single line to the left of the chanter and move back and forth a few steps from the altar. The women meanwhile line up in a single file on the right-hand side of the chanter and move horizontally across the patio, executing a simple step and holding hands.

FIG. 22—MAN, DRESSED AS A WOMAN, TEASING WOMEN AT A FUNERAL FIESTA, NOROGACHIC PUEBLO

Humor and Games The following remarks are derived principally from the context of the tesgüinada. Here the humor is overwhelmingly sexual in content. Brothers- and sisters-in-law tease each other by making lewd remarks, wrestling, and touching of sexual parts, and making loud requests for sexual intercourse. The wearing of women's costume and comical imitation of female behavior by men, and, obversely, women imitating men drinking and dancing cause much mirth (fig. 22). Humorous jests about another's sexual inadequacy, or inability to run well, excite much witty repartee. Anyone tripping, slurring speech, or flatulating evokes amused comment. Some of the situations joked about have failure as a theme; for example, a gobernador making a serious speech makes an accidental pun, or a man goes out to fish and comes back empty-handed. The Tarahumara take great pride in their prowess as foot-runners, and consequently races (see vol. 6, Art. 10, fig. 2) are the 865

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Cuatro (dihibapa) is a game similar to quoits. It is played by casting small disks of rounded stones or potsherds into shallow holes spaced from 20 to 100 feet apart. Another simple game is throwing sticks (kuhubála). Each player casts a 2-foot oak stick at a goal stick, attempting to come as close as possible to it. Quince is a parchesi-like game played with four marked sticks and two pebbles as counters. The idea is to move the pebbles along a rectangular course to a goal. The sticks are thrown to indicate the number of moves to make. Tábatci is a dicelike game played with a single bone counter with points counted according to the side it falls upon in the cast (see vol. 6, Art. 10, fig. 14). Palillo is a man's game much like lacrosse. It is a stick-and-ball game, played on an unmarked field, with almost no rules or restrictions. The object is to bat the ball into the air where it can be caught by hand. (For other games, see vol. 6, Art. 10, figs. 6-8). FIG. 23—A TARAHUMAR CALL. (From Lumholtz, 1902, 1: 160.)

most exciting, competitive of sports. Large interpueblo races are matters of great importance and require considerable preparation. Races can also be informally arranged among participants of a tesgüinada. Races are run along a marked course, usually up and down a river valley, range from 2 to 12 miles in extent, and last from a few hours to a full day and night. The race (dalahípu) is run between competitive teams of men who must kick a wooden ball along the course the required number of laps. Betting is keen and wagers include almost anything of value—beads, cloth, blankets, or animals. The women's footrace (dowérami) is like the men's except for a wooden hoop and stick instead of a ball. The running down of deer and chase of squirrels can be considered as sports. 866

Patterns of Etiquette As the basic pattern of Tarahumara life is one of simplicity and isolation, easy, relaxed, graceful manners are not a feature of interpersonal relations. Visiting patterns are quite formalized. It is impolite to enter a house directly on making a visit; one either sits down near the house and waits to be recognized (fig. 23), or shouts out a salutation in warning of his presence. The host invariably offers a visitor some food, usually pinole. In social gatherings, one personally salutes each guest separately with an abbreviated handshake, and murmurs kwira (Dios cuida). Corn beer is always politely offered and politely refused before final acceptance. One always offers to share food with others present, and this is never refused. In the acceptance of food or favors from others, thanks (matétera ba) are always given. It is considered impolite to stop, or notice, a person and ask where he is going or

TARAHUMARA

what his mission is. Persons traveling avoid contact with strangers. It is not considered proper to remain long at a visit, or appear to want to spend the night in another's home; this is a basic violation of privacy. Native officials, shamans, and chanters are very respectfully and formally greeted, deferred to, and served separately in gatherings. Narcotics and Stimulants Peyote (hículi), a cactus, the dried top of which is eaten, contains hallucinogenic properties. It was used at one time in a special curing ritual and in sorcery by feared shamans, but this practice has largely disappeared (see Bennett and Zingg, 1935, pp. 291-95). Tobacco is highly prized and enjoyed. It is smoked in cigarette form, wrapped in cornhusks. No Tarahumara fiesta or tesgüinada is complete without tobacco. The smoking is not ritually formalized in gesture or procedure. Ordinary tobacco is grown in a garden; wild varieties are also occasionally used. The drinking of corn beer (tesgüino) to the point of profound inebriation is an outstanding recreational pattern of the Tarahumara, and is the very core of the fiesta and the tesgüinada. The serving of tesgüino to guests is a formal matter, accompanied first by polite refusals, then acceptance. The host must see to it that there is enough corn beer for continuous distribution lasting many hours (fig. 24). The beer is always blessed by chanters and used ritually as part of the sacrifice, which also includes various foods. Like tobacco, it has sacred properties and is used in curing man, animals and crops. Fiesta Patterns The various kinds of religious fiestas, church and ranchería types, and the work tesgiiinada, have been described above; here only the social and recreational aspects are reviewed. These ceremonial and work

FIG. 24—DONOR OF A TESGUÏ NADA BEGINNING FIRST FORMAL DISTRIBUTION OF CORN BEER TO WOMEN, CHOGUITA PUEBLO

occasions, together with the Sunday pueblo reunions, are the essential integrating mechanisms for the otherwise dispersed, independent Tarahumara. Fiestas and tesgiiinadas permit a spontaneity, gaiety, and abandon otherwise quite lacking in the life of these reserved people. The shyness and fear of outsiders, as well as members of the opposite sex, is weakened, then broken by heavy drinking. Jokes, gossip, teasing, and actual physical contact are intensely enjoyed; outside the permissive fiesta setting they are rigidly excluded. Young people meet and form liaisons and thereby gain sexual experience. Prestige is sought by some individuals, who prove their prowess as runners, dancers, or as donors of important ceremonials. LIFE CYCLE MENT

AND PERSONALITY

DEVELOP-

When pregnant, women carry on their usual tasks until the last possible moment. In 867

ETHNOLOGY

many cases as her time nears, the woman will go alone to some secluded part of the mountains, there prepare a bed of grass, and, with the limb of a tree as support, give birth in a crouched position. Sometimes a female relative or even her husband will accompany her. The umbilical cord is cut with a stone knife and the afterbirth buried in a hole. The child is then washed and wrapped in cotton cloth. Infanticide is practiced for a variety of reasons, psychological as well as economic. When a male child is three days old, or a female four days, a shaman performs a special ceremony to safeguard the health of the child and parents. The ceremony is repeated three times for boys and four times for girls, at intervals of two or three weeks. Then the child is baptized and named. The institution of godparent seems more a formal than functional one. The child is breast fed freely at intervals determined by the child's hunger, for periods up to three years. A mother is not embarrassed to breast feed her infant before others. Usually after six months the child is also fed corn gruel; after a year, cooked meat is included in the diet. The infant is constantly kept in close bodily contact with the mother. It sleeps in her arms at night. After two months the child is carried on the mother's back in a square of cotton cloth or blanket. At two years the child is permitted a great deal of freedom to rove about the house with little bodily restriction. The father often plays or cares for the child if the mother is occupied. Bowel and bladder training is informal and not a focus of tension, unless a child reaches the fourth year and is still incontinent. Until the age of six, the treatment of boys and girls is very similar, except that girls are always fully clothed and boys may run about nude in warm weather. Sleeping habits are extremely irregular even for the very young; children are permitted to stay awake until they fall asleep of their own accord. However, after the age of five or 868

six many children may experience partial or even total parental neglect when tesgiiinada attendance, work in distant fields, and herding activities disperse older family members. Young children very soon learn to prepare food, cook, or forage for food. A strong training in independence begins here. Children as soon as possible are made responsible for care of property, animals, and land. A condition of potential independence from direct parental supervision is reached at an early age—from seven to ten years—by many children, both in the psychological sense of feeling independent and in the physical ability to be so. The games of children after the age of five or six reflect the adult division of labor. Girls' play consists of keeping house, preparing food, and caring for their corncob dolls. Boys play at yoking oxen, plowing, making tiny houses and corrales, hunting, fishing, hiking, and throwing stones and sticks. Gangs of boys are occasionally formed, but by no means all boys have such an experience; isolation and heavy responsibilities interfere. As soon as a child is old enough to assist the parents in any practical task, it does so. Between the ages of 12 and 15 is the average period of transition from childhood to young adulthood; for girls it is somewhat earlier. Punishment, ideally, is never corporal. Stereotyped admonitions are supposed to correct behavior. Only native officials are permitted to whip those guilty of serious delinquencies such as loss of property, theft, fighting or continual disobedience (fig. 25). Girls are taught to be modest in dress and never expose their body after the age of six or seven. Even after marriage, the woman never undresses before her husband and she engages in sexual intercourse clothed. Girls become markedly shy and even fearful of men and boys at this time. This basic shyness continues as a feature of the female aspect when in the company of a male.

TARAHUMARA

She never looks directly at a man, but gazes to one side. Strong overt and covert attitudes of both parents teach the girl to avoid potential sexual experiences. Their severe reserve breaks down finally during the tesgüinadas under the influence of corn beer. Sexual matters are not discussed outside the tesgüinada setting, and are usually avoided. Girls may not even be warned of the onset of menstruation, which then causes them much anxiety and confusion. Menstrual taboos seem absent. Active sexual participation begins for boys with full tesgüinada participation, which itself signifies attainment of adult status, for to attend is to work and thus fully to participate in an adult role. One is now clearly marriageable. Masturbation is commonly practiced by boys and is not considered harmful, though it is the subject of an occasional humorous sally. Adult activities are already covered above. In old age the independent, proud Tarahumara attempt to care for themselves as long as possible, maintaining a separate household apart from their married children. Even the handicapped and the ill may insist on living alone; their sons or daughters come to visit them with gifts of food or clothing. Burial of the dead was formerly in caves, but the more Christianized are buried in cemeteries. The newly dead are greatly feared, for they are believed to hover nearby, and until they are helped along on their long journey to heaven by a cycle of funeral fiestas (three for men and four for women), the habitation and its contents, the immediate family and animals, and all those in contact with the corpse,· must be purified and protected by ritual curing. Tarahumara temperament, male and female, is characterized by a strong egocentered, independent, and individualized orientation. They are sensitive to any form of rebuke. Their primary defense in conflict situations is withdrawal in some form, social or emotional. They are particularly

FIG. 25—GOBERNADOR DELIVERING CORRECTIVE ADVICE TO CHILDREN, BASIWARE PUEBLO

sensitive to being taken advantage of, and demand redress for any wrong felt. Individual-centered values often override family- or group-centered obligations. ANNUAL CYCLE

The following schedule holds for rancherías located near canyons. January: Early in the month wheat is sown. Men are engaged in making fences and corrals; women card wool and make blankets. At this time the majority of the families, those with goats and sheep, are living in their canyon caves or houses. Men ascend to the sierras to hunt deer, squirrels, and rabbits. February: By late February preparations are made in the fields in the sierras for the sowing of corn. Families now make numerous trips during the week from canyon to sierra sites. Wood is cut all through the winter in preparation for use in the construction of houses, storage, bins and fences. 869

ETHNOLOGY

March: In the beginning of March many families are still living in the barrancas, but most work is done in the sierras. The ground is fertilized and plowed with oxen. It is a time for work tesgüinadas, combining religious elements with practical help. The fencing-off of fields is done by cooperative labor. Corn-storage bins and houses are constructed. In late March the families have all moved to their sierra rancherías. April: Early in April men and boys follow plowmen, planting corn seeds in the furrows, using digging sticks. Various tesgüinadas and curing fiestas are held. All animals have now been taken to the sierras. Men still hunt and fish; women make blankets, baskets, and pots. Μay-June: Early in May the planting of corn is completed. There is little or no hunting, but some fishing. The fruit trees in the canyons begin to produce, and orchard owners descend to gather fruit. Wild vegetable products are now available in abundance. July-August: The planting of a bean crop

REFERENCES Alegre, 1841 Basauri, 1929 Bennett and Zingg, 1935 Champion, 1955 Fried, 1952, 1953, 1961 Lumholtz, 1902 Passin, 1942, 1943 Pennington, 1963 Plancarte, 1954 Treutlein, 1949 Zingg, 1942

870

in upland fields occurs in July. Tesgüinadas accompany the plowing and, later, weeding in bean fields, as well as the hoeing and weeding of corn. September: This is the best month for hunting deer, which are now fat. Two to four men often cooperate in running down deer. House repairing is common. The first green corn is gathered, and first-fruit ceremonies held. Fodder for animals is collected from the fields. October: The mature corn and beans are now intensively harvested. Tesgüinadas are very frequent. Hunting and fishing are still favored activities of men. Wild vegetables are still abundant. Sheep are now shorn. November-December: In November preparations for the major church ceremonials of December and January begin; ceremonial officials are nominated, and dancers and musicians practice. Animals are moved to their winter canyon quarters again. Much wood cutting is done. A limited number of families plant wheat in mid-December.

42. Contemporary Ethnography of Baja California, Mexico

ROGER C. OWEN

O

VER

THE

ENTIRE

PENINSULA

of

Baja California, Mexico, no single well-integrated aboriginal culture now exists. South of the 30th parallel there are no Indians whatsoever excepting small groups of Yaqui introduced from Sonora (Hohenthal, 1951, p. 3; Cook, 1937; Aschmann, 1959). Between the 30th parallel and the international border, however, there are survivors of four, possibly five, aboriginal groups each characterized by a different dialect and different self-name: Cocopa, Tipai, Paipai, Kiliwa and, possibly, Ko?al.1 All these are members of the Yuman branch of the Hokan family; all the dialects are mutually unintelligible or nearly

1 Tipai have been called Mexican Diegueno, Eastern Diegueno, and Southern Diegueno; "Tipai" is what they usually call themselves. The Paipai were originally labeled "Akwa 'ala" (Gifford and Lowie, 1928); Paipai represents their 'self-name.' Linguistic analysis suggests that Ko?at is a southern variant of Tipai (J. Joel, personal communication); social analysis suggests that a group by this name has distinct aboriginal ethnic identity.

so; and Kiliwa appears to be the most divergent. The Cocopa, until recently resident on the Colorado River delta, have been moving to San Luis, Sonora. As there are only one or two families left around El Mayor, Baja California, this article will not be further concerned with them (cf. Gifford, 1933; W. H. Kelly, 1942, 1944, 1949). The other four groups inhabit the central highlands of the northern part of the peninsula (Hinton and Owen, 1957). The Kiliwa, southernmost of the groups (about 50 in number), are scattered in and around the Arroyo Leon area on the northern slope of the Sierra San Pedro Martir (Meigs, 1939) (fig. 2,a). They are presently selling their lands to Mexican ranchers; many of the Indians are now working on Mexican ranches and some are taking up residence with the Paipai. The principal Paipai settlement is around the former Dominican Mission, Santa Catalina Virgen y Martir (Meigs, 1935), where approximately 150 individuals 871

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 1—NATIVE GROUPS IN NORTHERN BAJA CALIFORNIA. (As reported by Meigs, 1939.)

now live (fig. 2,b). Another settlement of Paipai, with many resident Kiliwa, is in the western end of the Trinidad Valle at a ranchería named San Isidoro (approximately 50 people). Resident also at Santa Catarina, as the former mission is now called, are about 30 Ko?at, thoroughly intermarried with the Paipai. The Tipai, the northernmost of the groups, are scattered in the 872

mountains between Santa Catarina and the international border; a major settlement is at La Huerta de los Indios (approximately 75 individuals). There are not over 500 Indians in Baja California. All these populations are in mountainous areas: the Kiliwa in the Sierra San Pedro Martir; the other three in the Sierra Juarez. Settlements are found in interior valleys

FIG. 2—SETTLEMENTS IN BAJA CALIFORNIA. a, Kiliwa household at Rancho Los Quatros on the north flank of the Sierra San Pedro Martir. b, Houses and fields, Santa Catarina.

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 3—A KILIWA FAMILY. The man on the right is well over 6 feet tall.

from 2500 to 4500 feet. These valleys are the result of erosion on the basic granite of the sierras (Shor and Roberts, 1956; Allen, Silver, and Stehli, 1960). The entire region is desert with either Upper or Lower Sonoran vegetation, depending on elevation; the crests of the mountains are covered by pine forests. Rainfall is scant and unreliable; strong winds are frequent. Owing to low rainfall and very early frosts the area is poorly suited to agriculture; absence of grasses and desirable fodder makes it marginal for cattle. The Indians were first intensively contacted by Europeans with the establishment of a chain of Dominican missions in the last years of the 18th century (Meigs, 1935; Engelhardt, 1929; Martínez, 1956). The missionaries were driven out in the 874

middle of the 19th century, and the Indians apparently retired to mountain canyons. They were regarded as dangerous to travelers in the early part of the 19th century (Thwaites, 1905, p. 207) and were still considered camp thieves in 1906 (North, 1908, 1910), but little is really known of them during this period. They played a minor role in an American invasion attempt in 1910 (Aldrete, 1958, pp. 52, 74; Martínez, 1958, p. 11; Owen, 1963a). Meigs (1939) has written a reliable but brief report on the Kiliwa; Philip Drucker (1941) has compiled a culture-element distribution for the Paipai (Akwa 'ala) and the Tipai; and Hohenthal (1951, 1960) has done work on the Kiliwa, Paipai, and the Tipai. An earlier paper is confused (Gifford and Lowie, 1928). An excellent attempt to

BAJA CALIFORNIA

FIG. 4—SHELLING CORN, SANTA CATARINA, BAJA CALIFORNIA. The granitic boulder serves as one house wall.

reconstruct aboriginal linguistic distributions has been made (Massey, 1949); and a few popular descriptions have been written (cf. Henderson, 1952a, 1952b). Anyone contemplating work in Baja California should be aware of an extensive bibliography published by Barrett (1957) and an excellent travel guide by Gerhard and Gulick (1958). During 1958-59, the University of California at Los Angeles carried out an intensive research program in ethnology, archaeology, linguistics, and physical anthropology at Santa Catarina, Baja California, under the direction of J. B. Birdsell. All the Indians participate in either small-scale farming, ranching, wage labor, or some combination of these. Some Indians

work as cowboys at Mexican ranches; some work as goat or sheep herders; many families go to Mexicali in the winter to pick cotton. With few exceptions, all are extremely poor. Small additions to both income and diet are made by hunting (deer and rabbits) and by collecting wild foods (acorns, pine nuts, cactus fruits, berries, seeds). Deer and pine nuts are usually sold. Basic dietary staples include large, thin wheat tortillas and frijoles, sometimes supplemented by greens, wild foods, and (rarely) by meat, usually rabbit. The diet, on the whole, is monotonous and nutritionally deficient (Owen, 1962). Most of the Indians live on "reserves," land not legally theirs by federal act (Ho875

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 5—PAIPAI POTTER AT WORK, SANTA CATARINA, BAJA CALIFORNIA

henthal, 1951, p. 31) but sometimes protected for them by local Mexican civil officials. Santa Catarina is the largest of these (approximately 200 sq. km.); most of the others have only a few acres. When not occupied by Indians, these reserves are often taken over by Mexicans. On the larger reserves household units are widely scattered; the smaller sites often consist of only one. Households are composed of usually two or more wattle-and-daub jacales, each of only one room; the house walls are of willow branches, the roofs thatched with yucca. Many Indians are now building houses of adobe bricks. Most of the Paipai know most or all of the Kiliwa personally; they also know most, if not all, of the Tipai. Kiliwa and Tipai, on the other hand, are often strangers. Santa Catarina is frequently a common 876

meeting ground for members of all the groups. Most technological skills stem from the European farming and cattle complex; there is a strong American "cowboy culture" influence on the Indians. Native pottery (paddle and anvil; fig. 5) and agavefiber netting are still made and used. Most of the knowledge concerning use of wild foods still exists; some older men know how to make war clubs, rabbit sticks, bows and arrows, and other such items (Michelsen, 1967). They are now made only for tourists.2 Individual ownership of land prevails though the land is not supposed to be either 2 Approximately 200 items were collected and deposited in the Museum of Man, San Diego, California; a smaller collection is at the Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles.

BAJA CALIFORNIA

sold or bequeathed to non-Indians. Land lying fallow may be used by any Indian. All the Indians participate to some degree in the cash economy in that most staple items (wheat, flour, shortening, beans, coffee, sugar) must be purchased either from small Indian-owned stores on the reserves or from traveling salesmen (fiuqueros). Cash comes into the economy through sale of cattle, wage work, sale of harvested crops, and miscellaneous sources. There are remnants of approximately 10 named, patrilocal bands in the area. Residence is ideally patrilocal though more frequently bilocal; marriage takes the form of serial monogamy usually without ceremony. Inheritance is bilateral for property and possessions, patrilineal for names. Exogamy is extended, ideally, to all known bilateral relatives. Each dialect group has a slightly different system of kinship terms but all are basically Yuman in type. Compadrazgo exists, stemming from baptism, but no lasting bonds are established by it. Each reserve has a headman (fig. 6), called "general" on the larger ones, who is usually elected; he ordinarily has little or no power except when representing his own kin group. The primary function of these individuals is to serve as a point of articulation with the outside world—primarily with Mexican officials and tourists. Indians have voted in federal and local elections and regard themselves as Mexican citizens, despite the fact that they contrast themselves with "Mexicans." Religion is non-Catholic and centers around witchcraft, ghosts, and curing. Formerly there were curing shamans who sometimes obtained their power through the use of Jimson weed; now the Indians rely on Mexican spiritualists for determination and curing of supernaturally caused illness. Illness is also treated through a large herbal (Owen, 1963b). Commemorative fiestas for the dead are sometimes held among the Tipai; the deceased are no long-

FIG. 6—JUAN ARVALLO, FORMER "GENERAL" OF SANTA CATARINA, ADDRESSING THE ASSEMBLED MEMBERS OF THE RESERVE

er cremated but buried, although their personal possessions and the houses in which they lived are usually destroyed. Important days in the Catholic calendar are sometimes occasions for social dances, and graves are decorated on All Souls' Day. No other religious ceremonies exist. Protestant missionaries are now active in the area, with some success. Gambling (playing cards) is the most common amusement; dances and horseraces are held on occasion. Dances take the form of either aboriginal line-dances accom877

ETHNOLOGY

FIG. 7—SINGERS AND DANCERS, SANTA CATARINA. The Tipai man with the large gourd rattle is the last native singer in Baja California; he learned to sing among the Mohave of the Colorado River, at the turn of the 19th century. He is accompanied by two Paipai. (Photographed by Michelsen.)

panied by a singer with a gourd rattle or are ranchero-style with a guitar. The last native singer (fig. 7) is now 80 years of age (Michelsen and Owen, 1967). Everyone who can buy them smokes cigarettes, but drinking (tequila) is disesteemed and fairly rare; no narcotics are used and no alcoholic beverages are made. Adults are inhibited and suspicious, and intensive interaction among them is usually confined to the immediate family. Fighting often results when men are drinking but only rarely results in serious injury. Youths, all of whom learn their native languages before Spanish, become independent in their early teens; girls are often married at 15. Hostilities between adults of different kin groups are frequent and often of long standing; such hostilities sometimes take the form of accusations of witchcraft. Competitive relationships between families are common; group cohesion, beyond the immediate kin group, is slight. Though schools are to be found on the larger reserves, they often have no teachers; less than 10 per cent of the Indians are literate to any degree, though most of the adults are fluent in Spanish. These Indians still exist as population clusters because they have faced no pressure for their land from Mexicans. Such pressure is now growing.

REFERENCES Aldrete, 1958 Allen, Silver, and Stehli, 1960 Aschmann, 1959 Barrett, 1957 Cook, S. F., 1937 Drucker, P., 1941 Engelhardt, 1929 Gerhard and Gulick, 1958 Gifford, E. W., 1933 and Lowie, 1928 Henderson, 1952a, 1952b Hinton and Owen, 1957

878

Hohenthal, 1951, 1960 Kelly, W. H., 1942, 1944, 1949 Martínez, 1956, 1958 Massey, 1949 Meigs, 1935, 1939 Michelsen, 1967 and Owen, 1967 North, 1908, 1910 Owen, 1960a, 1960b, 1962, 1963a, 1963b, 1965 Pattie, 1905 Shor and Roberts, 1956 Thwaites, 1905

43. Remnant Tribes of Sonora: Opata, Pima, Papago, and Seri THOMAS B.

S

of these northwest Mexican groups are distributed as shown in figure 1. Pima Bajo speech survives in the Sierra Madre and among a few families at Onabas on the lower Yaqui River. A few identifiable Pima descendants live around Ures in the Sonora valley. Opata and the related Joba languages have become extinct within the last 30 years. However, the inhabitants of the villages of Tepupa. Terapa, and Ponida, and individual families in some of the former Opata towns, are still considered Indians although culturally there is little to distinguish them from non-Indians (Hinton, 1959; Johnson, 1950; Owen, 1959). The Sonora Papago are extensions of five of the dialect groups of the Arizona Papago and are nearly identical in culture to their relatives north of the border. 1 The Seri survive as a single community URVIVORS

1 I am indebted to David Brugge, William King, and Edward Moser for information drawn from their knowledge of the Pima Bajo, Papago, and Seri, respectively.

HINTON

composed of the amalgamated remnants of several former Serian groups. The semipermanent fish camp of Desemboque, Sonora, is their principal settlement with several smaller camps occupied seasonally. Pima and Papago belong to the Piman, and Opata and Joba to the Tara-cahitan branches of Uto-Aztecan; and the Seri language has been classified with Hokan-Coahuiltecan (Mason, 1940). Habitat ranges from the oak- and pinecovered mesas of the mountain Pima, through the well-watered river valleys of the Opata and the desert basins of the Papago, to the almost rainless coastal desert of the Seri. The Opata and Pima Bajo were concentrated into missions in the 17th century, and the Upper Pima groups, who later became the southern Papago, in the next century. Except for a brief revolt of the Pima and Papago in 1752, these tribes, and especially the Opata, readily accepted Spanish patterns. All underwent considerable pressure 879

FIG. 1—MAP OF SONORA, SHOWING LOCATION OF PIMA BAJO, ΟΡΑΤΑ, PAPAGO, AND SERI INDIANS IN 1960

ΟΡΑΤΑ, ΡΙΜΑ, PAPAGO, SERI

from the Apache—a factor which may have been important in their acculturation. Since mission days a continuing gradual assimilation into the general population of Sonora has been taking place. The Seri were brought under mission influence for a brief period in the 18th century. The attempt was unsuccessful and they returned to their old nomadic life on the Gulf coast, leading an independent existence well into the 20th century. No population figures can be given for the linguistically extinct and much Mestizoized Opata and Joba. An estimate of 4000 would include all those in the area who retain some degree of Indian identification (Hinton, 1959). There are an estimated 1400-1500 Pima Bajo: 1000 in the Maicoba-Yepachic area, 200-300 in the area of Dolores, Chihuahua, 120 in the Onabas group (ibid.). There are about 300 Papago living in Sonora, and as many more who are natives of Mexico now residing in Arizona. The Seri number slightly over 300. The Opata were visited by Bandelier (1890) and Hrdlicka (1904a), who published notes on the group. J. B. Johnson (1950) followed a visit to the area with a valuable paper reconstrucing Opata culture from ethnohistory. Owen in 1955. studied Opata descendants in a Sonora village (Owen, 1959); in the same year I surveyed assimilation among Opata, Joba, and Pima Bajo (Hinton, 1959). Lumholtz passed through the Pima Bajo area in the 1890's and commented on the Indians (1902). Brugge visited these people in the 1950's and has published some observations on the Pima (Mason and Brugge, 1958). No major field work has been attempted. Lumholtz made an extended trip to the Sonora Papago area in 1907 and recorded (1912) distribution and still existing customs. The Papago, in which the Sonora group is included, have been adequately described by Underhill (1939, 1946), Joseph, Spicer, and Chesky (1949), Nolasco (1965), and others.

McGee visited the Seri in 1894-95 for a short time, but his report (1898) does not give a complete or an accurate picture of the Seri. Kroeber spent six days with the group in 1930 and made some comparisons with surrounding peoples (1931). Griffen worked at Desemboque for several weeks in 1955 and has written an excellent summary of modern Seri culture (1959). Linguistic studies have been carried on by the Mosers of the Summer Institute of Linguistics. A comprehensive Seri ethnography is still needed. SUBSISTENCE SYSTEMS AND FOOD PATTERNS

Opata, Pima, and Papago are subsistence farmers, some of whom own a few cattle. Wage labor is now a major source of income in all these groups, and a steady shift in this direction continues. Food patterns for these agricultural Indians are of conventional north Mexican types. The Seri since about 1930 have been engaged in independent commercial fishing; the product is sold for cash to buyers who truck it to the urban market. Now subsidiary, but still important, is the taking of game, sea turtle, and shellfish, and the gathering of wild plant products. Seri diet consists of fish and wild foods heavily supplemented by coffee, sugar, white flour, and other commercial items. SETTLEMENT PATTERNS

Settlement patterns of the Opata and Onabas Pima are not distinct from those of other rural Sonorans. The Pima of the Sierra Madre live in scattered ranches and come to Maicoba, Yepachic, or Yecora to trade or to attend to religious needs. Mexican Papago may live in small rancherías or even in the towns in the area. In the Pozo Verde area near the border some seasonal movement to flood-farm fields still occurs. Houses in these three groups are variations of the conventional Mexican ranch types of adobe or wattle-and-daub dwellings. Some mountain Pima utilize caves. 881

FIG. 2—SERI WOMAN OF PUNTA CHUECA, SONORA, WITH BASKET AND SHELL NECKLACES. (Photographed by Donald Cordry, 1963.)

ΟΡΑΤΑ, Ρ Ι Μ Α , PAPAGO, SERI

At Desemboque Seri live in single-family dwellings immediately adjacent to the beach. Here the house type is a wattle-anddaub jacal (hut) similar to that of poorer Mestizos. At intervals during the year groups composed of several families move to temporary fishing or gathering camps along the coast. Here dwellings are the traditional brush windbreaks. TECHNOLOGY

Opata, Pima, and Papago technology closely follows that of non-Indians. Among the Seri, fishermen employ a plank dory propelled by a sail or an outboard motor; chief fishing gear is hook and line with explosives used to secure bait. Sea turtles are taken at night with a harpoon and lantern. Pottery is made by Papago women by the paddle-and-anvil method; Opata and Pima use coil and scrape techniques (Owen, 1957). Pottery is now seldom made by the Seri. Twilled baskets and hats are woven by Opata (fig. 4) and Pima women (Brugge, 1956). The weaving takes place in a semisubterranean hut known as a huki, which is supposed to keep the palm-weaving material moist. Seri basketry (see vol. 6, Art. 6, figs. 9, 13) is the coil type (fig. 5). The Seri manufacture other items, such as pelican-skin blankets and shell necklaces, which, like much of their basketry, are disposed of to travelers. The dress of Opata, Pima, and Papago is wholly that of the rural Mexican. Long hair is worn by men only among the Seri, where it hangs loose or is braided. Seri men with long hair wear a kilt of colored cloth over their otherwise conventional trousers. Seri women wear a distinctive, long-sleeved, full-length dress. Face painting (figs. 5, 6) is still employed, largely by females. ECONOMY

Seasonal labor in the new agricultural areas of western Sonora is well established among Pima and Opata. Pima also work in lumber

FIG. 3—SERI BLIND WOMAN, PUNTA CHUECA, SONORA. (Photographed by Donald Cordry, 1963.)

883

FIG. 4—ΟΡΑΤΑ WOMEN SEATED IN FRONT OF A SEMI-SUBTERRANEAN HUT (HUKI) USED WHILE WEAVING PALM LEAF, TEPUPA, SONORA

FIG. 5—SERI BASKET MAKER, DESEMBOQUE, SONORA. Note face paint. (Photographed by Roger C. Owen.)

FIG. 6—SERI INDIAN GIRLS WITH PAINTED FACES, PUNTA CHUECA, SONORA. (Photographed by Donald Cordry, 1963.)

FIG. 7—SERI INDIANS AT PUNTA CHUECA, SONORA. (Photographed by Donald Cordry, 1963.)

mills in the sierra. Basic economic orientation of the Mexican Papago is toward wage work in Arizona. Agriculture in all these groups is becoming increasingly more marginal. Among the Pima groups and the Papago, ejidos have been organized to protect remaining landholdings. Possession of such land rights tends to inhibit the complete dispersal of the Indian communities. Consumption patterns are the same as those of non-Indians except among the Seri, where a system of kinship rights and obli886

gations enters into the distribution of wealth (Griffen, 1959; E. Moser, personal communication ). SOCIAL ORGANIZATION

Opata family and kinship usages are completely Hispanicized. Those of the Pima Bajo are not well known but are apparently highly acculturated (Mason and Brugge, 1958). Papago family structure is patrilineal with both sibs and moieties present, and kinship terminology is Yuman (Underhill, 1939). It is believed that this system is

ΟΡΑΤΑ, Ρ Ι Μ Α , PAPAGO, SERI

somewhat more poorly preserved in Sonora than in Arizona. For a detailed account the reader is referred to Underhill (1939). Seri retain native usages, and kinship appears to be the chief factor integrating the modern community. Terminology is Yuman and marriage is monogamous, with initial residence being patrilocal although this may shift later (Griffen, 1959; Moser, personal communication). Marriage is arranged by parents and is accompanied by an extended period in which a bride price of goods amounting to several hundred pesos in value is turned over to the family of the bride. Joking and avoidance relationships and gift-giving obligations are present among certain relatives. No unilateral kin groups occur (Griffen, 1959). Separate political organization survives nowhere except for remnants of village organization at the Papago rancherías of Pozo Verde, San Francisquito, and Quitovac (W. King, personal communication). All the Indian groups are served by state or federal rural schools. RELIGION

All groups but the Seri are nominal Catholics. Strictly native forms are no longer remembered among the Opata and Joba, but remnants of native practice are evident in Holy Week observations, which are roughly parallel, but much more secular and less formal, to those of the Yaqui (J. B. Johnson, 1950; Owen, 1958). Pima and Papago preserve some non-Christian forms; shamanism, sorcery, mythology, and at least one ceremony survive. The latter is the viikita or Papago harvest fiesta which is held at Quitovac, Sonora, in the late summer. Both Sonora and Arizona Papago of the Huhuwas dialect group participate (Underhill, 1946; King, personal communication). Seri religion remains non-Christian and is not well known. Shamanism, however, is prominent, and myth cycles occur. The only

ceremony which still takes place is a fourday observance performed for girls at the onset of puberty (Griffen, 1959; Hinton, 1955). AESTHETIC AND RECREATIONAL PATTERNS

Fiesta and recreation follow general north Mexican patterns except among the Seri. Fiestas consist of visits to the church, processions, drinking, and social dancing. The Easter Passion play takes place in the Opata area; in some places the matachín dance occurs. Among the Seri, a pascola dances on a board at the girl's puberty rites to the accompaniment of a singer who uses a tin can as a rattle. Native games are still played by the Seri and possibly by the Papago. Distilled mescal is favored as an intoxicant by all groups. Tesgüino (corn beer) is made by mountain Pima. LIFE CYCLE

Opata and Joba life cycles and socialization are conventional Mexican; that of the Pima is not known. Papago forms are discussed in detail by Joseph, Spicer, and Chesky (1949). The Seri retain native patterns in which rites of passage are still important. In at least two of these, those of puberty and death, a system of ceremonial sponsorship known as amok comes into play (Griffen, 1959). ANNUAL CYCLE

The annual cycle of the Catholic farming groups follows the agricultural round and Catholic fiesta calendar. The day of San Francisco (October 4) is the most important religious holiday among the Papago and Pima Bajo, and most attend fiestas held at Magdalena and Maicoba on this date. For the Opata, Holy Week is the principal observance of the year. The Seri do not celebrate Catholic holidays.

887

ETHNOLOGY

REFERENCES Bandelier, 1890 Brugge, 1956 Griffen, 1959 Hinton, 1955, 1959 Hrdlicka, 1904a Johnson, J. B., 1950 Joseph, Spicer, and Chesky, 1949 Kroeber, 1931 Lumholtz, 1902, 1912 McGee, 1898 Mason, 1940 and Brugge, 1958 Nolasco, 1965 Owen, 1957, 1958, 1959 Underhill, 1939, 1946

888

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1955

Informe médico sanitario del municipio de Xochitlan Romero Rubio, Puebla, y el problema del bocio coloide. Mexico.

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1942

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CHIMALPAHIN QUAUTLEHUANITZIN, F. DE

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1953a Los otomíes del estado de Puebla. In Huastecos, Totonacos, pp. 259-68. 1953b La pesca entre los otomíes de San Pablito, Puebla. Yan, no. 2.

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Relación breve y verdadera de algunas cosas de las muchas que sucedieron al Padre Fray Alonso Ponce en las provincias de la Nueva España. . . . 2 vols. Madrid. Diccionario de Motul maya-español atribuído a Fray Antonio de Ciudad Real y arte de la lengua maya por Fray Juan Coronel. J. Martínez Hernández, ed.

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1925

Códice del archivo de los duques de Monteleone. Declaración del indio Delmas en el juicio seguido por Hernan Cortés contra Nuño de Guzmán y otros sobre títulos de Huexotzingo. An. Mus. Nac. Mex., ep. 2 - 3 , pp. 58-64.

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Social relations and directed culture change among the Zinacantan. Practical Anthr., 7: 241-50. Indian attitudes toward education and inter-ethnic contact in Mexico. Ibid., 8: 77-85. Elements of à Mesoamerican personality pattern. Ρroc. 35th Int. Cong. Amer., pp. 125-29. Ethnic relations in the Chiapas highlands. Santa Fe.

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AND P . L . VAN DEN BERGHE

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Ethnic relations in southeastern Mexico. Amer. Anthr., 63: 772-92.

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1968

Courtship and marriage in Zinacantan, Chiapas, Mexico. Tulane Univ., Middle Amer. Research Inst., Pub. 25.

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1944 1950 1953

Contribución al estudio antropométrico de los indios triques de Oaxaca. An. Inst. Etnol. Amer., 5: 159-241. Bosquejo histórico de la antropología en México. Rev. Mex. Estud. Antr., 11: 99. El problema social de los indios triques de Oaxaca. In Ensayos sobre indigenismo, pp. 1-9. Inst. Indig. Inter-Amer.

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CORTÉS, H.

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CONTRERAS ARIAS, A.

1959

Bosquejo climatológico. In Los recursos naturales del sureste y su aprovechamiento, ch. 3. 3 vols. Inst. Mex. Recursos Naturales Renovables. Mexico.

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Cartas de relación dirigidas al emperador Carlos V. Five letters. Bib. Hist. Iberia, I. Mexico.

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1958

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The Indian population of central Mexico, 1531-1610. Ibero-Amer., no. 44. The aboriginal population of central Mexico on the eve of the Spanish conquest. Ibid., no. 45.

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The population of central Mexico in the sixteenth century. Ibid., no. 31.

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1954

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Yalalag. Indoamérica, vol. 1, no. 6. Las ceremonias de la lluvia entre los zapotecos de hoy. Proc. 27th Int. Cong. Amer., 2: 479-84. Los zapotecos de Choapan, Oaxaca. An. Inst. Nac. Antr. Hist., 2: 1 4 3 205. Notas sobre lugares de Oaxaca, con especial referencia a la toponimia zapoteca. Ibid., 2: 279-92. Documentos para la etnografía e historia zapoteca. Ibid., 3: 175-97. Yalalag: una villa zapoteca serrana. Mexico. Algunos problemas etnológicas de Oaxaca. An. Inst. Nac. Antr. Hist., 4: 241-52. La cultura zapoteca. Rev. Mex. Estud. Antr., 16: 233-46.

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Problemas de los indios nahuas, mixtecos y tlapanecos de la parte oriental de la Sierra Madre del Sur del estado de Guerrero. MS. Inst. Nac. Indig. Mexico.

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INDEX

abortion: methods of, 186, 365; prevention of, 352 abstinence. SEE Sexual behavior Acaxee: language of, 779; subsistence of, 786 accordion: 131, 183 acculturation: aided by Hospital de Santa Fe, 727, 728; processes of, 582-583; of religion, 62, 584, 598-600—in central Mexican highlands, 5 7 9 580, 581-600, 727-730; in Chiapas highlands, 147-150, 197; in Guatemala, 4 1 , 43, 45; of Pokomames, 118-120; of Popoloca, 489, 493; of Tarahumara, 846, 850, 851, 864; of Yucatec Maya, 244, 247. SEE ALSO Cofradía; Culture change; Mestizoization acorns: consumption of, 875; for toy tops, 290, 296 adaptation. SEE Ecological adaptation adobe: for house construction, 54, 6 1 , 79, 109, 162, 227, 342, 362, 384, 425, 465, 546, 567, 590, 615 (fig. 10), 616, 617, 618, 696 (fig. 11), 697, 698, 738, 756 (fig. 3 1 ) , 757, 797, 817, 836, 837, 855, 876, 881 adobe bricks: 110, 614, 753 adoption: by godparents, 58. SEE ALSO Godparents, duties of adornment, personal: beads, 53, 163, 287, 856; bean necklaces, 125; body painting, 864, 865; Catholic medals, 800; coins, 53, 125, 163, 343; crosses, wooden, 125; crucifix pendant, 163; earrings, 111, 164, 208, 231, 235, 261, 287, 384, 396, 407, 425, 432, 518, 538, 620, 660 (fig. 17), 710, 800; face painting, 790, 801, 883-885 (figs. 5, 6 ) ; gold jewelry, 261, 343, 660 (fig. 17); of hair, 53, 54, 82, 111 (fig. 8 ) , 164, 208, 231, 235, 238, 287, 303, 343, 484, 538, 620, 661, 710; mirrors as, 240, 575, 800; necklaces, 111, 125, 208, 231, 235, 261, 303, 343, 344 (fig. 6 ) , 396, 407, 432, 441, 484, 518, 660 (fig. 17), 710, 800, 882 (fig. 2 ) , 883; rings, 53, 163, 407, 800; squirrel tails, 801; of teeth, 709; wristbands, 800. SEE ALSO Hair styles adultery. SEE Sexual behavior adze: 285, 707 (fig. 3 5 ) , 708, 746, 750, 751 agave: 286,

735, 753, 797,

800,

876.

SEE ALSO

Maguey age-grades: as basis for community service, 36, 487, 542, 562; of unmarried men, 548, 549 agricultural calendar: of Amuzgo, 420, 421 n.; of Chatino, 363; of Chocho, 507 (fig. 2 ) ; of Chontal, 232; of Chorti, 130; of Huichol and Cora, 797, 813; of Kekchi, 238; of Lacandon, 280; in midwestern highlands (Guat.), 75; of Mixtec,

373, 398; in Nahuatl area, 634, 636; in northwestern Guatemala, 50, 52; of Otomi, 689, 690; of Pokomames, 107, 118 (Table 3 ) ; of Tarahumara, 869-870; of Totonac, 643, 645, 680; of Tzeltal, 199, 201; of Tzotzil, 157, 178-179 agricultural crops. SEE by individual name agricultural rituals. SEE Rituals, agricultural agricultural tools. SEE by individual name agriculture: chinampa cultivation, 586; crop rotation, 101, 107-108, 159, 643, 735; European commercial, 34-35; flood-plain, 778, 787, 835, 881; history of, 24, 26; Ladino, 34; in protoMaya community, 24, 26; in raised plots, 252; supernatural aspects of, 52. SEE ALSO Irrigation; Rituals, agricultural; and under subsistence of individual tribes agrupación: Spanish policy of, 28, 40 agua loca: 610 Aguacatec: census of, 23, 48; distribution of, 23, 38, 48 Aguacatenango, town of: Tzeltal in, 195-225 Agua Escondida: Ladinos in, 70 aguardiente: consumption of, 66, 67, 98, 99, 123, 217, 218, 219, 224, 238, 241, 266, 355, 361, 374, 405, 414-415, 420, 432, 441, 444, 475, 489, 497, 499, 505, 514, 518, 521, 533, 546, 564, 567, 610, 721; sprayed in fields, 405 Aguilar, Francisco de: chronicle by, 4 ahpish: among Pokomames, 114-115, 119 Ahuacatlan, town of: 647, 665, 674, 676 Ahuiran, town of: 742 (fig. 15) alcoholic beverages. SEE Beverages, alcoholic Aleman dam: effect on Mazatec, 319

alfalfa: 373 alligator: mythology about, 473 Almolonga: onion cultivation in, 75 Altar de Sacrificios: location of, 27, 140; Mexicanoid influences at, 28 altars: Christian, 92, 202, 221; funeral, 130; native, 57, 92, 110 (fig. 7 ) , 118, 123, 125, 128, 146 (fig. 10), 162, 202, 208, 222, 223, 231, 233, 237, 238, 239, 241, 269, 303, 307, 308, 309, 385, 425, 488, 493, 497, 501, 505, 512, 514, 537, 611, 618 (fig. 13), 626, 646, 657, 658 (fig. 15), 673, 677 (fig. 2 0 ) , 681, 721, 738, 757, 820, 862, 863, 865 Alva Ixtlilxochitl, Fernando de: writings by, 6—7 Alvarado, Pedro de: ethnographic contribution by, 7 Alvarado Tezozomoc, Hernando: writings by, 6 amák: 887

931

INDEX

amaranth: 735, 797, 835 Amatenango: Tzeltal in, 196-225 Amatenango del Valle: Tzeltal in, 195-225 amber: for amulet, 228 amulets: to ward off evil, 228, 274, 353. SEE ALSO Charms; Fetishes amusement. SEE Games; Humor; Toys Amuzgo: aesthetic and recreational patterns of, 431-432; annual cycle of, 433; census of, 318, 320 (fig. 2 ) , 418 n.; distribution of, 318 (fig. 1), 369, 417, 418 n.; economy of, 426-427; geographical area of, 417-418, 419 (fig. 1 ) ; life cycle of, 432-433; religion and world view of, 429-431; settlement patterns of, 421-423; social organization of, 427-429; subsistence of, 4 2 0 421; technology of, 423-426 (fig. 3 ) Anales de Tlatelolco: ethnographical contribution of, 5 animal brains: for tanning, 854 animal guardians: of Zapotec, 351-352 animals. SEE by individual name animals, sacrificial. SEE Sacrifices, animal animism: in Guatemalan highlands, 37 anise: 84, 85, 676 Annals of the Cakchiquels: as ethnography, 7 annona: 195, 252 annual cycle: in midwestern highlands (Guat.), 99-100; in northwestern Guatemala, 50, 66. SEE ALSO under individual tribes anthropomorphism. SEE Spirits and gods; Supernatural concepts Antigua: Volcan de Agua in, 115 ants: consumption of, 405, 437 Apache: warfare of, 782, 783, 850 apellidos: of Tepehuan (southern), 817, 819, 820 apodo: of biological family, 127, 348 apples: 50, 797 Aquismon, town of: Huastec in, 299-310 armadillo: consumption of, 567, 737; hunting of, 160, 254, 281, 300, 737; in mythology, 473 armadillo shell: 157, 206, 518 arrows. SEE Bow and arrow; Prayer arrows art: by Zapotec, 353-354. SEE ALSO under aesthetic patterns of individual tribes Atlantis: Maya from, 250 atole: 52, 72, 123, 127, 161, 199, 201, 238, 254, 300, 309, 405, 437, 483, 517, 533, 555, 561, 567, 610, 675, 693, 695, 719, 816, 824, 836 Atoyac River: 316 Aubin Collection: ethnological writings in, 5, 7 avocado: 300, 489, 735 avoidance: of father-in-law, 310; of parents-in-law, 790. SEE ALSO Kinship

axe: 50, 157, 162, 164, 187, 205, 252, 277, 285, 406, 518, 567, 613, 615, 650, 707 (fig. 35), 708, 746, 799, 825, 853 ayate: agricultural use of, 690; as clothing, 709; as

932

cradle, for children, 703, 711; weaving of, 706

(fig. 30) Aztec: calpulli settlement pattern of, 611, 612; cephalic index of, 141; Chiapanecs relationship with, 142; early writings about, 9; geographical area of, 579; Mixtee relationships with, 370; Trique relationships with, 403. SEE ALSO Nahua Bachajon: Tzeltal in, 196-225 badgers: 692 Baegert, Johan Jacob: ethnographic contribution

by, 7 bags: of animal skin, 163; of canvas, 259; of cotton, 800; of cotton net, 82; of cow hide, 800; for harvesting, 75; of henequen, 301; of ixtle, 706, 709, 711, 799, 800; of jute, 235; of leather, 157, 163, 380, 421, 691, 708, 709, 711; of maguey, 82, 109, 621 (fig. 1 6 ) , 677 (fig. 2 0 ) ; of net, 35, 82, 157, 163, 206, 291 (fig. 15), 537; of palm, 380; of wool, 708 (fig. 3 7 ) , 709, 710 (fig. 41), 711, 800 Baja California Indians: economy of, 877; ethnographic work among, 874-875; geographical area of, 874; history of, 874; linguistic distributions of, 871-872; population estimates of, 871, 872; religion of, 877; settlement patterns of, 875-876; social organization of, 877, 878; subsistence of, 875; technology of, 876 balché: 231-232, 238, 246, 279, 281, 285, 292, 293, 294 baldiaje. SEE Labor ball: among Tarahumara, 866. SEE ALSO Toys balsa: for rafts, 538, 539 (fig. 2 1 ) ; in swimming, 538 Balsas Basin: 315, 316, 322, 327 bamboo: 160 (fig. 4 ) , 162, 253, 303, 362, 365, 567, 655, 656 (fig. 13), 657, 659, 797, 799 banana leaves: for food preparation, 231, 259, 533; for food wrapping, 123; for seed germination, 645 bananas: consumption of, 93, 307, 361, 420, 421 n., 437, 532, 647, 816; cultivation of, 50, 126, 159, 252, 281, 300, 420, 539, 546, 563, 735, 797 Bancroft, Hubert Howe: writings by, 9, 833 Bandelier, Adolphe: ethnological contribution by, 9 bands, musical: as Ladino institution, 94; use of, 183, 354, 399, 495, 496 (fig. 7 ) , 497, 503, 513, 514, 521, 543, 549, 550 (fig. 3 1 ) , 631, 674, 770, 772 bands, tribal: social organization of, 790. SEE ALSO Kin groups baptism: 58, 66, 87, 96, 127, 129, 169, 219, 233, 242, 267, 268, 309, 356, 365, 398, 428, 495, 496, 504, 514, 521, 544, 633, 714, 719, 812, 821, 826, 868. SEE ALSO Godparents

barbers: 166 bargaining. SEE Markets

INDEX

bark: for cloth, 283 (figs. 8, 9 ) , 285; in fermenting, 232, 281, 293; for headbands, 293; in house construction, 285; for leather curing and tanning, 162, 285, 854; for paper manufacture, 708; for roofing material, 54, 406, 439, 699 (fig. 16), 700; for rope, 161 bark beater: 285, 291 (fig. 15) barley: 609, 634, 688, 690, 735, 824 barrels: for aguamiel, 691 barter: in northwestern Guatemala, 50. SEE ALSO Medium of exchange baseball: 674 basil: for curing, 353 basketball: 189, 513, 544, 718, 773 baskets: of cane, 463; for fish catchirg, 567, 570 (fig. 6 ) ; of henequen, 258; manufacture of, 65, 123, 258, 463, 485, 493, 503, 537, 557, 704 (figs. 27, 2 8 ) , 705, 755, 801, 836, 883, 884 (fig. 5 ) ; of palm, 258, 301, 406, 557; of rattan, 258; of reedgrass, 206, 705; of straw, 240; of vines, 285 beads: 718, 719 (fig. 4 6 ) . SEE ALSO Adornment beans: for adornment, 125; cultivation of, 35, 50, 75, 107, 125, 157, 159, 201, 232, 239, 247, 252, 280, 300, 338, 339, 373, 398, 405, 420, 421 n., 436, 459, 482, 489, 499, 517, 518, 539, 546, 555, 563, 567, 572, 590, 607, 609, 636, 643, 646, 680, 689, 691, 733, 735, 736, 786, 797, 824, 835, 851, 852, 870 bebida: 52 beds: manufacture of, 567; use of, 81, 125, 162, 208, 235, 237, 276 n., 285, 303, 342, 343, 362, 385, 425, 439, 466, 493, 510, 518, 537, 557, 567, 571 (fig. 7 ) , 617, 618 (fig. 13), 657, 665, 701 (fig. 2 0 ) , 702-703,757, 797 bee combs: 161 beehives: of pottery, 651 (fig. 9 ) , 652—of Mixe and Popoluca, 462; of Otomi, 692, 700 (fig. 19), 702; in Tenango, 203; of Totonac, 651 (fig. 9 ) ; in Yucatan, 251 (fig. 4 ) , 254, 257 beekeeping: 300, 339, 643, 736-737 beer: 361, 676, 695, 797, 811 beeswax: 224 bells: 67, 99, 444, 488 (fig. 13), 514, 712, 721 belt loom. SEE Loom, backstrap belts (fajas, sashes): 53-54, 77, 82, 83, 111, 162, 163, 208, 343, 362, 397, 439, 466, 494, 569, 613, 614 (fig. 9 ) , 620, 652, 660, 710, 753, 758, 759, 800, 825, 854, 856 Berendt, Carl Hermann: linguistic contribution by, 10 berries: for dye, 406 betting: among Tarahumara, 866 beverages, alcoholic: consumption of, 66, 67, 95, 98, 99, 117, 123, 131, 166, 185, 190 (fig. 2 1 ) , 213, 217-219, 221, 224, 231-232, 238, 241, 246, 266, 279, 281, 285, 292-294, 306-308, 355, 361, 374, 405, 414-415, 420, 432, 436-438, 441, 443,

444, 473, 475, 489, 497, 499, 505, 514, 518, 521, 533, 546, 555, 558, 564, 567, 572, 610, 634, 676, 679, 695, 721, 797, 803, 811, 820, 821, 824, 826, 827, 852, 861, 867, 878, 887; manufacture of, 206, 800; social function of, 95, 185; sources of, 95. SEE ALSO Agua loca; Aguardiente; Balché; Beer; Cane liquor; Chicha; Compuesto; Lapo; Mescal; Refino; Rum; Tepache; Tequila; Tesgüino beverages, nonalcoholic. SEE Atole; Bebida; Chocolate; Coffee; Milk; Tea, herbal bezoar stone: belief in, 441 bicycles: 111, 386 billhook: 438 (fig. 5) bird beaks: as altar adornment, 238 birds: consumption of, 238, 737; hunting of, 160, 239, 254, 286, 405, 420, 441, 462, 555, 737, 836; mythology about, 352, 446, 447, 542, 770, 827, 862, 863; sacrifice of, 520; as scavengers, 555; selling or trading of, 623, 836 Bishop of Yucatan. SEE Landa bishops: in Chiapas highlands, 145-146. SEE ALSO Missionary activities blanket kilts: 77 blankets: for fishing, 851 (fig. 6 ) , 852; manufacture of, 72, 77, 613, 800, 853; for sleeping, 55, 237 blindness. SEE Onchocercosis Blom, Frans: ethnographic studies by, 196-197, 198-199 blood: mythology about, 716; sacrificial use of, 64, 130, 351, 436, 518 blood type: of Cakchiquel, 197; of Chol, 234; of Lacandon, 197; of Tzeltal, 197, 234; of Tzotzil, 197 blowgun: 239-240, 254, 380, 532 boar, wild: hunting of, 206, 253, 300, 341, 462 body painting: by Tarahumara, 864, 865. SEE ALSO Adornment, face painting Bonampak: location of, 140 bone: objects of, 75, 285 bone counter: in games, 866 bonesetters. SEE Shamans Books of Chilam Balam: as ethnography, 7 books, sacred: of ancestral dead, 840; of Kekchi, 240-241; in Quintana Roo, 270 Boturini, Lorenzo: writings by, 8 bow, musical: 543, 820 bow and arrow: ceremonial use of, 818 (fig. 3 ) ; for hunting, 254, 278, 456, 462, 474, 555, 790; manufacture of, 286, 825, 853 (fig. 9 ) , 854, 876; in mythology, 307. SEE ALSO Prayer arrows brachycephaly. SEE Cephalic index bread: consumption of, 72, 161, 203, 339, 437, 514; Ladino-made, 52 bride price: SEE Courtship and marriage customs bride service. SEE Courtship and marriage customs

933

INDEX bridge: hammock suspension, 344, 441, 467, 469 (fig. 19), 538, 539 (figs. 1 9 , 2 0 ) Brinton, Daniel Garrison: writings by, 9 brooms: 424 Buenaventura Zapata, Juan: Nahuatl writings by, 7 bull riding: at fiestas, 770, 772, 773 bullfights: at fiestas, 233, 496, 575 bulls: 159-160, 164, 797, 827 Burgoa, Fray Francisco de: ethnographic contribution by, 7 burial customs: in caves, 215, 869; in coffin, 67, 68, 224, 234, 310, 357, 398, 416, 431, 514, 521, 544, 576, 634, 679; grave goods, 99, 191-193 (Table 6), 224-225, 229, 242, 297, 310, 357, 366, 389, 398, 409, 415, 416, 430, 431, 445-446, 476, 505, 514, 521-522, 544, 634, 679, 721, 821; interment, 67, 68, 99, 130, 191-193, 224-225, 234, 237, 241, 242, 297, 310, 366, 423, 430, 431, 505, 514, 521-522, 543 (fig. 2 5 ) , 544, 551, 576, 634, 721, 812, 821, 828, 869, 877 burros: 159, 372, 483, 546, 555, 609, 620, 623, 692, 736, 738, 824 bushknife: 50 business enterprises, lack of: in Guatemalan highlands, 37 butterflies: in mythology, 352, 446, 447, 542 caanché: description of, 252 cabbage: consumption of, 53, 735; cultivation of, 158 (Table 1 ) , 159, 735, 736 cabildo organization: of Tarascans, 771-772 Cabrera, Antonio: ethnological contribution of, 299 cacao: cultivation of, 50, 126, 230, 373; use of, 52, 231, 238, 239, 281, 420, 443, 445, 517, 591 cacao beans: offerings of, 518 cacao tree: in mythology, 454, 476 caciques. SEE Nobility, Indian cactus, barrel: 506 cactus fruits: 787, 790, 824, 835, 875 Cahitan: language of, 779; subsistence of, 786; wartime tribal organization of, 789 caitas: 111 Cakchiquel: census of, 23; ethnographic studies of, 7 0 - 7 1 ; location of, 23, 38, 69; mutual intelligibility of, 39; physical anthropology of, 197 calendar, aboriginal: survivals of, 37, 38, 62, 63, 64, 247, 469, 516, 538 calendrical system: of Zapotec, 357-358 calpulli. SEE Aztec camaradería: among Pokomames men, 113 Campeche: population of, 23 Cancuc, town of: Tzeltal in, 195-225 candles: at altars, 110, 162, 618, 757; burning of, 52, 58, 64, 67, 99, 116, 130, 178, 179, 193, 202, 228, 231, 236, 239, 270, 308, 309, 351, 429, 430, 431, 446, 521, 666 (fig. 18), 771; gift of, 232, 634; as grave goods, 99, 118, 192 (Table 6 ) ,

934

193, 224, 310, 679; manufacture of, 301, 381, 399, 650; offerings of, 373, 430 n., 473, 503, 576, 631, 672, 678, 715, 716, 721; officers in charge of, 573, 575; storage of, 385 candlesticks: on native altars, 657, 658 (fig. 15), 677 (fig. 20) cane: for basketry, 463; in curing, 116; for flutes, 65; as grave goods, 99; in house construction, 79, 81, 109, 615 (fig. 10), 616, 617, 788, 836; for window screening, 567 cane liquor: for curing, 180, 181; offerings of, 179, 678; use of, 179, 185, 187, 190, 236, 306, 307, 308, 310 canes: in dances, 575 cannibalism: in folklore, 115, 177; in northwest Mexico, 789; of Tequistlatec, 554; traditions about, 717 canoes: dugout, 37 (fig. 7 ) , 287 (fig. 2 ) , 284 (fig. 10), 485, 486 (fig. 11), 538; manufacture of, 84, 261-262, 284 (fig. 10); use of, 144, 261, 278 (fig. 2 ) , 483, 485, 538, 745 (fig. 19), 746, 762 (fig. 34) Cantei, town of: 53, 6 1 , 7 0 - 7 1 , 76, 87, 89-90 cantones: in Chinautla, 109; in midwestern highlands, 74-75; in northwestern Guatemala, 56 cantor, Indian: as ritual specialist, 67, 92, 262, 268, 304, 414, 429 n., 430 n., 431, 666 (fig. 18), 677 (fig. 2 0 ) , 678, 679, 680 cape: wearing of, 800 card-playing: by Baja California Indians, 877; by Otomi, 718 cargo-holders: SEE Officials cargos. SEE Civil-religious hierarchy Carnegie Institution of Washington: anthropological contributions of, 12 carpentry: tools used in, 162, 564—by Chamulas, 162, 206; by Huastec, 301; by Tarascans, 757; by Tlapanec, 564. SEE ALSO Woodworking carrying cloth: 82, 163, 614 carrying frame: 653 cascalote: gathering of, 572, 573 (fig. 10) caseríos: in northwestern Guatemala, 55 cash. SEE Medium of exchange, money; Money catalan: to prevent abortion, 352 caterpillars: collecting of, 161 Catholicism: in Chiapas highlands, 150; in Guatemala highlands, 37; in northwestern Guatemala, 61. SEE ALSO Deities; Missionary activities cats: as animal guardians, 351; in mythology, 412; as pets, 160, 300, 692 cattle: 34, 126, 146, 160, 227, 253, 263, 264, 300, 326, 345, 372, 405, 408, 409, 420, 441, 494, 502, 555, 558, 590, 605, 609-610, 663, 691, 736, 787, 797, 802, 808, 818, 821, 822, 824, 835, 851, 877, 881. SEE ALSO Bulls; Cows cattle ranches: of Spanish, 684 cave: of Coxcatlan, 26; of Santa Marta, 26

INDEX

caves: burial in, 215, 869; as houses, 853, 881; for palm storage and weaving, 502, 509 (fig. 4 ) , 510, 511 (fig. 7 ) ; as sacred places, 64, 201, 205, 210, 215, 223, 228, 236, 241, 292, 308, 373, 394, 399, 413, 443, 444, 445, 473, 506, 516, 520, 600, 629, 717, 806, 812 Cedro-Lacanha. SEE Lacandon Cédula de Cuauhtemoc: as Nahuatl source, 5 ceiba tree: in mythology, 273, 295 cemetery. SEE Burial customs, interment cenotes: in Yucatan, 246, 255 censer-bearers: female, 166 census figures: of Aguacatec, 23, 48; of Amuzgo, 318, 320 (fig. 2 ) , 418 n., 429 n.; of Cakchiquel, 23; of Chinantec, 320 (fig. 2 ) , 321, 524-531 Tables 2 - 5 ) , 545; of Chocho, 508 (Table 1 ) ; of Chol, 234; of Chontal, 230; of Chorti, 23, 120; of Chuh, 23, 48; for Colotenango, 55-56; of Cora, 795; of Cuicatec, 318, 320 (fig. 2 ) , 434, 434, 435; of Cuitlatec, 320 (fig. 2 ) , 321, 567 (Table 1 ) ; of Huastec, 24; of Huave, 320 (fig. 2), 321, 478; of Ichcatec, 499; of Ixil, 23, 48; of Jacaltec, 23, 48; of Kanhobal, 23, 48; of Kekchi, 23, 104; of Lacandon, 23-24; of Ladino, 48, 195-196; of Mam, 23, 48; of Mazatec, 319, 320 (fig. 2 ) , 516-517; of Mixe, 448; of Nahuatlspeakers, 602 n., 605; for northwest Mexico, 7 8 4 785; of Pokomam, 104; of Pokoman and Chorti, 23; of Pokonchi, 23; of Popoloca, 491 (Table 1 ) ; of Popoluca, 320 (fig. 2 ) , 321, 452, 455-456; of Quiche, 23, 70; of Rabinal, 23; for San Miguel Acatan, 48, 56; for Santiago Chimaltenango, 56; of Solomec, 23; for southern Mexican highlands, 317, 320 (fig. 2 ) ; of Tarascans, 730, 732; of Tepehua, 641; of Totonac, 641; of Trique, 318, 320 (fig. 2 ) , 404; of Tzeltal, 1 9 5 196, 203; of Tzotzil, Tzeltal, Tojolabal, 23, 155 n.; of Tzutuhil, 23; of Uspantec, 23; of Yucatec Maya, 23, 247-249; of Zapotec, 317, 320 (fig. 2 ) , 329, 336-337; of Zoque, 449. SEE ALSO Population estimates cephalic index: brachycephaly, 141; dolichocephaly, 141—of Aztec, 141; of Mayance peoples, 141 ceramics, prehistoric: Fine Orange ware, 141; Plumbate ware, 141. SEE ALSO Pottery ceremonial objects. SEE Ritual paraphernalia ceremonial sponsorship: among Seri, 887 ceremonies. SEE Fiestas; Rituals; Sacrifices Cerro Cheve: sacred nature of, 434, 444-445 Chacmool statue: discovery of, 250 chacs: beliefs concerning, 271-272 Chalchihuitan, town of: Tzotzil in, 155-194 Chalchihuites culture: 816, 820 Chamúku: in mythology, 863 Chamula, town of: Tzotzil in, 155-194 Chamulas: cephalic index of, 141; clothing of, 145 (fig. 9)

Chanal, town of: Tzeltal in, 195-225 charcoal: production of, 107, 109, 118 (Table 3 ) , 162, 405, 615, 621, 708, 750; use of, 365 charms: curing with, 65; wearing of, 125. SEE ALSO Amulets; Fetishes Charnay, Désiré: anthropological contributions by, 251, 279, 280 Chatino: aesthetic and recreational patterns of, 365; census of, 320 (fig. 2 ) ; distribution of, 317, 318 (fig. 1 ) , 331, 360, 361 (fig. 1 ) ; economy of, 363; history of, 360; life cycle of, 365-366; religion and world view of, 364; settlement patterns of, 361-362; social and political organization of, 363-364; subsistence of, 360-361; technology of, 362-363 cheese: 339, 736, 737, 797, 816 Chenalho, town of: Tzotzil in, 155-194 Cheran, town of: 730-771 Chiapa de Corzo: prehistoric agriculture in, 26; stylistic similarities of, 27 Chiapanec: distribution of, 133 Chiapas, State of: acculturation in, 147-150; census figures for, 146; ethnological research in, 155; geography of, 21, 23, 133-137 (figs. 1, 2 ) , 152, 153 (fig. 1 ) ; linguistic distributions in, 137-139; Mexican influence in, 141-143; population in, 133; prehistory of, 139-143; Spanish Conquest of, 28, 143-150. SEE ALSO Chamula; Tojolabal; Tzeltal; Tzotzil chicha: consumption of, 123, 131, 166, 190 (fig. 21), 213, 224, 238, 241; preparation of, 206; vessels for, 214 (fig. 5) Chichen Itza: exploration of, 250-251; Mexican influence at, 28 Chichicastenango, town of: 72-73, 81, 84-86, 8 8 90, 92, 98, 99 Chichimec: distribution of, 687; early ethnography of, 6-7. SEE ALSO Otomi, 682-721 Chichimec Jonaz: distribution of, 581, 683. SEE ALSO Otomi, 682-721 chicken coops: 205, 207, 235, 257, 285, 439, 535, 612, 647, 649, 700 (fig. 19), 702 chickens: in curing ceremonies, 180 (Table 4 ) , 181, 308, 575; keeping of, 52, 64, 75, 126, 127, 160, 164, 191, 202-203, 227, 231, 235-236, 239, 250 (fig. 3 ) , 252, 253, 262, 263, 287, 300, 345, 361, 370, 405, 408, 420, 462, 483, 508, 518, 535 (fig. 13), 555, 591, 605, 609, 623, 643, 646, 668, 6 9 1 692, 736, 824, 825, 851; sacrifice of, 43, 52, 130, 160, 181, 306, 307, 351, 397, 518, 520, 715 chicle: extraction of, 254, 259; for offerings, 236 chicle camps: in Lacandon area, 279; work in, 236 Chicomulceltec: linguistic history of, 25 Chilam Balam: books of, 251, 270 Chilam Balam de Maní: Maya calendrical survivals in, 247 childbirth: chocolate consumption during or after,

935

INDEX 254, 503, 513; comadrona at, 117, 397, 432; herbs used during, 129, 233, 513; infanticide, 868; midwife at, 66, 8 1 , 96, 129, 187, 223, 233, 236, 242, 262, 296, 304, 308-309, 356, 365, 445, 496, 503, 513, 521, 544, 561, 575, 678, 717, 719, 821; prayer during, 296; sweat bath after, 66, 96, 187, 207, 224, 242, 356, 385, 397, 415, 475, 496, 503-504, 512, 513, 620, 717, 719; twins, 96, 561, 576, 828; umbilical cord, disposal of, 58, 66, 96, 187, 224, 309, 356, 365, 397, 415, 432,

445,

504,

513,

544,

575,

828.

SEE ALSO

Pregnancy; and under life cycle of individual tribes chile: 158 (Table 1 ) , 159, 201, 209, 252, 280, 300, 338, 420, 436, 482, 508, 518, 563, 567, 590, 607, 636, 643, 646, 735, 736, 797; use of, 52, 72, 161, 187, 193, 199, 202, 203, 238, 254, 281, 300, 308, 356, 361, 373, 405, 420, 437, 443, 483, 497, 501, 517, 544, 555, 610, 611, 647, 693, 695, 737, 797, 836 chilecayote: 733-734 Chiman Nam. SEE Officials chimney: in Tarahumara houses, 855 chinampa cultivation: distribution of, 586 Chinantec: aesthetic and recreational patterns of, 543-544, 551; census of, 320 (fig. 2 ) , 321, 5 2 4 531 (Tables 2 - 5 ) , 545; distribution of, 318 (fig. 1 ) , 321, 331, 436, 523-524, 526 (fig. 2 ) , 529 (fig. 5 ) , 545; economy of, 538-541, 548; geographical area of, 523, 545-546; life cycle of, 544-545, 551; religion and world view of, 5 4 2 543, 549; settlement patterns of, 533-537, 546; social organization of, 541-542, 549; Spanish allegiance of, 326; subsistence of, 532-533, 546; technology of, 537-538, 546 Chinatla: language in, 46 Chinautla, town of, 104-120 Chinautlecos: annual cycle of, 118 (Table 3 ) ; distribution of, 102 (fig. 1 ) , 104; linguistic relationships of, 104; pottery making by, 104-106, 107, 108 (fig. 5 ) , 109 (fig. 6 ) , 110, 118 (Table 3) chincuite: 613, 620 Chiquimulilla: as "Ladinoized" community, 45 chirimía: 117 chisel: 162, 564, 853 Chocho: aesthetic and recreational patterns of, 5 1 2 513; census of, 319, 320 (fig. 2 ) , 508 (Table 1); distribution of, 318 (fig. 1 ) , 319, 506, 507 (fig. 1); economy of, 510-512; history of, 506; life cycle of, 513-514; political organization of, 512; religion of, 512; settlement patterns of, 506, 508; subsistence of, 508; technology of, 508-510 chocolate: 67, 72, 254, 266, 374, 437, 454, 476, 503, 513, 567, 610 Chol: census of, 234; cephalic index of, 141, 234; distribution of, 23, 25, 27, 139, 155, 197, 234, 237, 244, 248; economy of, 235-236; geographi-

936

cal area of, 234; history of, 234-235; life cycle of, 236-237; linguistic history of, 25, 39, 235; linguistic relationships with Chorti, 120; material culture of, 235; physical anthropology of, 141, 234; religion of, 236; social organization of, 236 Chontal: census of, 320 (fig. 2 ) , 321; distribution of, 23, 25, 27, 317, 318 (fig. 1 ) , 321, 331; economy of, 232; geographical area of, 230; history of, 230-231, 324; language of, 231; life cycle of, 233-234; linguistic history of, 25, 27, 39, 321; material culture of, 231-232; political organization of, 232; prehistory of, 25, 27; religion and world view of, 233; social organization of, 232-233 Chorti: annual cycle of, 130-131; census of, 23, 120; distribution of, 23, 25, 27, 39, 120; economy of, 125-126 (fig. 11); ethnological investigation of, 122, 131; food patterns of, 123; geographical area of, 120; history of, 120-122; life cycle of, 129-130; linguistic history of, 25, 39, 120; linguistic relationships with Chol, 120; luk used by, 38; political organization of, 128; religion and world view of, 128-129; religious organization of, 128; settlement patterns of, 123; social organization of, 126-128; subsistence of, 122-123; sweat bath absent among, 38; technology of, 123-125 (fig. 10) Christ, SEE Deities, Christian Christianity: Indian conversion to, 5, 28, 43. SEE ALSO Deities; Missionary activities chronicles: by Aguilar, 4; of conquest of Peten, 8; by Cortés, 4; by Dlaz del Castillo, 4; by Indian writers, 6-7; by Tapia, 4; by Torquemada, 7-8 Chuh: census of, 23, 48; distribution of, 23, 25, 38, 46; linguistic history of, 25 cigarettes: 185-186, 306, 396, 475, 497, 514, 533, 558, 567, 572, 675, 695, 715, 720, 721, 852, 867, 878 cigars: 185-186, 281, 306, 396, 421, 424, 432, 533, 675 cinnamon: 161, 797 Ciudad Real, SEE San Cristobal de las Casas Ciudad Real, Antonio de: linguistic contribution by, 6 civil-religious hierarchy: avoidance of service in, 89, 349; breakdown of, 59, 88, 106 n., 564, 593; non-recognition of, by national government, 59 —of Amuzgo, 429; in Chichicastenango, 88-89; in Colotenango, 60; in Guatemala highlands, 36; in midwestern highlands, 8 8 - 9 1 ; in northwestern Guatemala, 59-60; in Larrainzar, 172-173 (Table 2 ) ; of Mixtec, 393-394; in Panajachel, 88; in Santiago Atitlan, 89; in Santiago Chimaltenango, 60; of Trique, 411; of Tzeltal, 2 1 9 221; of Zapotec, 349. SEE ALSO Escalafón clams: 835

INDEX Classic stage: of Maya, 27-28. SEE ALSO Maya populations, prehistory of Clavijero, Francisco Javier: historical contribution by, 8 clay: 203, 301, 365, 620, 690, 705. SEE ALSO Pottery clay molds: for sugar, 301 clay-eating, SEE Pregnancy clothing: ceremonial, 162, 163, 166, 176 (fig. 11), 191 (fig. 2 2 ) , 240, 305 (fig. 3 ) , 306, 399, 6 5 9 660 (fig. 17), 661, 718 (fig. 4 5 ) , 719 (fig. 4 6 ) , 865; of children, 66, 129, 309, 384, 397, 425, 433, 484, 561, 660 (fig. 17), 710, 759, 801, 868; of deceased, 67, 99, 191, 224, 234, 297, 310, 357, 384, 505, 514, 521, 563, 679, 721; of deerskin, 709, 801; of leather, 709; Mestizo type, 362-363, 801; modern, 53, 83, 111, 231, 238, 260, 261, 286, 303, 343, 344, 407, 439, 466, 467, 493, 502, 518, 538, 548, 557, 584, 590, 606, 620, 661, 665, 709, 710, 758, 759, 800, 818, 836, 883; provided by godparents, 58, 309, 397, 428n., 433, 624, 679, 714; purchase of, 111, 383; of saints, 221, 222, 399; of spirits and gods, 62; "Uncle Sam" suit, 54; washing of, 74 (fig. 3), 75 (fig. 4 ) , 395, 408, 661, 705; "weakening" influence of, 9 1 , 92; for wedding, 164, 232, 3 0 9 310, 667-668. SEE ALSO Belts; Blanket kilts; Caitas; Cape; Chincuite; Collar; Costumes; Cotense; Hats; Headcloths; Huaraches; Huípil; Ponchos; Rain cape; Robes; Sandals; Serapes; Shawls; Shoes; Tunics; Turban; Underdrawers; and under technology of individual tribes cloves: 353, 436 clowns: ceremonial, 805; at fiestas, 356, 543, 633 coa: 199, 201, 206, 252, 339, 406, 463, 609, 613, 645,

650,

689

(fig.

8),

690,

746,

817.

SEE ALSO

Digging stick coatimundi: 300 Coatzacoalco River: 316 Coban: craft specialization in, 8 1 ; ethnographic study in, 71 Cochimi: language of, 782 cochineal: 327, 439 cockfights: at fiestas, 496 cocoa: 252 coconut: 374, 420, 532 Cocopa: distribution of, 871; early ethnographic studies of, 11; language of, 782, 871 Códice Pérez: Maya calendrical survivals in, 247 coffee: consumption of, 52, 53, 65, 67, 72, 123, 161, 203, 238, 254, 300, 361, 363, 373, 374, 420, 437, 493, 499, 503, 505, 514, 517, 533, 546, 567, 610, 634, 693, 695, 737, 797, 881; cultivation of, 50, 136, 159, 195, 197, 227, 235, 300, 319, 327, 338-339, 362, 363, 374 n., 402, 405, 420, 441, 459-460, 516, 518, 539, 548, 563, 580, 607, 662, 665, 688, 691; harvesting of, 61, 99

coffee industry: effect of, on Maya, 29, 34-35, 99, 235, 238 coffee leaves: as fertilizer, 76 coffin, SEE Burial customs cofradías: definition of, 37, 597; music for, 94—of Amuzgo, 420; in Cantei, 89-90; in Chichicastenango, 89; of Chocho, 512; in Guatemalan highlands, 37, 43, 106; of Mixtec, 373, 376, 381, 398, 399; in northwestern Guatemala, 65; of Pokomames, 114-115, 120 (Table 4 ) coins: for adornment, 53, 125, 163, 343. SEE ALSO Money, buried with deceased Colima, twin peaks of: 315 collar: on women's costume, 538 colonial administration: in central Mexican highlands, 640-641; of Chiapas highlands, 143-150, 198; in northwestern Guatemala, 56; in southern Mexican highlands, 327-328, 334-337; of Yucatec Maya, 246-247 "colonial Indian" history: in Guatemalan highlands, 42-45 colors: symbolism of, 129, 175, 241, 271 Colotenango, town of: 46, 49, 50, 54, 55-58, 60, 6 1 , 65, 67 comal: 77 (fig. 6 ) , 79, 110, 123, 207, 254, 259, 362, 380, 423, 437, 484, 493, 509, 518, 537, 613, 693 combs: for carding wool, 77; manufacture of, 206, 207, 259 Comitan: Ladinos in, 137; rainfall at, 137; Tojolabal in, 226-229 communal labor, SEE Labor, communal communication: geographical effects on, 69-70 community organization: in Guatemalan highlands, 36. SEE ALSO Settlement patterns compadrazgo: SEE Kin relationships, artificial compuesto: 355 Concepcion, town of: Cuicatec in, 436-447 conception: prescriptions for, 356. SEE ALSO Pregnancy concha: 355 conflict, SEE Disputes; Warfare "contact ethnography": definition of, 3; in northwest Mexico, 15 cooperation: within aldeas, 127 copal: 129, 130, 131, 221, 239, 240, 242, 270, 294, 295, 351, 373, 394, 443, 445, 473, 474, 476, 520, 560, 672, 673, 678. SEE ALSO Incense

Copan: Chorti in, 120, 122 Cora: aesthetic and recreational patterns of, 8 1 0 811; annual cycle of, 813; distribution of, 7 9 2 794 (figs. 1, 2 ) , 795; economy of, 801-803; ethnographical investigations of, 11, 12, 795; geographical area of, 792-795 (figs. 1, 2 ) ; history of, 795; language of, 15, 779, 792 n., 795; life cycle of, 812-813; population estimates of, 784, 785, 795; religion and world view of,

937

INDEX

806-810; settlement patterns of, 797-799; social organization of, 803-806; subsistence of, 786, 797; technology of, 799-801 cordage: making of, 707-708 (fig. 3 4 ) , 800 coriander: use of, 161, 300, 508, 737 corn. SEE Maize corn mill: 161, 279, 285, 287 (fig. 12), 584 corncob: in childbirth, 187, 223, 233; in olotera, 609; in pottery manufacture, 79 corncribs: 362, 608 (fig. 5 ) , 612, 620, 689 (fig. 8), 690, 797, 798 (fig. 4 ) . SEE ALSO Maize, storage of cornet: 631 corral: for animals, 376, 385, 509 (fig. 4 ) , 612, 617, 647, 798, 855 Cortés, Hernán: Spanish Conquest activities of, 143-144, 298, 334, 554; writings by, 4 cosmogony. SEE Creation; and under religion of individual tribes cosmology. SEE under life cycle (death) and religion of individual tribes costumes, ritual: renting of, 65, 674. SEE ALSO Clothing, ceremonial cotense: 825 Cotorra phase: at Chiapa de Corzo, 26 cotton: clothing of, 53, 76, 79, 82-83, 161, 163, 208, 231, 235, 238, 260, 303, 343, 362-363, 381, 383, 406, 407, 424, 439, 463, 464 (fig. 13), 466, 493-494, 502, 510, 537, 564, 569, 620, 660, 709, 758-759, 801, 818, 825, 856; cultivation of, 76, 126, 201, 281, 373, 441, 482, 539, 567, 646, 835; weaving of, 53, 76-79, 161, 208, 341, 381, 406, 424, 463, 465, 569, 653, 706, 753, 800, 836 cotton mill: in Cantei, 71 courtship and marriage customs: bride price, 67, 98, 190, 217, 218, 242, 266, 297, 497, 558, 887; bride service, 127, 190, 266, 347, 392, 427, 475, 521, 544, 819; capture of girl, 218, 357, 415, 720, 767, 826; elopement, 57, 98, 218, 233, 544, 576, 668, 720; gift-giving during, 67, 98, 113, 190, 217, 218, 229, 232, 236, 242, 266, 3 0 9 310, 363, 365, 387, 392, 415, 427, 475, 497, 504, 505, 521, 544, 576, 593, 634, 667-668, 720, 767, 887; go-between, 98, 113, 190, 266, 357, 392, 393, 427, 432, 445, 475, 497, 504, 521, 544, 576, 593, 634; godparents role in, 309-310, 767; marriage "manager," 767; padrinos role in, 98, 357, 497, 505; parents role in, 67, 98, 113, 127, 189-190, 218, 229, 232, 236, 242, 266, 297, 309-310, 357, 365, 392, 415, 427, 445, 475, 497, 504, 514, 521, 544, 558, 633-634, 667-669, 720, 759, 812, 821, 887; trial marriages, 720—of Chatino, 365-366; of Chinantec, 544; of Chocho, 514; of Chol, 236; of Chontal, 232-233; of Chorti, 127, 130; of Cora, 812; of Huastec, 3 0 9 310; of Huichol, 812; of Ichcatec, 504-505; of

938

Kekchi, 242; of Lacandon, 288, 290, 296-297; of Mazatec, 521; in midwestern highlands, 9 6 98; of Nahua, 633-634; in northwestern Guatemala, 67; of Otomi, 720-721; in Panajachel, 9 6 97; of Pokomam, 113; of Popoloca, 497; of Tepehuan (northern), 826, 828; of Tepehuan (southern), 821; of Tequistlatec, 558-559; of Tojolabal, 229; of Totonac, 666-669; of Trique, 415-416; of Tzeltal, 217-219; of Yucatec Maya, 266-267; of Zapotec, 357. SEE ALSO Marriage cow horn: 308, 352 cowhide: tanning of, 853-854; use of, 182 (fig. 13), 818 cows: 66, 160, 422, 623, 797, 824. SEE ALSO Cattle Coxcatlan Cave: wild maize in, 26 coyote leather: 709 coyotes: 692 Cozumel: oracle on, 270 cradle: manufacture of, 653; use of, 303, 475, 561. SEE ALSO Crib

craft specialization, SEE under specific crafts creation: mythology about, 115, 175, 295, 350, 364,

412,

473, 542,

671, 715,

864.

SEE ALSO

un-

der religion of individual tribes crib, hanging: 493. SEE ALSO Cradle cristero revolt: 728, 770, 795 Cristos: worship of, 629 crop specialization: in central Mexican highlands, 607 (Table 1 ) ; of Chorti, 126; of Mazatec, 319; in midwestern highlands, 72, 75-76, 84; in northwestern Guatemala, 50; in San Antonio Palopo, 84; of Tzotzil, 157-159 (Table 1). SEE ALSO under specific crops cross, cult of: in Kanhobalán-speaking area, 62 "Cross of our Fathers." SEE Sacred objects and places, family cross "cross that speaks": in Quintana Roo, 270 crowbar: 301, 689, 853 Cuchumatanes Mountains: 21, 28, 30, 35, 46, 48, 49, 133, 230 cucumbers: 797 Cuicatec: census of, 318, 320 (fig. 2 ) , 434, 435; distribution of, 318 (fig. 1 ) , 434, 435 (fig. 1 ) ; economy of, 441-442; geographical area of, 434, 435 (fig. 1 ) ; history of, 434; life cycle of, 445; Mixtec contacts of, 369; recreational patterns of, 445; religion of, 444; settlement patterns of, 438; socio-political organization of, 442-444; subsistence of, 436-438; technology of, 438-441 Cuitlatec: aesthetic and recreational patterns of, 575; census of, 320 (fig. 2 ) , 321, 567 (Table 1); distribution of, 318 (fig. 1), 321, 565, 566 (figs. 1, 2 ) ; economy of, 569-573; life cycle of, 5 7 5 576; political organization of, 573-575; religion of, 575; settlement patterns of, 567; subsistence of, 567; technology of, 567-569 cult of the saints. SEE Saints

INDEX cultivation. SEE Agriculture; Chinampa cultivation; Irrigation; Milpa; and under specific crops; subsistence of individual tribes cultural diversity: in Guatemala highlands, 32, 34 cultural patterns: local variations of, in Chiapas area, 138-139 culture change: in Cantei, 7 1 ; in northwest Guatemala, 49; in northwest Mexico, 782-790; in San Luis Jilotepeque, 118-120; among Totonac, 641. SEE ALSO Acculturation

culture hero: Fane Kansini, 559-560; in Tepehuan mythology, 819 curanderos: methods of, 37, 65. SEE ALSO Sickness, curing of curing. SEE Sickness, curing of currasow: 281 Cuzcat rebellion: in Chiapas highlands, 149-150 dance groups: among Chinantec, 551; among Cora, 805 dance platform: 810, 820, 887 dancers, deer: among Yaqui, 841 dancers, pascola: among Seri, 887; among Tarahumara, 865; among Yaqui and Mayo, 841, 844 dances, comic: 66, 290, 355, 432 dances, ritual: Conquista, 65, 432; Cortez, 65, 240; Coyote, 840-841; Deer, 240; of the Devil, 240; with flying-pole, 306-307; Hawk, 306, 307; Los Caballitos, 718, 719 (fig. 4 6 ) ; Los Santiagos, 631; Los Toros, 65; Los Voladores, 631, 674; Malinche, 488, 575, 718 (fig. 4 5 ) ; matachín, 840, 842, 844, 862 (fig. 19), 863, 865, 887; of the Monkey, 240; of the Moors, 240, 631, 632 (fig. 19); Moro, 65, 432, 674; scalp pole, 789; Venado, 65 dancing: recreational, 65, 119, 131, 183-184, 355, 365, 414, 431, 513, 718, 719, 810, 841, 877-878, 887; ritual, 43 (fig. 14), 65, 94, 117, 183-184, 240, 290, 306-307, 432, 488, 551, 575, 631, 674, 678, 718, 719 (fig. 4 6 ) , 789, 805, 810, 820, 8 4 0 841, 842, 844, 862, 863, 864-865, 887 dead, cult of the: of Yaqui, 840. SEE ALSO Soul of the dead death. SEE Burial customs deer: consumption of, 238, 816; hunting of, 160, 240, 253, 339, 352, 372, 405, 420, 462, 474, 482, 555, 692, 737, 778, 790, 797, 824, 852, 866, 869, 870, 875; mythology about, 412, 473, 827, 835 deer horn: as agricultural tool, 206; for arrowpoint shaping, 286; ceremonial, 807 (fig. 6 ) ; in curing, 129; as luck symbol, 116 deerskin: for clothing, 709, 801; for drum head, 810 deformation. SEE Head deformation deities, Christian: Indian concept of, 43, 61-62, 91, 115, 128, 175, 198, 221, 241, 364, 599, 627, 629, 715, 770, 790, 806, 819, 827, 840, 863

deities, native. SEE Spirits and gods; Supernatural

beings demography: of Chinantec, 524-530; of midweste m highlands, 70, 72 (fig. 1 ) , 73; of Zapotec, 335-337; of Yucatan Peninsula, 247-249. SEE ALSO Census figures; Population density; Population estimates devil: beliefs about, 177, 188, 275, 351, 770, 863 Díaz del Castillo, Bernal: chronicle by, 4, 143-144, 231 dibble stick: 645, 650, 797, 799. SEE ALSO Digging stick digging stick: 35, 50, 75, 107, 125, 126 (fig. 11), 157, 199, 206, 235, 252, 285, 300, 301, 363, 372, 379, 405, 420, 423, 438, 460, 463, 518, 539, 541 (fig. 2 4 ) , 555, 557, 562, 643, 644 (fig. 3 ) , 746, 852, 870. SEE ALSO Coa; Dibble stick Diguet, Léon: fieldwork by, 12 disputes, settlement of: 171, 173, 220, 228, 350, 377, 387, 388, 410, 411-412, 426, 508, 769, 827, 860-861 (fig. 17) divination: curing and diagnosing by, 37, 94, 353, 395, 474, 631, 673; before traveling, 386-387, 425; during rites of assurance, 443 divination methods: by beans, 353; by bird sacrifice, 520; with books, 353; by candles, 94, 413; by cards, 353; by crystal ball, 274; by heating an egg, 395; by incense burning, 94, 353; by leg muscles, 64; by maize grains, 353, 474, 520; by measuring oneself, 395, 412; by hallucinatory mushrooms, 631; by narcotic mushroom, 364; by palpitations, 353; by psychotomimetic substances, 395; by suckings, 353; by table and beans, 64. SEE ALSO Shamans

diviners: among Kekchi, 243. SEE ALSO Shamans division of labor. SEE Labor, sexual division of divorce. SEE Marriage dogs: 160, 206, 253, 271, 274, 285, 300, 372, 397, 420, 441, 446, 476, 542, 555, 692, 851 dolichocephaly. SEE Cephalic index donkeys: 300, 303, 353, 605, 801 dory, plank: of Seri, 883 drama: miming, 184. SEE ALSO Dances, ritual dream interpretation: by Chorti, 129; by Tzotzil, 183 dreams: folklore about, 116 drinking patterns: among Totonac, 675-676; among Tzotzil, 185. SEE ALSO Beverages, alcoholic; Intoxication drugs: in fishing, 567 drum: 65, 94, 117, 131, 183, 202, 222 (fig. 7 ) , 228, 236, 355, 433 n., 444, 445, 488 (fig. 13), 503, 543, 560, 575, 628 (fig. 18), 631, 673, 712, 718, 805, 810, 842, 854, 862, 864 ducks: 300, 623 dung: in adobe bricks, 614; as fertilizer, 52, 75,

939

INDEX 157, 339, 636, 736, 851; in house construction, 231 Durán, Diego: ethnological contribution by, 6 Durango: early ethnography about, 7 dwarfs: in mythology, 175, 473, 575, 629, 716 dyeing techniques: resist, 468 (fig. 1 8 ) ; tie-dyeing, 82 dyes: anil, 464 (fig. 13); bark for, 293-294; of black earth and dodder, 161; from cochineal, 439; commercial, 800; indigo, 652, 753, 800; from madroño berry, 406; from natural sources, 613; purchase of, 381, 406, 424; from snails, 341, 560 dynamite, in fishing: 161, 240, 339, 372, 546. SEE ALSO Explosives

eagle, mythology about: 717 earth, mythology about: 9 1 , 175, 274-275, 308, 575, 671-672, 673. SEE ALSO Creation earthquakes, mythology about: 175, 672 eclipses, folklore about: 9 1 , 117, 129, 233, 236, 352, 433, 672, 828 ecological adaptation: at Lake Atitlan, 34 economy. SEE under individual tribes education, formal: 66-67, 150, 172, 398, 633, 6 6 4 665, 720, 728, 784, 805, 821, 887. SEE ALSO In-

fancy and childhood egg white: to preclude abortion, 352 eggs: for commercial exchange, 165, 202-203, 253, 263, 288, 405, 408, 483, 692-693, 736; consumption of, 72, 161, 199, 203, 300, 361, 405, 483, 517, 695, 737; curing use of, 308; in mythology, 559-560; as offerings or sacrifice, 64, 443, 444, 445, 518 ejidos. SEE Land reforms; Land tenure El Bosque, town of: Tzotzil in, 155-194 El conquistador anónimo: ethnographic contribution of, 4 El Quiche: market at, 41 (figs. 11, 12) El Rey. SEE Officials, Chiman Nam El Salvador: Chorti in, 120; Pokomam-speakers in, 104; trade into, 86 El Tajin, town of: 641-680 elopement. SEE Courtship and marriage customs embroidery: on clothing, 54, 82, 163, 164, 231, 235, 238, 261, 303, 306, 383, 494, 518, 519 (fig. 2 ) , 537, 569, 572 (fig. 8 ) , 620, 659 (fig. 16), 660 (fig. 17), 709 (fig. 3 9 ) , 753, 758 (fig. 3 2 ) , 759, 800, 801, 836; cross stitch, 800; needlepoint, 301; running stitch, 800 "empty villages." SEE Settlement patterns, vacant towns encomiendas; abolition of, 28, 147; Maya affected by, 28, 147, 246—in central Mexican highlands, 640; in Chiapas highlands, 145-147; in Sinaloa, 783; in southern Mexican highlands, 335, 370 endogamy. SEE Marriage, endogamous

940

envy: as social control, 37; in wealth distribution, 167 epazote: 252 escalafón: 594-595, 597, 598. SEE ALSO Civil-religious hierarchy; Officers espanto. SEE Sickness, causes of, fright estaca. SEE Digging stick ethnographic studies, history of: in Baja California, 874-875; of Chocho, 506-507; of Chorti, 122, 131; of Guatemalan highland communities, 33 (fig. 3 ) , 49-50; of Huichol and Cora, 795-797; in Middle America, 3 - 1 3 ; in midwestern highlands, 7 0 - 7 1 ; of Mixtec, 371-372; of Nahuatl peoples, 605-607 (fig. 4 ) ; of Opata, 881; of Otomi, 687-688; in Panajachel, 70; of Papago (Sonoran), 881; of Pima Bajo, 881; of Pokomames, 106-107; of Seri, 881; of Tarahumara, 850-851; of Tequistlatec, 554-555; of Tlapanec, 563; of Totonac, 641, 643; of Trique; 404-405; of Tzotzil, 155; of Yaqui-Mayo; 833-834; of Zapotec, 337-338 etiquette: among Amuzgo, 427-429; among Huastec, 306; among Lacandon, 290; among Mixtee, 396-397; among Nahua, 624-625, 631; among Otomi, 718-719; among Tarahumara, 866-867; among Totonac, 675; among Trique, 415; among Tzotzil, 184-185; among Zapotee, 355. SEE ALSO Interpersonal relations evil eye. SEE Sickness, causes of, ojo exchange. SEE Medium of exchange exchange labor. SEE Labor, exchange explosives, used in fishing: 883. SEE ALSO Dynamite faena, institution of: among Totonac, 671 fajas. SEE Belts family organization: extended, 56-57, 8 1 , 112-113, 216-217 (Table 3 ) , 347, 363, 392, 409, 426, 486, 495, 502, 512, 519, 541, 593, 664, 667, 713, 714, 738, 763, 766, 788, 819, 826; household as social entity, 87, 126-127, 281-282; "multiple household" type, 126-127; nuclear, 56-57, 87, 112-113, 126, 205, 216-217 (Table 3 ) , 266, 287, 346, 347-348, 373, 389, 392, 409, 426, 470, 472, 555, 557, 593, 624, 664, 667, 712, 713, 738, 763, 766-767, 802, 803, 857, 858, 859. SEE ALSO

Kinship Fane Kansini: as culture hero, 559-560 fasting: in agricultural rituals, 199, 202, 212; of dancers, 306; by deceased's family, 193; at mitotes, 820; by pregnant women, 186-187; by public officials, 542, 802 feathers: as adornment, 163, 164, 238, 239, 286, 287, 296, 306, 488, 575, 589, 718, 800; headdresses of, 718, 719 (fig. 4 6 ) ; as offerings, 445 fence: 36, 75, 164, 205, 212, 217, 250 (fig. 3 ) , 257, 341, 342, 346, 405, 408, 423, 470, 483 (fig.

INDEX

Cora, 797, 800; by Cuitlatec, 567, 572; by Huastec, 300; by Huave, 483; by Huichol, 797, 800; by Kekchi, 240; by Lacandon, 281; in midwestern highlands, 84; by Mixtec, 372; by Otomi, 692-693; by Seri, 784, 881, 883; by Tarahumara, 851 (fig. 6 ) , 852, 870; by Tarascans, 733, 734 (fig. 1 0 ) , 737, 760; by Tzotzil, 161; by Yaqui, 835; by Yucatec Maya, 253; by Zapotee, 339 "Five Letters": of Cortés, 4 flageolet: 94 flashlight, used in hunting: 692 floods, in mythology: 115, 175, 671, 715, 789, 790, 840 flooring: of cement, 757; of planks, 757; of stone slabs, 567; of tile, 465 flowers: as altar decorations, 221, 238, 239, 307, 414, 436, 537, 618, 646, 657; for bride's family, 558; as clothing decoration, 801; growers of, 341, 646, 735; offerings of, 236, 308, 351, 394, 413, 415, 443, 503, 505, 560, 576, 631, 636; sellers of, 166, 167, 572, 623 flowers, artificial: for decoration, 365, 660 flute: manufacture of, 286; use of, 52, 65, 94, 131, 183, 202, 222, 228, 291 (fig. 15), 306, 355, 444, 445, 488, 543, 575, 631, 673, 820, 842, 854, 862, 864 flycatcher, in mythology: 352 folk culture: definition of, 605; integrated, of Yaqui, 834 folklore: municipio differences in, 9 1 ; paucity of, among Maxeños, 91. SEE ALSO under religion of individual tribes food classification: "hot" and "cold," 53, 93, 94, 108-109, 181, 273, 340, 361, 437, 719, 827 839 (SEE ALSO Officials, mayordomos). SEE ALSO food patterns: of Amuzgo, 420-421 n.; of Baja aesthetic and recreational patterns, and religion, California Indians, 875; of Chatino, 361; of under individual tribes Chinantec, 532-533, 546; of Chocho, 508; of Chontal, 231; of Chorti, 123; of Cora, 797; of fife: 355 Cuicatec, 436-438; of Cuitlatec, 567; of Huasfig-tree paper: significance of, 520 tec, 300; of Huave, 483; of Huichol, 797; of figurines: prehistoric, 373, 384, 388 n., 394, 4 1 8 Ichcatec, 499, 501; of Kekchi, 238; of Lacandon, 419 n. SEE ALSO Idols 281; of Mazatec, 517; in midwestern highlands, Fine Orange ware: rarity of, 141 72; of Mixtee, 372, 373-374; of Nahua, 6 0 9 fireplace: 54, 81, 110, 125, 162, 207, 224, 231, 237, 611; in northwestern Guatemala, 52-53; of 257, 258 (fig. 10), 259, 385, 425, 437, 465, 493, Otomi, 691-693, 695; of Pokomames, 108-109; 501, 511 (fig. 6 ) , 518, 537, 617 (fig. 12), 655, of Popoloca, 489, 493; of Seri, 881; of Tara657 (fig. 14), 702 (fig. 2 3 ) , 705, 757-758, 797, humara, 852; of Tarascans, 733, 735-738; of 837, 855 Tepehuan (northern), 824; of Tepehuan (southfireworks: direction of, 166; at fiestas, 95, 186 ern), 816; of Tequistlatec, 555, 561; of Tlapa(Table 5 ) , 397, 399, 432, 496, 631, 676, 770; nec, 563; of Totonac, 646-647; of Trique, 405; making of, 345, 388, 426, 495, 772. SEE ALSO of Tzeltal, 199-201, 203; of Tzotzil, 161; of Rockets Yaqui, 835, 836; of Yucatec Maya, 254; of Zafish, consumption of: 72, 161, 236, 238, 339, 361, potee, 339-340 405, 420, 437, 483, 532, 546, 561, 567, 737, foods, ceremonial: 52, 66, 67, 72, 117, 131, 161, 790, 797 199-201, 238, 437, 483, 517, 558-559, 611, 691, fish basket: 567, 570 (fig. 6 ) 692, 695, 721, 735, 737, 797, 816, 824, 852 fishhook: 253, 281, 300, 567, 693, 800, 883 fowlhouse. SEE Chicken coops fishing: by Chinantec, 532; by Chontal, 231; by

6), 571 (fig. 7 ) , 612, 649, 690, 738, 752 (fig. 28), 787, 838, 852, 869, 870 ferns: in sweat house, 659 fertility, folklore about: 91 fertilizer: in midwestern highlands, 75, 76; in Milpa Alta-Tepoztlan area, 609; in northwestern Guatemala, 52; by Tarascans, 736; by Zapotec, 339 fertilizers: animal dung, 851; ant excrement, 339; ashes, 157, 609, 645; coffee leaves, 76; coffeebean shells, 339; corn stubble, 157, 645; human excrement, 339; manure, 52, 75, 157, 339, 636, 736 festivals. SEE Fiestas fetishes, as protective objects: 790. SEE ALSO Amulets; Charms fiddle: 414 fiestas: alcoholic beverages at, 95, 100, 117, 186, 374, 392-393, 396, 397, 399, 414-415, 420, 429, 474, 496, 544, 631, 676, 811, 820, 827, 852, 887; All Saints' Day, 95, 241, 636; All Souls' Day, 95, 99, 115, 186, 308, 636; of Black Christ of Tila, 236; Carnaval, 308, 443, 551; cofrades responsibilities for, 60, 117; cost of, 116, 221, 512; dances at, 65, 94, 95, 186, 356, 392, 397; fireworks at, 95, 186 (Table 5 ) , 397, 399, 432, 496, 631, 676, 770; during Holy Week, 95, 186, 828, 887; horse racing at, 186, 233; importance attached to, 95, 186; markets at, 95, 167, 356, 623, 763, 765, 770, 771; of patron saint, 65-66, 95, 186, 221-222, 233, 241, 268, 269, 397, 399, 496, 542, 770, 772, 841; pilgrims to, 503; of San Francisco, 887; of Santa Cruz, 178; sponsorship of, 56, 95, 221, 347, 350, 356, 512, 520, 542, 562, 593, 597, 625-626, 676, 770-772, 827,

941

INDEX

fox: hunting of, 441, 692; in mythology, 862, 863 friars: ethnographic contributions of, 5-6. SEE ALSO Missionary activities fright. SEE Sickness, causes of frijoles. SEE Beans frogs: consumption of, 405; used in curing, 129 fruit: cultivation of, 50, 72, 126, 158 (Table 1 ) , 159, 227, 252, 275, 281, 482, 735; offerings of, 236. SEE ALSO by individual name fungi: collecting of, 161 Gage, Thomas: writings by, 8, 146 gambling: as amusement, 877; at fiestas, 631 games: baseball, 674; basketball, 189, 513, 544, 718, 773; card-playing, 718, 877; coin-toss, 674; correr la bola, 828; cuatro, 866; footraces, 860, 865-866; gambling, 631, 877; hide-and-seek, 718; jacks, 718; palillo, 866; patolli, 544; quince, 866; racing, 718; "rooster pull," 66, 841; stickthrowing, 866; tábatci, 866; word, 184. SEE ALSO Toys Gamio, Manuel: anthropological contributions by, 12, 605 gancho: 423 Gann, Thomas W. F . : anthropological contribution by, 251 García Icazbalceta, Joaquín: historical contribution

by, 8 garlic: consumption of, 72, 517, 555, 611; cultivation of, 280, 300, 736; for luck or protection, 43, 116, 385; wild, for curing, 353 geography: of Amuzgo area, 417-418, 419 (fig. 1); of Baja California, 872, 874; of Chiapas highlands, 21, 23, 133-137 (figs. 1, 2 ) , 152, 153 (fig. 1), 195; of the Chinantla, 523; of Chocho area, 506; of Chorti area, 120; of Cuchumatan highlands, 46-48; of Cuicatec area, 434, 435 (fig. 1 ) ; of Guatemala highlands, 2 1 , 30-35 (fig. 1), 46-48 (fig. 1), 101, 120; of Huave area, 479 (fig. 1 ) , 481-482; of HuicholCora area, 792-795 (figs. 1, 2 ) ; of Maya lowlands, 23, 230, 234, 237; of midwestern highlands (Guat.), 69-70; of Mixe area, 448; of Mixtec area, 367-369 (fig. 1 ) ; of Nahautl area, 604-605 (fig. 3 ) ; of northwest Mexico, 7 7 7 778, 879; of Otomi area, 685-687 (figs. 4 - 6 ) ; of Popoloca area, 489; of Popoluca area, 452; of southern Mexican highlands, 315-317; of Tarahumara area, 846-849 (figs. 1-3); of Tarascan area, 726-727, 728 (fig. 6 ) , 729 (fig. 7 ) ; of Tepehuan (northern) area, 822; of Tepehuan (southern) area, 814, 815 (fig. 1 ) ; of Tequistlatec area, 553; of Totonacapan area, 638-639; of Trique area, 400-402 (figs. 1, 2 ) ; of Tzeltal area, 195; of Yucatan Peninsula, 23, 244-246; of Zoque area, 452. SEE ALSO Rainfall

942

ghosts: among Baja California Indians, 877; beliefs about, 629 gift-giving: during courtship and marriage, 67, 98, 113, 190, 217, 218, 229, 232, 236, 242, 266, 3 0 9 310, 363, 365, 387, 392, 415, 427, 475, 497, 504, 505, 521, 544, 576, 593, 634, 667-668, 720, 767, 887; to godparents, 87, 219; to padrinos, 127; when making requests, 167, 185; to shamans, 166 glass making: in Ticul, 258 glazing. SEE Pottery, manufacture of goat hides: tanning of, 853-854; use of, 437 goat meat: 816 goat skins: for pulque storage, 609; for sleeping, 825 goats: 317, 326, 372, 376, 408, 420, 422, 483, 492 (fig. 4 ) , 508, 510, 555, 586, 605, 609, 623, 691, 818, 821, 824, 851, 869, 875 God. SEE Deities, Christian god shelter: of Lacandon, 292 (fig. 16) godparents: duties of, 87, 98, 219, 233, 267-268, 309, 310, 352, 410, 496, 514, 624, 634, 679, 714, 767; selection of, 58, 87, 113, 127, 224, 267, 306, 308-309, 348, 392, 410, 504, 514, 521, 544, 576, 625, 803 gophers: hunting of, 160, 623, 692 gossip: as pastime, 355, 395, 431, 631, 674-675, 718, 772, 860, 867; as social control, 37, 393, 560 gourds: carving of, 285, 463; cultivation of, 158 (Table 1 ) , 159; lacquer on, 755 gourds: as balances, for weighing, 799; as containers, 126 (fig. 11), 206, 285, 308, 374, 380, 423, 438, 644 (fig. 3 ) , 799, 800, 854; for floating, 569, 572 (fig. 9 ) ; as grave goods, 310; as headgear for women, 380, 384, 407, 423; as marimba resonators, 94; as measures, 387, 423, 425; as rattles, 65, 673, 807 (fig. 6 ) , 828, 878; as utensils and tools, 55, 125, 285, 423, 609, 613, 799 government: local-national relationships, 55, 90, 122, 128, 170-173, 219, 232, 268, 305, 335, 394, 429, 541, 559, 583, 584, 627, 769, 805, 838, 862, 877 grain bins: of Tarahumara, 855 (fig. 12). SEE ALSO Maize, storage of granary: 202, 207, 238, 239, 257, 303, 436, 439, 492 (fig. 4 ) , 493, 518, 612 (fig. 8 ) , 620, 645, 647,

649,

690,

697,

700,

721.

SEE ALSO Maize,

storage of grasshoppers: consumption of, 339, 372, 405 grave goods. SEE Burial customs Grijalva River: 23, 133, 135, 139, 152, 195 grinding mill: 206, 231, 235, 259, 613, 693, 799 grubs: collecting of, 161 guaro: 117 Guasave: location of, 779

INDEX Guatemala: founding of, 8; prehistory of, 24-28; Spanish conquest of, 28-29, 41-45 Guatemalan highlands, eastern: geography of, 2 1 , 23, 34. SEE ALSO Chorti; Kekchi; Pokoman; Pokonchi Guatemalan highlands, midwestern: geography of, 21, 23, 32-34. SEE ALSO Cakchiquel; Quiche; Rabinal; Tzutuhil; Uspantec Guatemalan highlands, northwestern: ethnological studies in, 48-50; geography of, 21, 23, 35, 4 6 48 (fig. 1). SEE ALSO Aguacatec; Chuh; Ixil; Jacaltec; Kanhobal; Mam; Solomec Guatemalan lowlands. SEE Maya lowlands guava: 300, 735 guaya: 252 Guazacapan: as "Ladinoized" community, 45 Guerrero, State of: 315 guilt, concept of: in northwestern Guatemala, 63 guitar: manufacture of, 162, 166, 751, 854; use of, 67, 183, 202, 224, 291 (fig. 15), 306, 396, 560, 575, 631, 673, 718, 810, 811 (fig. 9 ) , 828, 842, 864, 878 Gulf of California: 777, 778 guns: 160, 206, 236, 239, 254, 279, 290, 300, 380, 409, 420, 423, 441, 555, 558, 567, 650, 692, 737, 800, 825 gypsies (hungaros): location of, 367 gypsum: as pottery temper, 705 habas: cultivation of, 609, 634, 636 hail: mythology about, 350 hair styles: of Amuzgo, 425; of Chinantec, 538 (fig. 18); of Cora, 801; of Cuitlatec, 569; of Huave, 484; of Huichol, 801; of Lacandon, 286-287; in midwestern highlands, 82; of Mixtec, 384; of Nahua, 620; of Otomi, 709; of Pokomames, 111 (fig. 8 ) ; of Seri, 883; of Tarascans, 758, 759; of Totonac, 661; of Trique, 408; of Tzotzil, 164; of Zapotec, 343 hallucinatory drugs and mushrooms: 446, 520, 631 hammer: 206, 825 hammock: 66, 123, 161, 231, 237, 258, 259, 282, 285, 286 (fig. 11), 297, 342, 343, 362, 424, 463, 466, 484, 518, 557, 701 (fig. 2 2 ) , 703 hand spade: 438 (fig. 5) hanging: suicide by, 307 harp: manufacture of, 162, 166; use of, 183, 202, 224, 306, 842 harpoon: 240, 253, 300, 301, 532, 883 Harvard University: fieldwork sponsored by, 13, 155, 199 harvesting nail: 75 hatchet: 199 hats: ceremonial, 163, 222 (fig. 7 ) , 240; as currency, 510, 512; manufacture of, 61, 65, 161, 164, 232, 258, 301, 380, 501, 512, 564, 705, 709, 746, 755, 825; as status symbol, 409; wear-

ing of, 54, 83, 111, 162, 208, 231, 235, 238, 260, 344, 383, 424, 467, 484, 494, 510, 518, 548, 557, 569, 620, 659, 660, 709, 758, 759, 800, 801, 825, 836 hawk plumes: shamans' use of, 806, 809 head deformation: among Huastec, 303 headcloths: 83 (fig. 12), 111, 162, 235, 238, 303, 468 (fig. 17) headdresses: of feathers, 718, 719 (fig. 4 6 ) ; used by Yaqui, 841 hearth. SEE Fireplace "heat": power of, 178 henequen: objects made from, 254, 258, 259, 301; preparation of, 301 henequen industry: effect on Maya, 29, 247 henhouses. SEE Chicken coops herbs: for abortion, 186; during childbirth, 129, 233, 513; for consumption, 53, 72, 203, 361, 374, 508, 567, 695, 737; in curing, 37, 65, 116, 129, 181, 228, 233, 243, 273, 274, 308, 353, 414, 429, 430, 436, 446, 474, 495, 503, 520, 561, 575, 630, 717, 809, 842, 864, 877; to prevent hangovers, 352-353; as punishment of children, 398; for weaning, 356, 398 hermitages: of Kekchi, 241 hieroglyphics, Maya: deciphering of, 25 Historia de las Indias: humanitarian contribution of, 6 Historia de las Indias de Nueva España: ethnological contribution of, 6 Historia general de las cosas de Nueva España: ethnographic contribution of, 5 hitebim: Yaqui curers, 842 h-men: 262, 268-269, 274 hoe: 35, 50, 75, 125, 157, 201, 206, 235, 372, 380, 438 (fig. 5 ) , 482, 493, 501, 508, 518, 555, 567, 609, 613, 634, 690, 746, 852, 853 hog raising. SEE Pigs Hokan languages: speakers of, 777-790 homicide: among Totonac, 675 Honduras: trade into, 86 honey: consumption of, 72, 281, 300, 499, 555; export of, 257; gathering of, 203, 257, 737. SEE ALSO Beehives; Beekeeping hoop and stick: used by Tarahumara, 866 horn. SEE Cow horn; Deer horn horse racing: among Baja California Indians, 877; at fiestas, 186, 233 horses: 61, 83, 159, 208, 227, 263, 264, 300, 341, 345, 363, 372, 380, 386, 483, 546, 555, 605, 609, 620, 668, 692, 736, 759, 801, 817, 824 horseshoe: as luck symbol, 116 Hospital de Santa F e : establishment of, 727-728 "hot" and "cold." SEE Food classification; Sickness, classification of house furnishings: of Amuzgo, 425; of Chatino, 362; of Chinantec, 535-537 (figs. 13-15); of

943

INDEX Chocho, 508-511 (fig. 6 ) ; of Chol, 235; of Chontal, 231; of Chorti, 125; of Cora, 797, 799; of Cuicatec, 439, 441 (figs. 8, 9 ) ; of Cuitlatec, 567-569, 571 (fig. 7 ) ; of Huastec, 303; of Huave, 484; of Huichol, 797, 799; of Ichcatec, 501; of Kekchi, 238; of Lacandon, 285; Ladino type, 238; of Mazatec, 518; in midwestern highlands, 80 (fig. 9 ) , 8 1 ; of Mixe, 466; of Mixtec, 385; of Nahua, 617-620 (figs. 12, 13); in northwestern Guatemala, 54-55; of Otomi, 7 0 1 705 (figs. 2 0 - 2 4 ) ; of Pokomames, 110 (fig. 7 ) , 111, 114; of Popoloca, 493, 494 (fig. 6 ) ; of Popoluca, 466; of Tarahumara, 855; of Tarascans, 757, 758; of Tepehuan (northern), 825; of Totonac, 655, 657-659 (figs. 14, 15); of Trique, 406-407; of Tzeltal, 206-208; of Yucatec Maya, 255 (fig. 8 ) , 258 (fig. 10), 259-260 (fig. 11); of Zoque, 466. SEE ALSO under specific items household. SEE Family organization houses: of adobe, 54, 61, 79, 109, 162, 227, 342, 362, 384, 425, 465, 546, 567, 590, 615 (fig. 10), 616, 617, 618, 696 (fig. 11), 697, 698, 738, 756 (fig. 3 1 ) , 757, 797, 817, 836, 837, 855, 876, 881; of bamboo, 162, 303, 557, 567, 616, 617, 655, 656 (fig. 13); of boards, 54, 79, 855; of brick, 567; brush covered, 790; of cane-daub, 79; of cane mats, 788; of cane-and-mud wattle, 836; of canes, 615-617 (fig. 10); caves as, 853, 881; of clay brick, 125; of cornstalk, 162, 616, 655; dome-shaped, 788; on earth platform, 817; grass-covered, 788; of hardpan blocks, 493; log cabins, 852; of logs, 384, 465, 655, 825, 852; of maguey leaves, 616, 617, 702; of masonry, 254, 257, 618; of mud and otate, 425; of palm, 235, 254, 255, 257, 384, 655; pit-house construction, 817; of planks, 655, 659 (fig. 16), 697 (fig. 12), 698 (fig. 15), 700, 825; of poles, 54, 79, 162, 276 n., 303, 341, 342, 384, 406, 4 3 8 439, 440 (fig. 7 ) , 653-655 (fig. 12), 797; of reed grass, 438, 567; of shingle, 697 (fig. 13), 700; of sticks, 285, 438, 465, 698 (fig. 15), 699 (fig. 16), 701; of stone, 615 (fig. 10), 616-618, 699 (fig. 17), 701-702, 738, 757, 797, 817; of stones and cane, 79; of stones and mud, 341, 342, 788; of stones and wood, 854 (fig. 11), 855; of thatch, 252 (fig. 5 ) , 483, 484 (fig. 7 ) ; of tree trunks, 207, 231, 493, 537; of wattle, 797; of wattle-and-daub, 54, 162, 207, 227, 2 5 4 255, 257, 342, 384, 465, 590, 876, 881, 883; whitewashed, 81, 342, 343; of wood, 616, 617, 618, 752 (fig. 2 8 ) , 756 (fig. 3 1 ) ; of wooden boards, 207, 231, 238; of zacate, 699 (fig. 17), 702. SEE ALSO Flooring; Roofing materials; Sweat house; Windows housing: of Amuzgo, 421 (fig. 2 ) , 425; of Baja California Indians, 873 (fig. 2 ) , 876; of Chinantec, 534-537 (figs. 11-15), 546; in Chinautla,

944

109; of Chol, 231; of Chorti, 123-125 (fig. 10); of Cora, 797-799; of Cuicatec, 437-440 (figs. 3, 6, 7 ) ; of Cuitlatec, 567, 569 (fig. 4 ) , 571 (fig. 7 ) ; in Guatemalan highlands, 36; of Huastec, 303; of Huave, 483-485 (figs. 7, 8 ) ; of Huichol, 797-799; of Ichcatec, 501 (fig. 3 ) ; of Lacandon, 276 n., 281 (fig. 6 ) , 282 (fig. 7 ) , 285; in midwestern highlands, 78-81 (figs. 7 - 1 0 ) ; of Mixe, 463-465; of Nahua, 615-620 (figs. 10-13); in northwestern Guatemala, 54-55; of Otomi, 694 (fig. 10), 696-702 (figs. 1 1 - 1 9 ) ; of Pokomam, 107 (fig. 4 ) ; of Popoloca, 493; of Popoluca, 463-466 (figs. 14, 15); of Tarahumara, 8 5 4 855 (figs. 1 0 - 1 3 ) ; of Tarascans, 738, 739 (fig. 12), 752-758 (figs. 2 8 - 3 1 ) ; of Tepehuan (southern), 816-817 (fig. 2 ) ; of Totonac, 655-659 (figs. 12-16); of Trique, 406-407 (fig. 4 ) ; of Tzeltal, 207; of Tzotzil, 162; of Yaqui, 835 (fig. 2 ) , 836; of Yucatec Maya, 250 (fig. 3 ) , 2 5 2 255 (figs. 5 - 8 ) , 257; of Zapotec, 341-343; of Zinacantan, 168 (fig. 8 ) ; of Zoque, 463-465 Hrdlicka, Ales: anthropological contribution 11-12

by,

huaraches: 343, 344, 383, 424, 441, 538, 548, 569, 758, 818, 825. SEE ALSO Sandals; Shoes Huastec: aesthetic and recreational patterns of, 306-307; census of, 24, 298; cephalic index of, 141; distribution of, 13, 2 1 , 24-25, 298, 299 (fig. 1); economy of, 303-304; ethnographic studies of, 299; history of, 298-299; life cycle of, 308-310; linguistic history of, 24-25; political organization of, 304-305; prehistory of, 2 4 26, 298, 325; religion of, 307-308; settlement patterns of, 300-301; social organization of, 305-306; subsistence of, 300; technology of, 3 0 1 303 Huautla de Jimenez: 319 Huave: census of, 320 (fig. 2 ) , 321, 478; dialects of, 478; distribution of, 317, 318 (fig. 1 ) , 321, 331, 478, 479 (fig. 1 ) ; economy of, 485-486; ethnographic studies of, 481; geographical area of, 479 (fig. 1 ) , 481-482; history of, 323-324, 479, 481; settlement patterns of, 483; social organization of, 486-488; subsistence of, 482-483; technology of, 483-485 Huehuetenango, Dept. of: proto-Maya community in, 24; wool from, 77 Huichol: aesthetic and recreational patterns of, 810-811; annual cycle of, 813; distribution of, 792-794 (figs. 1, 2 ) , 795; economy of, 801-803; effect of Spanish mines on, 782; ethnographical studies of, 11, 12, 795; geographical area of, 792-795 (figs. 1, 2 ) ; history of, 795; language of, 15, 779, 792 n., 795; life cycle of, 812-813; population estimates of, 784, 795; religion and world view of, 806-810; settlement patterns of,

INDEX 797-799; social organization of, 803-806; subsistence of, 786, 797; technology of, 799-801 huipil: 53, 76 (fig. 5 ) , 82, 111, 163-164, 261, 343, 344 (fig. 6 ) , 381, 383, 384, 406, 407, 409, 424, 425 n., 432, 439, 442 (fig. 1 1 ) , 444 (fig. 1 3 ) , 466, 467, 484, 486 (fig. 1 0 ) , 518, 519 (fig. 2 ) , 521, 537, 538 (fig. 17), 557, 569, 590, 613, 620, 759 huisquil: 107-108 Huistan, town of: Tzotzil in, 155-194 Huitiupan, town of: Tzotzil in, 155-194 huki: for palm-weaving, 883, 884 (fig. 4 ) human nature, beliefs about: 177-178 Humboldt, Alexander von: writings by, 9 hummingbird, beliefs about: 177, 475 humor: clowns, 356, 543, 633, 805; dances, comic, 66, 290, 355; endurance failure considered as, 117; failure as, 865; insults as, 859; joking, sexual, 184, 674, 859, 865; loss of dignity as, 674; nicknames as, 355; in stories, 843; teasing, 859, 865 (fig. 2 2 ) , 867; verbal, 65, 184, 290, 355, 575, 674, 810—among Lacandon, 290; among Tzotzil, 184; among Zapotec, 355 hunting. SEE BOW and arrow; Guns; Traps; SEE ALSO by specific animal, and under subsistence of individual tribes Ichcatec: aesthetic and recreational patterns of, 503; census of, 499; distribution of, 499, 507 (fig. 1 ) ; economy of, 502; history of, 499; life cycle of, 503-505; political organization of, 5 0 2 503; religion of, 503; settlement patterns of, 501; subsistence of, 499, 501; technology of, 5 0 1 502. SEE ALSO Izcatec

idols: prehistoric, 242, 273, 395, 657; use of, 394, 443, 446, 657. SEE ALSO Figurines

iguana: consumption of, 555, 567; hunting of, 341, 420, 482, 555, 567, 797 imprisonment: for theft, 388 incense: 52, 64, 129, 130, 131, 178, 179, 201, 220, 221, 222, 236, 239, 240, 270, 294, 295, 296, 307, 310, 413, 443, 473, 474, 476, 495, 503, 520, 560-561. SEE ALSO Copal incense bearers: dancing of, 183-184 incense burners: at altars, 110, 618, 757; manufacture of, 286; officers in charge of, 573, 575; as offerings, 807; storage of, 125, 285 incest. SEE Sexual behavior Indian-Ladino relationships: in Chiapas area, 1 4 6 147; studies of, 70, 106 infancy and childhood: weaning, 66, 96, 129, 188, 233, 242, 296, 309, 356, 397, 415, 513, 561, 575, 633, 720, 812, 821, 868—among Chatino, 365; among Chinantec, 544-545; among Chocho, 5 1 3 514; among Chorti, 129-130; among Cora, 801, 812; among Cuitlatec, 575-576; among Huastec, 309; among Huichol, 801, 812; among Kekchi,

242; among Lacandon, 295, 296; among Mazatec, 521; in midwestern highlands, 73 (fig. 2 ) , 96, 97 (fig. 1 5 ) ; among Mixe, 475; among Mixtec, 397-398; among Nahua, 633, 635 (fig. 2 0 ) ; in northwestern Guatemala, 66-67; among Otomi, 720; among Pokomames, 113, 117; among Popoloca, 496-497; among Popoluca, 475; among Tarahumara, 868, 869 (fig. 2 5 ) ; among Tarascans, 760; among Tepehuan (southern), 821; among Tequistlatec, 561-562; among Tojolabal, 228; among Totonac, 664-665, 678-679; among Trique, 415; among Tzeltal, 224; among Tzotzil, 187-189; among Zapotec, 356-357; among Zoque, 475 infant mortality: in Yucatan, 248 infanticide: among Tarahumara, 868 inheritance: of apodos, 348; bilateral, 86, 348, 410, 486, 877; consanguineal, 389; of land, 60, 72, 166, 211, 227, 263, 304, 410, 470, 548, 576, 664, 763, 766, 819, 825, 826, 858; through lineages, 215; of names, 36, 169, 266, 519, 714, 877; of orchards, 802; patrilineal, 486, 541, 576, 664, 667, 799, 819, 826, 877; ultimo-genitor, 363— among Lacandon, 287, 288; among Tarahumara, 858; among Tzeltal, 211, 215; among Tzotzil, 166 Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia: ethnological contributions of, 12 Instituto Nacional Indigenista: fieldwork sponsored by, 13, 29 interpersonal relations: formal nature of, 866; respect in, 185, 306, 355, 392, 396, 427, 428, 502, 512, 624-625, 631, 634, 669, 675, 719, 766, 767, 867. SEE ALSO Etiquette

intoxication: of bride's father, 98; ceremonial, 95, 185, 222, 443, 675-676; at fiestas, 100, 222, 396, 420, 544, 867; at funerals, 95, 193, 357; of old people, 676. SEE ALSO Beverages, alcoholic; Drinking patterns; Fiestas iron: 35, 206, 590, 746, 755 irrigation: by ditches, 76, 787, 835; by flood plain, 569, 778, 787, 835—by Chinautlecos, 107; by Chocho, 508; by Cuicatec, 436; by Mixtee, 373, 379, 398; by Opata, 787; by Otomi, 686; by Tarascans, 735, 736, 746, 747 (fig. 2 1 ) ; by Trique, 405; by Zapotee, 339 Isthmus of Tehuantepec: 448, 454 Itzas: fieldwork among, 8; location of, 248; Spanish conquest of, 28 Ixil: census of, 23, 48; distribution of, 23, 38, 48, 237 Ixtapa, town of: Tzotzil in, 155-194 Ixtlan, town of: Zapotee in, 333-358 Ixtlilxochitl, Fernando. SEE Alva Ixtlilxochitl Izcatec: census of, 319, 320 (fig. 2 ) ; distribution of, 318 (fig. 1 ) , 319. SEE ALSO Ichcatec

945

INDEX jabali. SEE Pigs, wild jacal: construction of, 616-617 Jacaltec: census of, 23, 48; distribution of, 23, 38, 46, 48 Jacaltenango, town of: 48, 49, 56, 61 jaguar: hunting of, 300; in mythology, 175, 177, 236, 295, 296; song about, 290 Jalisco: early ethnography about, 7 Jatate. SEE Lacandon Jesuit missionaries, in northwest Mexico: 782-790, 795, 822, 830, 832, 836, 838, 846, 850, 860. SEE ALSO Missionary activities jicama: 252 Jimson weed: 877 jipijapa plant: 258 Joba: language of, 879; life cycle of, 887; population estimates of, 881; religion of, 887 Jocopilas: pottery from, 81 Jocotan, town of: 120, 122-125 joking. SEE Humor Juchitan, town of: Zapotec in, 338-358 "Judases": as scarecrows, 157 juntas: of Tojolabal, 228

kinship system: bilateral, 36, 112, 169, 214, 232, 242, 265, 266, 346, 391, 427, 444, 470, 487, 558, 788, 790, 803; patrilineal, 56, 58, 127, 169, 265, 266, 288, 495, 541, 594, 788, 825; unilateral, 288 kinship terminology: age-grade system of, 713; bifurcate collateral, 305, 788, 839; bifurcate fused, 305; bilateral, 487, 713, 859; classificatory, 2 6 5 266, 348; collateral, 348; descriptive, 169, 348, 363, 826-827; Eskimo, 58, 112, 444, 669; generational, 305; Hawaiian, 169, 444, 558, 788, 803, 839; Iroquois, 444; Omaha, 143, 169, 2 1 5 216; Patri-Hawaiian, 558; Spanish, 58, 228, 495, 669, 713, 766, 886; totemic, 288; used for deities, 809, 810 (Table 2 ) ; Yuman, 886-887—of Amuzgo, 423 n.; of Chol, 236, 237; of Chontal, 232; of Cora, 803, 804 (Table 1 ) ; of Cuitlatec, 574 (fig. 12); of Huichol, 803, 804 (Table 1 ) ; of Ichcatec, 504 (fig. 7 ) ; of Lacandon, 288; of Mazatec, 519; of Mixe, 472; in northwestern Guatemala, 58; of Otomi, 713-714; of Popoloca, 495, 496 (fig. 8 ) ; of Tepehuan (northern), 8 2 6 827; of Trique, 410, 415; of Tzeltal, 213-216; of Yucatec Maya, 265-266; of Zapotec, 347-348

Kaminaljuyu: Miraflores phase at, 27; prehistoric populations of, 26 Kanhobal: census of, 23, 48; distribution of, 23, 26, 38, 46; linguistic history of, 26 Kekchi: census of, 23, 104, 237; distribution of, 23, 25, 39, 104, 237, 244, 248; geographical area of, 237; life cycle of, 242; linguistic history of, 25; linguistic relationships of, 39, 104, 237; material culture of, 237, 238; political organization of, 240; religion of, 239, 241-242; subsistence of, 238-240 Kiliwa: distribution of, 871, 872 (fig. 1 ) ; language of, 871. SEE ALSO Baja California Indians kiln: charcoal, 615; lime, 256 (fig. 9 ) ; for pottery firing, 123, 303, 753. SEE ALSO Oven kin groups: bands, 877; clans, 58-59, 127 n., 169, 205, 211, 213-215, 217-218, 236, 265, 282, 288, 305, 363, 472, 594, 819; hostilities between, 878: kindred, 487, 803; moiety, 824-825, 827, 886; patrilineages, 58, 169, 205, 211, 213-217, 236, 242, 472; phratries, 169, 288 kin relationships, artificial: ceremonial, 113, 127, 169, 306, 803, 839; compadrazgo, 43, 58, 87, 169, 219, 228, 306, 348-349, 363, 367 η., 388, 392, 398, 410, 420, 427, 428, 444, 472, 487, 495, 502, 512, 514, 541, 576, 594, 609, 613, 624, 633, 669, 767, 826, 860, 877; Ladinos selected for, 58, 87, 173—among Pokomames, 113; among Tzotzil, 169; among Yaqui, 839 Kino, Father: writings by, 7 kinship: affinal, 859; avoidance relationships in, 790, 887; consanguineal, 36, 306, 669, 713, 803. SEE ALSO Family organization

La Independencia, town of: Tojolabal in, 226-229 La Venta: prehistoric population of, 27; relationships with Monte Alban, 323 labor: baldiaje, 147 labor, communal: among Chinantec, 540 (fig. 2 3 ) , 549; among Mazatec, 520; in midwestern highlands, 87; among Cuicatec, 444; among Nahua, 625, 626 (fig. 17); in northwestern Guatemala, 56; among Totonac, 670 (fig. 19), 671, 675; among Yucatec Maya, 263; among Zapotee, 345, 346 labor, compulsory collective: in central Mexican highlands, 609, 612 labor, exchange: among Huave, 485; in northwestern Guatemala, 52; among Tepehuan (northern), 826; in Tepoztlan, 609; among Totonac, 645 labor, export: for highway construction, 167—of Mixtee, 391; in northwestern Guatemala, 61; of Tzotzil, 167 labor, forced: by Spanish, 198, 235, 299, 583, 591, 782. SEE ALSO Colonial administration; Spanish conquest labor, sexual division of: in agriculture, 76, 84, 112 (Table 1 ) , 125, 164, 199, 209, 212, 227-228, 262, 287, 303, 345, 363, 387-388, 408, 420, 426, 444, 469, 485, 494, 502, 510, 540, 557, 564, 572, 621, 645, 662, 689, 712, 760, 788, 801, 818, 825,

946

knapsack. SEE Bags knife: used for woodworking, 206 knife juggling: among Cora, 810 Ko?al: distribution of, 871, 872 (fig. 1 ) ; language of, 871. SEE ALSO Baja California Indians

INDEX 857; in ceremonial activities, 125, 165, 166, 262, 559, 663; in charcoal production, 109, 112 (Table 1 ) , 621; in construction activities, 65, 112 (Table 1 ) , 125, 164-165, 262, 287, 345, 388, 426, 469, 485, 557, 564, 621, 662, 712, 760, 801, 825; in curing, 112 (Table 1 ) , 210, 304, 345, 353, 395, 559, 663; in dances, 842, 843; in firewood collecting, 112 (Table 1 ) , 125, 164, 209, 262, 287, 303, 388, 712, 760; in fishing, 485, 692-693, 712, 760; in government matters, 125, 210, 262, 345, 663; in honeycomb cutting, 262; inheritance with regard to, 166, 348, 563, 576; in laundering, 112 (Table 1 ) , 164, 209, 262, 345, 408, 621, 663, 712, 760; in livestock care, 84, 112 (Table 1 ) , 125, 164, 212, 262, 287, 345, 388, 408, 426, 469, 557, 621, 662, 712, 760, 788, 801, 818, 825, 857; in marketing, 74, 84, 112 (Table 1 ) , 125, 165, 304, 345, 391, 408, 485, 493, 621, 662, 712, 760, 765, 818; in meal preparation, 84, 112 (Table 1 ) , 125, 164, 209, 262, 287, 345, 408, 420, 469, 485, 621, 663, 693, 712, 760, 801, 818, 857; in pottery manufacture, 79, 107, 112 (Table 1 ) , 125, 165, 228, 262, 287, 303, 345, 388, 426, 439, 469, 485, 493, 557, 663, 705, 712, 760, 825; in religious affairs, 210, 262, 345; in rocket making, 572; in rope making, 572, 825; in silver work, 572; in tumpline use, 125, 661; in water hauling, 112 (Table 1 ) , 164, 209, 262, 303, 408, 663, 712, 720, 760; in weaving, 53, 65, 77, 125, 161, 164, 228, 238, 262, 287, 303, 345, 388, 408, 424, 426, 469, 485, 493, 502, 569, 590, 613, 621, 662, 663, 706, 712, 760, 801, 825—in Chichicastenango, 84; in Chinautla, 111, 112 (Table 1 ) ; among Chorti, 125; in Totonicapan, 84 labor, wage: agricultural, 264, 300, 572, 609, 621, 624, 765, 802, 858; braceros, 347, 391, 765, 802; in chicle camps, 236, 264; on coffee plantations, 29, 61, 99, 147, 213, 228, 236, 347, 363; domestics, 167, 304, 388, 713; on henequen farms, 264; for Ladinos, 73; for Mestizos, 802, 858; in oilfields, 304; in sugar mills, 494-495, 713; on sugar plantations, 264, 347, 391, 409, 640; in tobacco fields, 347, 802—among Baja California Indians, 875; in midwestern Guatemala, 86; in northwestern Guatemala, 52, 61; among Pokomames, 117; among Sonoran tribes, 881; among Tzeltal, 213; among Yaqui, 836; among Zapotec, 347 Lacandon: blood type of, 197; bow and arrow of, 254, 278, 279, 286, 288; census of, 23-24, 277; disease among, 278-279; distribution of, 23, 25, 27, 139, 276; economy of, 287-288; ethnological studies of, 280; geographical area of, 276; history of, 277-280; life cycle of, 296-297; linguistic history of, 25; political and religious organization of, 290; religion of, 278-279, 282,

292-296; settlement patterns of, 277 (fig. 1 ) , 281-285; social organization of, 288-290; subsistence of, 280-281; technology of, 279, 283 (figs. 8, 9 ) , 284 (fig. 10), 285-287 (fig. 11), 289 (fig. 13) lacquerwork: by Tarascans, 755 ladder system. SEE Escalafón ladders: 4 6 6 , 5 3 5 (fig. 13) "Ladinoized" Indians: definition of, 45 Ladinos: agriculture of, 34; in Agua Escondida, 70; as bread-makers, 52; as cattlemen, 173; census of, 48, 195-196; ceramic shops of, 79; in Chinautla, 109; in Chorti area, 120; commercial activity of, 138; distribution of, 13, 21, 34, 40, 45, 46, 48, 55-56, 85, 104, 109, 118-120, 135-138, 146, 155, 205, 226-227; as godparents, 58, 87; as industrial leaders, 73; as labor-recruiting agents, 61; land invasions by, 198; land not sold to, 60; land sales to, 86; literacy of, 48; as luxury food buyers, 72; in midwestern highlands, 72; music for, 94; offices held by, 59, 88, 106, 114, 149, 171, 172 (Table 2 ) , 220; property of, 167; Quaker missionaries among, 120; as ritual kinsmen, 173; saints of, 221; in San Cristobal de las Casas, 135; in San Luis Jilotepeque, 118-119; as santo guardians, 90; settlement pattern of, 5 5 56, 135, 136, 137, 138, 146; as store owners, 167; as teachers, 106; as town residents, 73; as Tzotzil god, 177; as Xinca-Lenca-speakers, 38. SEE ALSO Indian-Ladino relationships Lake Atitlan area: aires concept lacking in, 94; cultural and economic variability in, 32, 34; ethnographic study of, 70; folklore in, 9 1 ; geography of, 69; roofing techniques in, 79, 80 (fig. 8 ) ; settlement pattern in, 73-74 Lake Banabil: offerings thrown into, 223 Lake Patzcuaro: 726, 729 (fig. 7 ) , 734 (fig. 10), 736, 737, 746 Lake Xochimilco: chinampa cultivation in, 586 lamps: of gas, 618; of kerosene, 55, 206; of oil, 231 lance: at fiestas, 308; for fishing, 253 land: buying of, 60, 166, 211, 470, 548; inheritance of, 60, 72, 166, 211, 227, 263, 304, 410, 470, 548, 576, 664, 763, 766, 819, 825, 826, 858; irrigation of, 76, 107, 212, 339, 373, 379, 398, 405, 436, 508, 569, 686, 735, 736, 746, 747 (fig. 2 1 ) , 778, 787, 835; lending of, 304; pawning of, 86; renting of, 60, 86, 166, 167, 211, 340, 346, 470, 591, 648, 802; selling of, 60, 147, 166, 173, 871; sharecropping of, 60; as wealth, 86, 126, 391, 426, 495, 623, 765, 858 land reforms: ejidos, 29, 147, 166, 172, 173, 212, 227, 264, 370, 426, 685 land tenure: communal, 35, 55, 60, 86, 166, 212, 232, 263, 304, 326, 346, 377, 408, 426, 444, 470, 483, 494, 502, 510, 518, 540, 548, 549, 557, 569,

947

INDEX 583, 584, 591, 613, 621, 622, 713, 745, 763, 802; ejidal, 60, 227, 304, 346, 388-389, 429 η., 444, 494, 518, 540, 572, 584, 591, 593, 621-622, 663, 664, 713, 763, 826, 886; by family, 35 56, 60, 123, 127, 166, 211, 548, 788; by individual, 35, 60, 86, 212, 227, 232, 263, 304, 345, 346, 388-389, 426, 470, 482, 483, 494, 502, 510, 518, 540, 548, 569, 584, 593, 622, 663, 664, 713, 745, 763, 876-877—in Chiapas area, 146-147; in Chichicastenango, 86; among Chorti, 123; in Guatemala highlands, 35-36, 55, 6 0 - 6 1 ; in Oxchuc, 211; in Panajachel, 86; in Totonicapan, 86 Landa, Diego de: ethnological contribution by, 6 lantern, used in fishing: 883 lapo: 610 Larrainzar, town of: Tzotzil in, 155-194 Las Margaritas, town of: Tojolabal in, 226-229 lathe: for woodworking, 746, 747 (fig. 2 2 ) , 750 laurel: 499 law, courts of: among Trique, 411; among Zapotec, 349-350 "Law of the Saints": of Chinautlecos, 112, 114, 115 leather: 54, 157, 163, 193, 208, 259, 341, 380, 421, 503, 691, 708, 709, 711, 755 lemon trees: 281, 300, 489. SEE ALSO Fruit León, Nicolas: ethnological contribution by, 12, 732 Le Plongeon, Augustus: anthropological contribution by, 250-251 Lerma River: 586, 686, 692 lettuce: 736 levirate: 191, 593, 667. SEE ALSO Marriage life cycle. SEE under individual tribes lifespan: in Yucatan, 248-249 lighting. SEE Lamps; Lantern; Ocote lightning, mythology about: 181, 205, 271-272, 308, 350, 351, 414, 445, 473, 549 lime: in dye-making, 406; in food preparation, 72, 123, 161, 168 (fig. 8 ) , 693, 749; in house construction, 54, 231, 235; for leather curing, 162; in pottery manufacture, 123, 705; during pregnancy, 521; to repel evil spirit, 116; in sand paintings, 365; tobacco mixed with, 185 lime cross: for deceased, 505, 514, 521, 634, 721 lime kiln: in Yucatan, 256 (fig. 9 ) linen: weaving of, 76, 259 linguistic distributions: of Mayance peoples, 1 3 14, 32 (fig. 2 ) , 38-40, 46-48, 325; of Mexican peoples, 14-15, 317-326 (fies. 1, 2 ) , 448-456, 580-581 (fig. 1 ) , 725-726, 728 (figs. 1-5), 7 7 7 790, 822; in northwest Mexico, 777-790, 822, 830, 871, 879 linguistic divergence: from Mixtecan, 318, 323; from proto-Mayan community, 24-28 (fig. 2 ) , 39; of Tarascan speech, 726; from Zapotec, 317, 323 linguistic history: of Maya, 24-28 (fig. 2 ) , 39-40,

948

325; of Mexican peoples, 317-326, 448-456, 725-726 linguistics: of Cora, 792 n.; of Huichol, 792 n. liquor. SEE Beverages, alcoholic lizards: consumption of, 372, 567; mythology about, 350, 863 loans: among Mixtee, 388; among Tzotzil, 167 locusts: consumption of, 372, 437, 567 Loma San Gabriel: history of, 816 loom: backstrap (stick, belt), 38, 76-77, 78, 161, 207, 212, 235, 238, 285, 301, 341, 362, 381, 406, 424 (fig. 3 ) , 463, 466, 484, 590, 613, 614 (fig. 9 ) , 652 (fig. 10), 706 (fig. 3 0 ) , 750 (fig. 2 5 ) , 753, 800, 836; foot, 53, 77, 590; hand, 53; horizontal, 335, 753, 825, 852 (fig. 8 ) , 853; preHispanic, 493, 537; Spanish, 228, 613; stationary, 706 (fig. 3 2 ) ; unspecified, 535 (fig. 1 3 ) , 746, 825; vertical, 345, 614 Lothrop, Samuel K.: ethnographic contribution by, 70 lotteries: at fiestas, 496 loza ware: 79 luck, symbols of: cross painted in lime, 116; deer horn, 116; garlic bundles, 43, 116; horseshoe, 116 luk: distribution of, 38. SEE ALSO Coa

lumbering: in Lacandon area, 277-279; in Totonicapan, 72 Lumholtz, Carl: fieldwork by, 11, 732, 795, 824, 850, 881 machete: practical use of, 35, 50, 75, 125, 126 (fig. 11), 157, 162, 164, 187, 199, 206, 223, 235, 252, 259, 277-278, 285, 290, 301, 380, 423, 463, 482, 484, 518, 521, 537, 539, 555, 557, 564, 567, 609, 613, 615, 643, 650, 655, 690, 799; ritual use of, 271 maestro cantor. SEE Cantor, Indian Magdalena Milpas Altas: as "modified" community, 45 Magdalenas, town of: Tzotzil in, 155-194 maguey: cultivation of, 607, 609, 690-691; use of— for alcoholic beverage, 824; for bags, 82, 109, 621 (fig. 16), 677 (fig. 2 0 ) ; for cordage, 707; for fencing, 405, 612; in house construction, 616, 617; for nets, 406; for pulque production, 372, 436, 607, 691; for rope, 493, 614; for soap, 353 maize: consumption of, 52-53, 72, 108, 123, 161, 167, 199, 203, 238, 252, 254, 281, 360, 405, 4 3 6 437, 483, 501, 508, 517, 532-533, 555, 567, 610, 647, 693, 695, 737, 816, 852; cultivation of, 24, 26, 35, 50, 7 1 , 72, 75, 101, 107, 118 (Table 3 ) , 120, 122-123, 125, 157-159, 199-202, 227, 232, 235, 238-239, 247, 251-252, 280, 300, 338, 363, 372-373, 398, 405, 420, 421 n., 436, 459-162, 482, 489, 499, 517, 518, 538, 539, 546, 555, 563, 567, 572, 590, 607, 609, 634, 636, 642 (fig. 2 ) ,

INDEX 643-645 (fig. 3 ) , 680, 688-690 (fig. 8 ) , 733, 736, 786, 797, 824, 835, 851, 852 (fig. 7 ) , 870; deities of, 272, 364, 472-473, 542; forced germination of, 645; hybridization of, 71; as medium of exchange, 167, 264, 374, 387, 391; mythology about, 307, 436, 473; prehistoric, 24, 26; preparation of, 54, 72, 123, 161, 168 (fig. 8 ) , 171 (fig. 9 ) , 182 (fig. 13), 231, 238, 254, 281, 287, 301, 339, 360, 373, 462, 517, 532 (fig. 8 ) , 533, 596 (fig. 7 ) , 608 (fig. 5 ) , 613, 647, 693, 695, 737, 749, 797, 799, 816, 852, 875 (fig. 4 ) ; production of (yield), 52, 167, 201, 232, 252, 469, 555; storage of, 55, 123, 131, 162, 201, 207, 227, 285, 362, 376, 384, 398, 436, 465, 534 (fig. 10), 535, 549, 608 (fig. 5 ) , 609, 612, 616, 618, 620, 645, 647, 689 (fig. 8 ) , 690, 721, 733, 738, 757, 797, 798 (fig. 4 ) , 835 (fig. 2 ) , 855, 870; transportation of, 164, 261. SEE ALSO Milpa mal de ojo. SEE Sickness, causes of, ojo malacate: 614 male friendship groups: camaradería, 113; palomilla, 349 Malinowski, Β.: Zapotec fieldwork of, 337 Mam: census of, 23, 48; distribution of, 23, 24, 38, 46; linguistic history of, 24 (fig. 2 ) ; linguistic relationships of, 39 manioc: 201, 239, 459, 646 mano: manufacture of, 162; use of, 689 (fig. 8 ) , 817 margay: as companion animal, 177 marihuana: 567, 575 marimba: 65, 67, 94, 117, 183, 355 markets: bargaining in, 167, 623; credit institutions lacking in, 86; exchange, around Lake Atitlan, 34; at fiestas, 95, 167, 623; luxury foods in, 72; origin of market exchange, 85; social function of, 100, 167, 365; "solar" system of, 85-86; vendor locations in, 85-86—of Amuzgo, 4 2 6 427; in Chichicastenango, 41 (figs. 11, 12), 8 5 86; in Chorti area, 120, 123; for Cuicatec, 4 4 1 442; of Cuitlatec, 572; in Guatemala City, 112; in Guatemalan highlands, 36, 38 (fig. 8 ) , 41 (figs. 11, 12), 44 (fig. 15), 50; of Huastec, 304; of Huave, 485, 487 (fig. 12); in Jocotan, 120; of Mixe, 470-471 (fig. 20); of Mixtec, 389, 391; among Nahua, 622-623; in northwestern Guatemala, 50, 56, 61; in Oaxaca City, 319, 346; among Otomi, 696, 697, 713; of Popoloca, 494; in Quezaltenango, 85-86; in San Cristobal, 167, 179 (fig. 12); in San Pedro Yolox, 548 (fig. 29); in Santiago Atitlan, 44 (fig. 15), 74, 85; in Solola, 85 (fig. 13); of Tarascans, 733, 736, 755, 761 (fig. 33), 762 (fig. 34), 763, 765; in Tehuantepec, 346; of Tenejapanecos, 140 (fig. 6); of Tojolabal, 228; in Totonac area, 665; in Totonicapan, 85-86; of Trique, 408, 413 (fig. 7 ) ; of Tzeltal, 205, 212-213; of Tzotzil, 167; of Za-

potee, 319, 346-347. SEE ALSO Trade; Trade routes markets, lack of: in northwest Mexico, 788, 802; among Popoluca, 470; in Yucatan, 263 marriage: of cross-cousins, 288; divorce, 67, 191, 288, 427, 803, 858; endogamous, 36, 84, 88, 169, 205, 305, 347, 409, 483, 487, 520, 535, 576, 594; exogamous, 169, 213, 288, 363, 444, 535, 576, 593, 594, 612, 667, 670, 788, 877; levirate, 191, 593, 667; mate-changing, 839; monogamous, 98, 112, 242, 306, 347, 409, 444, 495, 541, 667, 859, 877, 887; polyandrous, 576, 859; polygynous, 98 n., 99, 191, 288, 296-297, 306, 347, 409, 444, 470, 472, 541, 593, 662, 664, 667, 668; 803, 859; sororate, 191, 667, 803; wife exchange, 288. SEE ALSO Courtship and marriage customs MaryknoU Fathers: missionary activities of, 49. SEE ALSO Missionary activities masks: 94, 240, 396, 397, 445, 474, 543, 575, 674, 790, 840, 842 (fig. 5) Matlatzinca: distribution of, 581, 725 Maudslay, Alfred P.: ethnological contribution by, 279, 280 Maya language: rituals in, 269 Maya lowlands: geography of, 23; population of, 23. SEE ALSO Lacandon; Yucatec Maya Maya population: census of, 23; distribution of, 13, 21-24 (fig. 1); early ethnographies about, 7; growth of, 29; linguistic history of, 24-28 (fig. 2); prehistory of, 24-28, 139-143; Spanish conquest of, 28-29, 40-45, 143-150, 197-198, 2 4 6 247, 298-299; subdivisions of, 14, 23-24 Mayo: distribution of, 830, 831 (fig. 1 ) , 832; effect of Spanish mines on, 782; history of, 8 3 2 834; language of, 15, 779, 830, 832; Messianism of, 834; political organization of, 843; population estimates of, 785, 830; religious organization of, 843-844; settlement patterns of, 843 Mazahua: distribution of, 580-581, 686; population estimates of, 683 (Table 1). SEE ALSO Otomi, 682-721 Mazatec: aesthetic and recreational patterns of, 521; census of, 319, 320 (fig. 2 ) , 516-517; distribution of, 318 (fig. 1 ) , 319, 436, 516, 517 (fig. 1); economy of, 518-519; history of, 516; life cycle of, 521-522; market of, 442, 519; political and religious organization of, 519-520; religion of, 520-521; settlement patterns of, 518; subsistence of, 517-518; technology of, 518 measures. SEE Weights and measures meat: 52, 66, 72, 108, 161, 203, 238, 239, 253, 254, 281, 339, 361, 372, 373, 374, 405, 436, 437, 462, 483, 499, 508, 517, 518, 532, 555, 559, 563, 567, 610, 611, 646, 691, 692, 695, 736, 737, 797, 816, 824, 836, 852, 875. SEE ALSO under specific animals meclapil: 613

949

INDEX

medium of exchange: beans, 470; cacao, 230, 387, 425; coffee, 387, 391, 425, 442; eggs, 165, 2 0 2 203, 253, 263, 288, 405, 408, 483, 485, 6 9 2 693, 736; firewood, 442; hats, 510, 512; maize, 167, 264, 374, 387, 391; money, 50, 86, 166, 167, 211, 213, 264, 347, 387, 391, 425, 427, 442, 470; panela, 425 melons: 300 Mendieta, Gerónimo de: ethnographic contributions by, 5 men's groups. SEE Male friendship groups men's houses: pre-Spanish organization of, 595 menstruation: restrictions during, 575, 679 merchants: hats of, 83; traveling by, 167, 263-264, 623. SEE ALSO Markets; Trade; Trade routes Merida: founding of, 28 mescal: 355, 361, 489, 499, 505, 514, 555, 558, 567, 572, 610, 676, 803, 820, 821, 887 Messianism: of Mayo, 834 Mestizoization: of Huastec, 299; of Otomi, 6 8 4 685; in southern Mexican highlands, 327, 452; of Tarascans, 730; of Zoque, 452, 459 Mestizos: as compadres, 306; distribution of, 2 1 , 317, 377, 579, 684, 727, 795, 799, 822, 824; in fiesta competitions, 719; Indian attitudes toward, 627; Indian exploitation by, 404; as ironworkers, 746; lacquerwork by, 755, 760; land purchase by, 641, 664, 745; in markets, 408, 665, 802; as officials, 304; settlement patterns of, 301, 377, 378, 422; as store owners, 377, 421, 423, 427 n., 765, 802; as teachers, 720; as traders, 363, 765, 802 metal: for rattle belts, 865; for roofs, 79, 109, 384, 518, 702 metallurgy, aboriginal: disappearance of, 590 metate: manufacture of, 162, 206; use of, 54, 79, 81, 108, 110, 123, 125, 161, 187, 207, 231, 235, 259, 285, 301, 303, 380, 385, 423, 437, 484, 493, 509 (fig. 3 ) , 511 (fig. 6 ) , 518, 535 (fig. 13), 613, 655, 657, 689 (fig. 8 ) , 693, 705, 757, 799, 817, 852, 854 Mexican Bureau of Indian Affairs: 732 Mexican Revolution: land reforms after, 29 Mexico City: 579, 589, 614, 623 Michoacan: early ethnographies about, 7, 732 midwife. SEE Childbirth migration, to United States: of Tarascans, 728, 730, 765 military theocracy: in Quintana Roo, 269-270 milk: consumption of, 374, 405, 737, 797; lack of consumption of, 253, 691; sale of, 160 mill. SEE Grinding mill; Sugar mill milpa: communal lands for, 36; preparation of, 75, 157, 238, 249 (fig. 2 ) , 252, 280, 339, 363, 372-373, 398, 405, 420, 458 (fig. 8 ) , 460, 540 (fig. 2 2 ) , 609, 634, 642 (fig. 2 ) , 643, 645, 689,

950

690, 797, 852, 870. SEE ALSO Maize, cultivation

of Milpa Alta, area of: 604-636 miming. SEE Drama miniature objects: as offerings, 202, 800 mining: of salt, 162 mining settlements: of Spanish, 340, 579, 683, 782, 822 mint: 161, 353, 508 Miraflores phase: cultural diversity of, 27 mirrors: ceremonial wearing of, 240, 575 miscarriage. SEE Pregnancy missionary activities: in central Mexican highlands, 598, 599, 600, 629, 639-640, 683, 727; in Chiapas highlands, 145-146, 198; in Guatemalan highlands, 120; in northwestern Guatemala, 49, 62; in northwestern Mexico, 779-784, 787, 795, 814, 816, 822, 830, 832, 846, 850, 874, 877, 879, 881; in southern Mexican highlands, 318, 326, 334-335, 370, 403, 455, 481, 488, 506, 516, 542, 554 Mitla, town of: 319 Mitontic, town of: Tzotzil in, 155-194 mitote ceremonies: of Cora, 806; of Tepehuan (southern), 819, 820, 821 Mixco: acculturation of, 119-120 Mixe: aesthetic patterns of, 474-475; census of, 320 (fig. 2 ) , 448; cultural borrowing from Zapotec, 466; distribution of, 318 (fig. 1 ) , 324, 331, 448-450 (figs. 1, 2 ) ; economy of, 469-472; ethnographic studies of, 456-457; geographical area of, 448-449; history of, 335, 453-456; life cycle of, 475-476; religion and world view of, 472-474; settlement patterns of, 340, 448, 4 6 2 463; social organization of, 472; Spanish conquest of, 326-327, 335, 455; subsistence of, 4 5 9 462; technology of, 463-469 Mixe-Zoque: prehistory of, 26-27 Mixtec: aesthetic and recreational patterns of, 3 9 5 397; annual cycle of, 398-399; census of, 318, 320 (fig. 2 ) ; distribution of, 318 (fig. 1 ) , 367, 368 (fig. 1 ) , 417, 436, 489, 506; economy of, 387-391; ethnological studies of, 371-372; geographical area of, 367-369 (fig. 1 ) ; history of, 322, 325, 369-371; life cycle of, 397-398; religion and world view of, 394-395; settlement patterns of, 374-379 (figs. 2 - 5 ) ; social organization of, 391-394; subsistence of, 372-374; technology of, 379-387 (figs. 6 - 1 1 ) ; trading network of, 319, 369, 389-391, 427 mobility. SEE Seasonal mobility; Social mobility modeling. SEE Pottery, manufacture of "modified" Indians: definition of, 45 molding. SEE Pottery, manufacture of molds: for adobes, 708; for clay tiles, 708; in hat manufacture, 232; in pottery manufacture, 109; for sugar cakes, 662

INDEX Momostenango, town of: 55, 61, 74-75, 77, 8 1 , 86 money: buried with deceased, 310, 409, 415, 416, 476, 679, 721; loaning of, 304. SEE ALSO Medium of exchange monkey: carried by mayordomo, 399; consumption of, 238, 281; hunting of, 254; in mythology, 175, 241, 542 Monte Alban: cultural history of, 323-324, 367 n., Montenegro: relationships with Monte Alban, 323 moon: mythology about, 175, 236, 308, 351, 364, 412, 432, 433, 473, 512, 575, 671, 715 Moors and Christians: Yaqui fiesta authority of, 839. SEE ALSO Dances, ritual Mopan: location of, 244, 248 Morelia, town of: 726, 727 mortar and pestle: 301, 613, 705, 799 Mothers of the hearthstones: among Totonac, 672, 673, 678, 679 Motolinia, Toribio de Benavente: ethnographic contribution by, 5 Motozintlecan: linguistic history of, 26 Motul Dictionary of Yucatec Maya: linguistic contribution of, 6 mountain lion: as animal guardian, 351 mules: 61, 83, 159, 341, 380, 420, 441, 605, 609, 620, 692, 736, 801, 824 municipios: endogamous nature of, 55; national recognition of, 55; political organization of, 59. SEE ALSO Settlement patterns Muñoz Camargo, Diego: ethnological contribution by, 7 mushrooms: collecting of, 161; consumption of, 555, 824; hallucinatory, 520, 631; narcotic, 474, 520 music: for cofradía ceremonies, 94; for fiestas, 94, 131, 183, 718, 772, 773; at weddings, 667— among Huichol, 810; in midwestern highlands, 94; in northwestern Guatemala, 65; among Totonac, 673-674; among Tzotzil, 183; among Zapotec, 354-355. SEE ALSO Singing; and under specific musical instruments musical instruments. SEE by individual name mustard: 159 mythology. SEE Creation; Floods; Folklore; Spirits and gods; Supernatural beings; and under religion of individual tribes nagual. SEE Soul; Supernatural beings Naguala: metate specialization in, 81 Nahtinamit, site of: Pokomam origins in, 113 Nahua: aesthetic and recreational patterns of, 6 3 1 633; annual cycle of, 634-636; distribution of, 318 (fig. 1 ) , 321, 322, 357, 370, 417, 453, 489, 602-605 (figs. 1, 2 ) , 725; economy of, 621-624; ethnological studies of, 605-607 (fig. 4 ) ; geographical area of, 604-605 (fig. 3 ) ; history of, 324, 325, 370, 453, 459; life cycle of, 633-634;

religion of, 627-631; settlement patterns of, 611-613; social organization of, 624-627; subsistence of, 607-611 (figs. 5, 6 ) ; technology of, 613-621 Nahuat: distribution of, 301, 317, 602, 603 (fig. 2 ) ; history of, 324, 325 Nahuatl: history of, 325; speakers of, 418, 575, 579, 581, 582 (fig. 2 ) , 602-636, 810; written sources of, 5 Nahuatzen, town of: 728, 763 narcotic plants, use of: by Mazatec, 520; by Mixe, 474; by Otomi, 695; for prognostication, 355 National Indian Institute of Mexico: 784 National Polytechnic Institute: ethnographic work by, 732 Nayarit: early history of, 8 Negro populations: in southern Mexican highlands, 327, 370, 372 nets: agricultural use of, 201; for fishing, 253, 474, 483, 532, 537 (fig. 16), 692 (fig. 9 ) , 693, 746, 800; manufacture of, 123, 207, 285, 406, 439, 463,

484,

708,

752

(fig.

27),

755, 876.

SEE ALSO

Bags, of net nicknames: 127, 348, 355, 427 nobility, Indian: history of, 579-600 Nochistlan, town of: 319 nohoch-tata: in Quintana Roo, 262 nopal: consumption of, 499, 508, 693, 695, 797, 824. SEE ALSO Tunas

Nuevo León: early ethnography about, 7 numbers, ritual importance of: 129, 179, 274, 3 5 7 358, 446, 476, 672, 673, 810, 819 nurses, male: native, 166 nuts: 436 oats: 735, 824 Oaxaca, city of: 317, 346 Oaxaca, State of: 7, 315, 316, 317 obsidian: in divination, 94; as polishing stone, 109 occupational zones: in Chichicastenango, 84 Ocosingo, town of: Tzeltal in, 195-225 ocote: for lighting, 55, 439 Ocotepec, town of: 618-636 Ocotlan, town of: 609-636 offerings: 68, 115, 129, 178, 194, 202, 221, 223, 234, 236, 239, 241, 271, 272, 274, 287, 292, 293, 306, 307, 308, 351, 373, 394, 397, 413, 415, 420, 429, 436, 443, 444, 445, 446, 473, 495, 503, 505, 512, 520, 560, 575, 576, 631, 636, 665, 672, 675, 677 (fig. 2 0 ) , 678, 679, 715, 721, 800, 806, 812, 861, 862 (fig. 18) officials: agente municipal, 304; alcaldes, 59, 88, 114, 128, 148, 172, 220, 240, 349, 350, 364, 443, 512, 549, 562, 563, 591, 595, 714, 768, 769, 805; alfereces, 172 (Table 2 ) , 173, 176 (fig. 11); alguaciles, 60, 88, 89, 96, 148, 240, 805; ancianos, 349, 370, 393, 399, 544, 549, 595, 625,

951

INDEX

803; auxiliares, 88, 304, 714; ayudante municipal, 625; ayuntamiento, 442, 768, 769, 770; companeros, 625; capitanes, 128, 172 (Table 2 ) , 173, 220, 221, 805, 860; capitán-general, 827; centuriones, 805; Chiman Nam, 59; cofrades, 60, 89; comisariado, 408-409, 429 n., 433; consejal, 240; costumbres, 60, 114; diputados, 495; escribanos, 172 (Table 2 ) ; escuelix, 60; fiesteros, 827, 841, 843; fiscales, 60, 90, 172 (Table 2 ) , 429 η., 495, 503, 512, 573, 625, 805, 819, 827, 860; "general," 877 (fig. 6 ) ; gobernador, 148, 172 (Table 2 ) , 595, 805, 819, 827, 860, 863, 869; Intendente, 59, 128, 148; jefe del patio, 819, 821; jefe político, 59, 128; juzgado, 128; kengi, 772; Ladino, 59, 88, 106, 114, 149, 171, 172 (Table 2 ) , 220; mayordomos, 60, 90, 128, 172 (Table 2 ) , 173, 220, 240, 307, 350, 364, 399, 411, 429, 431, 432, 433, 444, 495, 512, 520, 542, 562, 563, 575, 591, 597, 598, 612, 623, 625, 626, 627, 670, 676, 715, 719, 757, 767, 771, 805; mayores, 60, 88, 89, 147, 171, 172 (Table 2 ) , 429 n., 860, 861; Mestizo, 304; padrinos, 128; pasados, 92-93, 228; patrones, 232; policemen, 220, 304, 349, 364, 443, 594, 768, 769; presidente, 170-173 (Table 2 ) , 219, 232, 304, 349, 350, 364, 393-394, 429, 430 n., 472, 495, 502, 512, 520, 549, 559, 562, 563, 573, 594, 714, 768, 769; principales, 59, 89, 92, 99, 106 η., 119, 171, 173, 178, 201, 213, 228, 236, 240, 349, 393, 411, 419, 426, 428, 429, 430 η., 432, 472, 575, 595, 597, 772, 805; regidores, 59, 60, 88, 89, 145, 148, 170, 172 (Table 2 ) , 220, 304, 349, 364, 495, 502, 512, 573, 591, 594, 595, 714; rezadores, 60, 345, 505, 771; sacristanes, 90, 307, 495, 503, 512, 549, 573, 575, 771; sargento, 805, 827; secretario, 59, 88, 149, 171, 172 (Table 2 ) , 220, 304, 423, 429, 594, 805; semaneros, 625; servidores, 228; síndico, 59, 170, 220, 240, 349, 364, 429 n., 502, 512, 594, 768; tenanche mayor, 805; tenientes, 147, 805, 860; tesorero, 59, 304, 429 n., 512; topiles, 495, 512, 549, 595, 7 1 1 , 714,

720,

805,

819.

SEE ALSO

Civil-religious

hierarchy; and under political and religious organization of individual tribes ojo: SEE Sickness, causes of olotera: for shelling corn, 609, 689 (fig. 8 ) , 690 onchocercosis: among Chinantec, 550 (fig. 3 1 ) , 551 onions: 50, 75-76, 84, 252, 280, 539, 736 Opata: aesthetic and recreational patterns of, 887; annual cycle of, 887; distribution of, 879, 880 (fig. 1 ) ; economy of, 883; ethnographic studies of, 881; history of, 782, 832, 879; language of, 15, 779, 780; life cycle of, 887; population estimates of, 881; religion of, 887; settlement patterns of, 881; social organization of, 886; Spanish conquest of, 782, 783; subsistence of, 8 8 1 ; technology of, 883

952

opossum: as animal companion, 177; hunting of, 160, 824 opossum tail: used in childbirth, 223 oracle: on Cozumel, 270 oranges: 50, 195, 252, 300, 361, 489, 546, 6 9 1 . SEE ALSO Fruit

oratories: of Huichol, 797-798 orchards: 726, 797, 802 ordenanzas: effect on Indians, 246-247 orégano: 252 oreja popoloca. SEE Roofing techniques origin myths. SEE Creation Orizaba, peak of: 315 ornaments. SEE Adornment Otomi: aesthetic and recreational patterns of, 7 1 7 719; distribution of, 298, 579, 580-582 (figs. 1, 2 ) , 682, 683 (figs. 1, 2 ) , 684 (fig. 3 ) , 685-687; dolichocephaly of, 141; economy of, 712-713; geographical area of, 685-687; history of, 6 8 2 685; life cycle of, 719-721; religion and world view of, 715-717; settlement patterns of, 590, 695-705; social organization of, 713-715; subsistence of, 688-695; technology of, 705-712 outboard motor, use of: by Seri, 883 oven: for firing adobe bricks or tiles, 614, 697; for food baking, 501 (fig. 3 ) , 797; for pottery firing, 705; for toasting peanuts, 700. SEE ALSO Kiln owl: in mythology, 352, 770, 827, 862, 863 "Owners of the Mountains": in northwestern Guatemala, 62, 64 oxalis: 735 oxcarts: 481 (fig. 4 ) , 485 Oxchuc: pilgrimages to, 229; Tzeltal in, 195-225 oxen: 50, 157, 159, 206, 339, 345, 363, 370, 372, 380, 408, 420, 438 (fig. 4 ) , 482, 483, 518, 605, 609, 620, 690, 736, 746 (fig. 2 0 ) , 850 (fig. 5 ) , 852, 860, 870 oysters: 835 Pachuca: mining center of, 579 padrinos. SEE Godparents Paipai: distribution of, 871-872 (fig. 1 ) ; langauge of, 871. SEE ALSO Baja California Indians Palenque: archaeological explorations in, 249; location of, 140; rainfall at, 137 palillo, game of: 866 palm: 54, 122, 125, 162, 208, 210, 232, 233, 238, 241, 258, 259, 296, 301, 307, 308, 339, 341, 343, 352, 372, 380-381, 385, 406, 424, 439, 485, 493, 494, 495, 501, 502, 505, 509, 510, 557, 614, 616, 617, 653, 662, 673, 681, 746, 755, 800, 883, 884 (fig. 4 ) Pame: distribution of, 581, 686; history of, 6 8 4 685; population estimates of, 683 (Table 1 ) . SEE ALSO Otomi, 682-721 Panajachel, town of: 33 (fig. 3 ) , 38, 45, 70-97

INDEX

panela: making of, 380; use of, 52, 72, 199, 203, 420, 425, 517 Pantelho, town of: Tzotzil in, 155-194 Papago: aesthetic and recreational patterns of, 887; annual cycle of, 887; distribution of, 879, 880 (fig. 1 ) ; dolichocephaly of, 141; economy of, 886; ethnographical study of, 11, 881; history of, 786, 879; language of, 15, 780, 879; population estimates of, 881; religion of, 887; settlement patterns of, 881; social organization of, 886-887; subsistence of, 786-787, 881; technology of, 883 Papaloapan River: 316 Papantla, town of: 641-680 papaya: 281, 459, 489 paper: manufacture of, 708. SEE ALSO Fig-tree paper Paracho, town of: 729, 745, 750, 751, 755, 760, 763 parakeets, trade of: by Yaqui, 836. SEE ALSO Birds parasol: 660 (fig. 17), 667 Paricutin: volcano of, 727, 730, 737, 745 parrot: as cause of illness, 274 parsley: 252 partridge: 372 Paso y Troncoso, Francisco del: ethnographic contribution by, 8-9 patronymics: animal names as, 305 paternity, concepts of. SEE Pregnancy patolli, game of: 544 patron saint: of barrio, 205; care of, 128, 131, 173, 221-222, 233, 520, 627, 840; fiestas of, 65-66, 95, 186, 221-222, 233, 241, 268, 269, 397, 399, 496, 542, 770, 772, 841; of musicians, 175; of sheep, 175 Patzcuaro, town of: 727, 729, 731 (fig. 9 ) , 733, 762 (fig. 34), 763 peaches: cultivation of, 50, 195, 373, 508, 735, 797; as export crop, 50, 159; as luxury food, 72.

141, 196-197; of Tzotzil, 141. SEE ALSO Blood type; Cephalic index pictures, religious: in houses, 162, 303, 618, 757 Piedras Negras: 140 piercing: of ears, 384; of nostrils, 296 pigeons: hunting of, 737; raising of, 160. SEE ALSO Birds pigpens: 205, 207, 235, 257, 439, 535, 649, 738 pigs, domestic: 66, 85 (fig. 1 3 ) , 126, 129, 160, 164, 167, 179, 202-203, 227, 235-236, 239, 252, 253, 262, 263, 300, 345, 370, 372, 397, 420, 441, 462, 476, 483, 532, 555, 609, 610 (fig. 6 ) , 623, 643, 691, 733, 736, 824, 851 pigs, wild: 238, 281, 339, 405. SEE ALSO Peccary pilgrimages: by Nahua, 627, 629, 636; by Tojolabal, 229; to Tulum, 270; to Yalalag, 351; to Yaxchilan, 282, 293 pillows, wooden: 303 Pima: aesthetic and recreational patterns of, 887; distribution of, 780, 781 (fig. 1 ) , 879; dolichocephaly of, 141; economy of, 883, 886; effect of Spanish mines on, 782; history of, 786, 879; language of, 15, 779, 780, 879; religion of, 887; settlement patterns of, 881; subsistence of, 881; technology of, 883. SEE ALSO Pima Bajo Pima Bajo: annual cycle of, 887; distribution of, 879, 880 (fig. 1 ) ; ethnographic studies of, 881; history of, 879; language of, 879; population estimates of, 881; social organization of, 886. SEE ALSO Pima

piñatas: 495 pine boughs: 178 (Table 3 ) , 179 pineapples: 281, 459 pingos. SEE Supernatural beings pipe: manufacture of, 206; musical, 65; smoking, 675, 820 Pipil: in Guatemalan highlands, 38, 40 pita fibers: production and weaving of, 537, 546 SEE ALSO Fruit plaiting. SEE Weaving peacock feather: 163 planting stick. SEE Digging stick peanuts: cultivation of, 50, 201, 252, 338, 482, plow: 34, 50, 157, 160, 206, 235, 333, 335, 339, 691; sellers of, 166 370, 372, 380, 405, 406, 420, 423, 438 (fig. 4 ) , pears: 72 462, 463, 482, 493, 501, 508, 518, 555, 586, 590, peas: 824 605, 609, 613, 643, 650, 689 (fig. 8 ) , 690, 692, peccary: hunting of, 737, 797. SEE ALSO Pig, wild 736, 746 (fig. 2 0 ) , 797, 799, 818, 825, 850 (fig. pelican-skin blankets: of Seri, 883 5), 852, 854, 870 pepper: 50, 161, 300. SEE ALSO Chile plum: 252. SEE ALSO Fruit perfume: 261 Plumbate ware: 141 Petatan: language in, 48 poetry: of Otomi, 718; of Yaqui, 843; of Zapotec, petate: manufacture of, 380, 614; use of, 110, 224, 353 235, 242, 362, 366, 385, 398, 406, 416, 425, poisons, used in fishing: 253, 693, 800, 852 557, 617, 825 Pokomames: acculturation of, 118-120; aesthetic Peten lowlands. SEE Maya lowlands and recreational patterns of, 116-117; annual peyote: 499, 790, 806, 811, 820, 864, 867 cycle of, 118 (Table 3 ) ; distribution of, 39, 1 0 1 phallic symbol: 394 104 (figs. 1, 2 ) ; economy of, 111-112 (Table Phillip II, King: "Relaciones" by, 7 1); ethnological studies of, 106-107; food patphysical anthropology: of Chol, 234; of Tzeltal, terns of, 108-109; geographical area of, 101; his-

953

INDEX tory of, 101-106; life cycle of, 117-118; linguistic history of, 25, 101-104 (figs. 1, 2 ) ; political and religious organization of, 114-115 (Table 2 ) ; religion and world view of, 115-116; of San Luis Jilotepeque, 118-120; social organization of, 112-114; subsistence of, 101, 107-110 (figs. 5, 6 ) , 118 (Table 3 ) ; technology of, 109111 (figs. 6 - 8 ) Pokoman: census of, 23; location of, 23 Pokomchi: census of, 104; location of, 101-104, 237 Pokonchi: census of, 23; linguistic history of, 25; location of, 23, 25, 39 political organization. SEE under individual tribes Pomar, Juan Bautista: ethnological contribution

by, 7

pomegranate: 252, 300, 373, 735 ponchos: 163, 208, 383, 659, 709 Popoloca: census of, 491 (Table 1 ) ; distribution of, 489, 490 (fig. 1), 491 (fig. 2 ) ; economy of, 494-495; ethnological studies of, 12, 489; geographical area of, 489; life cycle of, 496-497; recreational patterns of, 495-496; religion of, 495; settlement patterns of, 493; social organization of, 495; subsistence of, 489-493; technology of, 493-494 Popoloco: census of, 319, 320 (fig. 2 ) ; distribution of, 318 (fig. 1 ) , 319 Popoluca: aesthetic patterns of, 474-471; census of, 320 (fig. 2 ) , 321, 452, 455-456; distribution of, 318 (fig. 1), 321, 331, 448-450 (figs. 1, 2 ) , 452; economy of, 469-472; ethnographic studies of, 457-458; geographical area of, 449 (fig. 1 ) , 450 (fig. 2 ) , 452; history of, 324-325, 453-456; life cycle of, 475-476; religion and world view of, 472-474; settlement patterns of, 462-463; social organization of, 472; subsistence of, 4 5 9 462; technology of, 463-469 Popol Vuh: as ethnography, 7; first version by Ximénez, 8; mythology in, 671; Old Testament influence in, 275 poppy plant: 353 population density: of Amuzgo, 418; in central Mexican highlands, 581, 582 (fig. 2 ) ; in Guatemalan highlands, 32; of Mixtec, 371; in southem Mexican highlands, 317, 371, 556; of Tequistlatec, 556; of Tzeltal, 195-196; in Yucatan Peninsula, 247-248 population distributions: of Maya-speaking Indians, 21-28 (figs. 1, 2 ) . SEE ALSO under distribution of individual tribes population estimates: of Amuzgo, 418, 429 n.; of Baja California Indians, 871, 872; of Cora, 784, 795; of Huichol, 784, 795; of Mayo, 785, 830; for midwestern highlands, 72 (fig. 1 ) ; of Mixtec, 371; of Nahuatl-speakers, 602 n., 605; of northwest Mexico tribes, 784-785, 881; of Opata and

954

Joba, 881; of Otomi, 683 (Table 1 ) ; of Papago, 881; of Pima Bajo, 881; of Seri, 785, 881; of Tarahumara, 784, 850; of Tepehuan, 784; of Tepehuan (northern), 822; of Tepehuan (southern), 814; of Tequistlatec, 554, 556-557; of Tlapanec, 563; of Yaqui, 785, 830; of Zapotee, 336-337. SEE ALSO Census figures; Demography; Population density poslom: in Tzotzil religion, 177 posol. SEE Pozole potatoes: 50, 52, 72, 158-159 (Table 1 ) , 235, 436, 508, 609, 636, 735, 824, 851 potsherds: in games, 866 potter's wheel: 705 pottery: beehives of, 651 (fig. 9 ) , 652; censers of, 64, 286, 293 (fig. 17), 301, 652; candlesticks of, 657, 658 (fig. 15); ceremonial drum of, 286, 293 (fig. 17); effigies of, 258; grater bowl of, 702 (fig. 2 4 ) ; on roofs, 79, 303, 425; storage of, 659; in sweat bath, 54; toys of, 258, 286; utensils of, 55, 380, 484, 652; whorl of, 613, 652 pottery, manufacture of: by coiling, 123, 439, 703 (fig. 2 5 ) , 705, 751; by coil-and-scrape techniques, 883; firing, 123, 161, 207, 301, 303, 650 (fig. 8 ) , 703 (fig. 2 5 ) , 705, 749 (fig. 2 4 ) , 753, 760; glazing, 79, 651, 705, 749 (fig. 2 4 ) , 751; modeled, 161; molding, 123, 161, 751; paddleand-anvil, 836, 876, 883; with potter's wheel, 705; temper used in, 123, 705; wheel-turned, 79, 705—by Chinantec, 537; by Chinautlecos, 104-106, 107-110 (figs. 5, 6 ) , 118 (Table 3 ) ; by Chorti, 123, 125; by Cora, 799-800; by Cuicatec, 439, 442 (fig. 10); by Huastec, 301; by Huichol, 800, 801; by Lacandon, 286, 287, 293 (fig. 17); by Ladinos, 79; in midwestern highlands, 76, 77 (fig. 6 ) , 79; by Mixe, 463; by Mixtee, 380; in Nahuatl area, 614; in northwestern Guatemala, 50, 65; by Opata, 883; by Otomi, 703 (fig. 2 5 ) , 704 (fig. 2 6 ) , 705, 718; by Paipai, 876 (fig. 5 ) ; by Papago, 883; by Pima, 883; by Popoluca, 463; by Tarahumara, 857, 864, 870; by Tarascans, 749 (fig. 2 4 ) , 751, 753, 760; by Tepehuan (southern), 820; by Tequistlatec, 557; by Tojolabal, 228; in Totonac area, 650 (fig. 8 ) , 651-652; in Totonicapan, 72; by Tzeltal, 207; by Tzotzil, 161-162; by Yaqui, 836, 842; by Yucatec Maya, 257-258; by Zoque, 463, 470. SEE ALSO Ceramics, prehistoric; and under technology of individual tribes poultry. SEE Chickens poultry houses. SEE Chicken coops Poza Rica, town of: 641, 665, 673 pozole: consumption of, 52, 161, 231, 254, 274, 281, 437, 517, 533, 555; offering of, 202, 274, 292 prayer: at house altar, 239; in church, 52, 56, 179, 221; in cornfields, 52, 228; for curing, 116, 174

INDEX (fig. 10), 228, 273, 295-296, 308, 395, 717; daily, 179; during dances, 306; for deceased, 68, 115, 130, 224-225, 234, 366, 416, 431, 497, 505, 514, 521, 599, 721, 771; at family cross, 202; at mitotes, 820; at new house, 179; during pregnancy, 186-187, 296, 561; at sacred places, 115, 142 (fig. 7 ) , 174 (fig. 10), 201, 222-223, 241, 269, 445, 520; to saints, 60, 229; by shamans, 64, 66, 271; at shrines, 92 (fig. 14); of sorcerers, 129; to staff of office, 220; at sweat bath, 58; to Tzultacaj, 239, 241; at waterholes, 178, 228. SEE ALSO under religion of individual tribes

pulque haciendas: of Spanish, 579 puma skin: on drums, 560 pumpkin shell: 271 pumpkins: 125 punishment: of children, 398, 415, 497, 561, 633, 812, 868; of dead in underworld, 193, 297; by law courts, 350; by placing in stocks, 443; by the supernatural, 63, 215, 224; for theft, 388, 858; verbal, 545, 868; by whipping, 233, 380, 388, 443, 549, 827, 828, 861, 868 pus. SEE Sweat house

prayer arrows: of Huichol and Cora, 800, 806 (fig. 5), 807 (fig. 6 ) ; of Tepehuan (southern), 818 prayer reciter. SEE Cantor, Indian prayermakers. SEE Officials, rezadores precipitation. SEE Rainfall Preclassic stage: of Maya, 26-27. SEE ALSO Maya populations, prehistory of pregnancy: avoidances during, 233, 561, 719; clayeating during, 66; food prohibitions during, 356, 561; miscarriage during, 96, 187; paternity concepts, 95-96, 186, 223; prayer during, 186-187, 296, 561; sweat bath used during, 81, 356, 475, 717—in midwestern highlands, 95-96; among Pokomames, 117. SEE ALSO Abortion; Childbirth; and under life cycle of individual tribes prehistory: of Chiapas area, 139-143; of Maya, 2 4 28, 139-143 Prescott, W. H.: writings by, 9 Preuss, Konrad Theodor: fieldwork by, 12 print, lithographic: at altar, 110 processions, religious: in northwestern Guatemala, 65-66 property rights: among Lacandon, 287; among Mixtec, 388; among Popoluca, 470; among Tarahumara, 857; among Tepehuan (northern), 825, 826; among Yucatec Maya, 263; among Zapotec, 345 prostitution. SEE Sexual behavior Protestantism: conversion to, 90, 279, 629; in Guatemalan highlands, 37; among Lacandon, 279; liquor abstinence in, 95; marriage customs influenced by, 98 proto-Maya community: description of, 24 (fig. 2 ) ; linguistic separations from, 24-28 (fig. 2 ) , 39, 140; location of, 23, 24, 27, 140; maize cultivation in, 24, 26; rivers near, 23 puberty: among Lacandon, 296; in midwestern highlands, 96; among Seri, 887; among Totonac, 679 Puebla, city of: 579, 589, 613 Puebla, State of: 26, 315, 317, 319, 602-636, 6 3 8 681 pulque: consumption of, 374, 438, 489, 499, 508, 564, 610, 693, 695; production of, 372, 436, 607, 609, 691; sprayed in fields, 405

quartz: in pottery manufacture, 161 quartz crystal: in divination, 64, 94 quelites: 693, 695 Quetzalcoatl: in Tepehuan (southern) mythology, 819 Quezaltenango, town of: 28, 70, 85-86 Quiche: census of, 23, 70; distribution of, 23, 2 5 26, 38, 69; ethnographic studies of, 70-71; linguistic history of, 25-26; linguistic relationships of, 39; mutual intelligibility of, 39; Popol Vuh

of, 275 quince, game of: 866 quinine: for curing, 353 Quintana Roo: military theocracy in, 269-270; population of, 23 Quiroga, Don Vasco de: humanistic work of, 7 2 7 728, 771 rabbit, in mythology: 671, 672 rabbit sticks: of Baja California Indians, 876 rabbits: 160, 203, 206, 300, 372, 405, 412, 420, 462, 482, 692, 737, 778, 824, 852, 869, 875 Rabinal: census of, 23; distribution of, 23, 38, 69 raccoon: hunting of 824 raccoon skin: in drama, 543 races, foot: among Tarahumara, 860, 865-866. SEE ALSO Horse racing rafts. SEE Transportation rain cape: 54, 383 rainbow: folklore about, 863 rainfall: in Amuzgo area, 418; in Baja California, 874; in Chiapas highlands, 137; in the Chinantla, 523, 532; in Comitan, 226; in Guatemala highlands, 23, 101; in La Trinitaria, 226; in Las Margaritas, 226; in Maya lowlands, 23, 230, 234; in northwest Mexico, 778; in Salto de Agua, 234; in San Cristobal de las Casas, 137; in southern Mexican highlands, 316, 333, 449, 553; in Tequistlatec area, 553; in Tumbala, 234; in Yucatan, 246 rain-making: by padrino, 128, 130 rats: 160, 835 rattles: manufacture of, 286; use of, 65, 240, 290, 673, 718, 864, 865, 878, 887

955

INDEX raven, in mythology: 436. SEE ALSO Birds rebozo. SEE Shawl reducción: Spanish policy of, 28, 40, 640 refino: 676 Relación de las cosas de Yucatán; ethnological contribution of, 5-6 religious practices. SEE Candles, burning of; Divination, methods of; Incense; Prayer; Pilgrimages; Rituals; Sacrifices; and under religion of individual tribes residence: bilocal, 112, 127, 242, 877; matrilocal, 190, 392, 427, 475, 521, 859; neolocal, 300-301, 347, 392, 427, 576, 803, 859; patrilocal, 56, 57, 67, 87, 112, 217, 288, 300-301, 305, 347, 362, 363, 377, 379, 389, 392, 427, 444, 475, 486, 497, 502, 505, 512, 514, 519, 521, 558, 559, 576, 624, 664, 666-667, 668, 714, 721, 819, 826, 859, 877, 887; virilocality, 803. SEE ALSO Family organization; Inheritance, of land resin: 157 respect. SEE Interpersonal relations Retalhuleu: women of, 40 (fig. 10) ribbons: 162, 163, 208, 220, 221, 235, 238, 303, 381, 484, 488, 661, 677 (fig. 2 0 ) , 759, 856 riddles: of Amuzgo, 432 rice: consumption of, 93; cultivation of, 126, 235, 300, 319, 420, 421 n., 518, 607 ridicule. SEE Social control rifles. SEE Guns rite of appeasement: of Totonac, 669 rites of assurance: of Cuicatec, 443 rites of passage: of Seri, 887 ritual paraphernalia: of Cora, 800, 806; of Huichol, 800, 806, 807 (fig. 6 ) , 812; of Tzotzil, 178 (Table 3 ) ; of Yaqui, 842 (fig. 5 ) . SEE ALSO Altars; Prayer arrows; and under religion of individual tribes rituals: agricultural, 52, 7 1 , 130-131, 179, 199, 201-202, 228, 233, 238-239, 270, 307, 351, 373, 405, 420, 429, 436, 473-474, 715, 806, 808 (fig. 7), 809 (fig. 8 ) ; classifications of, 92-93, 7 7 0 771; principales' role in, 59, 178; rezadores' performance in, 60 roadrunner, in mythology: 352 robes: 569 rockets: 66, 222, 228, 310, 576. SEE ALSO Fireworks roofing materials: adobe, 617; bark, 54, 406, 439, 699 (fig. 16), 700; cane leaf, 438, 557; dirt, 836; grass, 362, 465, 493, 518, 697 (fig. 12), 698, 788, 797; logs, 854; maguey, 616, 698, 699 (fig. 17), 702; metal, 79, 109, 384, 518, 702; palm, 125, 231, 238, 270, 285, 303, 342, 384, 438, 439, 493, 501 (fig. 3 ) , 510, 518, 567, 616, 617, 655, 656 (fig. 13), 797; poles, 341; pots, 79, 303, 425, 466; reed, 341; shakes, 655, 738, 750, 757, 825; shingles, 162, 342, 438, 615 (fig. 10), 616, 617, 697, 854; sticks, 698; straw, 567,

956

616, 617, 618; sugar-cane leaves, 125, 518; tiles, 54, 61, 79, 109, 125, 162, 341, 342, 362 (fig. 2 ) , 425, 438, 465, 466, 493, 501 (fig. 3 ) , 546, 567, 590, 615 (fig. 10), 616, 618, 655, 659 (fig. 16), 697, 738, 754 (fig. 3 0 ) ; yucca, 876; zacate, 341, 342, 406, 425, 465, 616, 617, 618, 700, 702, 817. SEE ALSO Roofing techniques roofing techniques: gabled, 54, 79, 362, 617, 655, 817, 825, 854; oreja popoloca, 492 (fig. 4 ) , 493, 509 (fig. 4 ) , 510, 518; thatching, 54, 79, 109, 156 (fig. 3 ) , 162, 207, 227, 252 (fig. 5 ) , 253 (fig. 6 ) , 270, 282, 285, 303, 342, 362, 384, 406, 438, 465, 483, 493, 501 (fig. 3 ) , 509 (fig. 4 ) , 534 (fig. 12), 537, 556, 557, 567, 616, 617, 655, 656

(fig.

13),

701, 788,

797,

817,

876.

SEE ALSO

Roofing materials rooster: as cause of illness, 274; sacrifice of, 64, 179 rope: 84, 123, 161, 206, 207, 258, 301, 424, 439, 463, 485, 567, 570 (fig. 5 ) , 614, 800, 801 rosary: with deceased, 242, 310, 505, 544; to prevent illness, 532; wearing of, 856 rosemary: to prevent illness, 352 rubber tires: for sandals and huaraches, 54, 83, 801, 818, 825 rum: 438, 695 sacred objects and places: books, 240-241, 270, 275, 840; family cross, 52, 57, 62, 146 (fig. 10), 177, 202, 266, 270; land titles, 60, 240; mountains, 174 (fig. 10), 177, 178, 179, 241; caves, 64, 201, 205, 210, 215, 223, 228, 236, 241, 292, 308, 373, 394, 399, 413, 443, 444, 445, 473, 506, 516, 520, 600, 629, 717, 806, 812; "Owners of the Mountains," 62, 64, 520; "Saintly Wells," 57, 58, 62; shrines, 92, 600; stone at Yaxchilan, 293; water sources, 62, 394, 397, 443, 445, 516, 520, 600, 789—of Chinautlecos, 115-116; in Guatemalan highlands, 37; in northwestern Guatemala, 52, 57, 62, 64 sacrifice, animal: of bulls, 797, 824, 828; of cattle, 808 (fig. 7 ) ; of chickens, 43, 52, 130, 160, 181, 306, 307, 351, 397, 518, 520, 715; of cows, 859; of goats, 495, 859; of pigs, 179, 476; of roosters, 64, 179; of sheep, 179, 413, 691; of turkeys or turkey eggs, 64, 130, 131, 306-307, 351, 356, 436, 443, 473, 495, 672; unspecified, 364, 373, 394, 395, 399, 445, 495, 859, 862, 863 sacrifice: bird, 520; human, 597. SEE ALSO Cannibalism saddle: 162 sage: 555 Sahagún, Bernardino de: ethnographic contribution by, 5, 141-142 "Saintly Wells." SEE Sacred objects and places saints: beliefs about, 175; cult of the, 90, 370; interaction with, 116

INDEX Saint Teresa: among Mayo, 833 Saloma: blankets from, 55; weaving in, 50, 53, 61 salt: merchants of, 165; mining of, 162; use of, 72, 159, 161, 187, 203, 231, 238, 281, 300, 356, 405, 420, 438, 508, 610, 611, 797 salt deposits: communal, 50 salt water: at funeral, 193 San Agustín Acasaguastlan: as "Ladinoized" community, 45 San Andres Chicahuaxtla, town of: Trique in, 404-416 San Andres Huehuetenango: language in, 46, 48 San Andres Papalo, town of: Cuicatec in, 436-447 San Antonio Huista: language in, 48 San Antonio Palapo: ethnographic study in, 70 San Antonio Palopo: anise production in, 84 San Benito Nenton: language in, 46, 48 San Bernardino Contla: 612, 613 San Cristobal de las Casas: 28, 135-139, 145, 155, 167, 179 (fig. 12), 197 San Felipe Ecatepec: Tzotzil in, 155-194 San Francisco Tecospa: 609-610, 611 (fig. 7 ) , 612-636 San Ildefonso de Villa Alta: 317, 326 San Ildefonso Ixtahuacan: language in, 46 San Jose Chacaya: planting ceremonies in, 71 San Jose Chicahuaxtla: Trique in, 404-416 San Jose Montenegro: language in, 48 San Juan Atitan: crops produced in, 50; language in, 46 San Juan Copala: Trique in, 402-416 San Juan Ixcoy: language in, 46 San Lucas Tollman: polygynous marriage in, 98 n. San Luis Jilotepeque: 45, 104, 118-120 San Luis Potosí: 21, 24, 683 San Marcos, Dept. of: ethnographic study in, 71 San Marcos Eloxochitlan: 641-680 San Marcos Huehuetenango: language in, 46, 48 San Martin Cuchumatanes: language in, 46 San Martin Itunyoso: Trique in, 404-416 San Mateo Ixtatan: 46, 50 San Miguel Acatan: 46, 48-61 San Pablo: language in, 69; rope manufacture in, 84 San Pedro, town of: 84, 90, 92 San Pedro Jocopilas: pottery manufacture in, 76 San Pedro La Laguna: 70, 96 San Pedro Necta: language in, 46 San Pedro Saloma: language in, 46 San Rafael Independencia: language in, 46 San Rafael Petzal: language in, 46 San Sebastian Coatan: language in, 46 San Simón: worship of, 90 sand: as temper, 123 sand paintings: by Chatino, 365; by Cuicatec, 446 sandals: 54, 83, 163, 208, 231, 235, 238, 260, 303, 383, 407, 494, 510, 518, 557, 620, 659, 709, 710,

758, 801, 818, 836, 856. SEE ALSO Huaraches;

Shoes sandpipers, as animal guardians: 351 Santa Catarina: mat specialization in, 81 Santa Catarina Palopo: fishing specialization in, 84 Santa Eulalia: 33 (fig. 3 ) , 45-61 Santa Maria Ichcatlan: Ichcatec in, 499-505 Santa Maria Papalo: Cuicatec in, 436-447 Santa Marta: Tzotzil in, 155-194 Santa Marta Cave: stratigraphy in, 26 Santiago (Chiapas): Tzotzil in, 155-194 Santiago Atitlan: 39 (fig. 9 ) , 44 (fig. 15), 70-90 Santiago Chimaltenango: 46, 49, 5 4 - 6 1 , 65, 67 Santo Domingo Chicahuaxtla: 404-416 Santo Tomas Chichicastenango: ethnographic study in, 70 santos: care of, 60, 89-90. SEE ALSO Patron saint Sapper, Karl: anthropological contribution by, 1 0 11, 48-49, 237-238, 251, 279, 280 sashes. SEE Belts sastun: divinatory use of, 274 satin: ceremonial clothing of, 718, 719 (fig. 46) saws: 206, 650, 750 saxophone: 631 scales: 290 (fig. 14), 387, 751 (fig. 26) scarecrows: 157 schoolteachers: native, 166. SEE ALSO Education, formal scissors: as protection during pregnancy, 117 sculptures, stone: pre-Columbian, 92 (fig. 14) seasonal mobility: of Seri, 883; of Tarahumara, 853 sedum: ceremonial use of, 672 seeds: used in divination, 64, 94 seine: 734 (fig. 10), 745 (fig. 19) Seler, Eduard: anthropological contribution by, 11, 49 serapes: 384, 407, 439, 590, 613, 709, 758 Seri: aesthetic and recreational patterns of, 887; distribution of, 779, 782, 879, 880 (fig. 1 ) ; ethnography of, 7, 11, 881; fishing cooperative among, 784; history of, 786, 790, 881; Hokan language of, 779, 879; life cycle of, 887; population estimates of, 785, 881; religion of, 887; settlement patterns of, 883; social organization of, 887; Spanish conquest of, 783; subsistence of, 790, 881; technology of, 883 serpents, mythology about: 789 sesame: cultivation of, 300, 567, 572, 646, 797; use of, 611 settlement patterns: agencies, 377, 448; aldeas, 5 5 56, 122, 123, 340; Aztec calpulli system of, 611, 612; barrios, 170, 205, 304, 340, 346, 363, 364, 377 n., 378-379, 402, 406, 423, 438, 472, 483, 495, 502, 506, 512, 520, 535, 546, 567, 587, 589, 593-594, 611-612, 625, 626, 647, 669-670, 740 (fig. 13), 799; cabecera, 138, 463, 472, 587, 611, 612-613, 741, 767; caríbales, 282; changing

957

INDEX trend of, 587-589; compact, 138, 170, 217, 246, 254, 255, 335, 340, 374-379, 405, 421-423, 483, 695, 742 (fig. 16), 836-837; concentrated, 647; congregated, 501, 508, 518, 533, 546; dispersed, 28, 34, 72, 74, 135, 136, 138, 150, 227, 247, 255, 268, 340, 374-379, 402, 403, 406, 4 2 1 423, 508, 533, 671, 675, 695, 787, 798-799; geographical influence on, 74, 135-136, 170, 463, 533, 745; hamlets, 136, 154 (fig. 2 ) , 170, 255, 301, 340, 438, 463, 533, 556, 587, 589, 590, 695; Mestizo centers, 301; moiety neighborhoods, 824-825, 827; municipios, 28, 34, 55-56, 59, 72-75, 88, 137-139, 203, 255, 268, 304, 404, 448, 463, 472, 587, 612, 741, 745, 767; nucleated communities, 73-74, 203, 587, 590; parajes, 138, 203-205, 268; pueblos, 72-75, 123, 340, 404, 519, 787, 860; ranchería, 817, 8 5 2 853, 860, 881, 887; "reserves" in Baja California, 875-877; semicongregated, 438, 493, 508, 533; Spanish conquest effect on, 40, 150, 246, 340, 370, 462-463, 534-535, 587-589, 788; Spanish grid pattern, 28, 40, 254, 463, 481, 483, 546, 590, 738, 837; towns, 563, 567, 587, 589, 816, 834, 835, 836-837 (fig. 3 ) , 838, 843, 881; vacant-town, 43, 55-56, 72-75, 170, 203, 3 7 4 379, 405, 463; villages, 361-362, 482 (fig. 5 ) , 483, 555, 587, 589, 741, 817, 817, 819, 824, 835, 843—in Chiapas, 135, 137-139; in Chichicastenango, 72-73; in Chinautla, 109; of Ladinos, 55-56, 135, 136, 137, 138, 146, 170, 203; in midwestern highlands, 72-75; in northwestern Guatemala, 55-56; in San Luis Jilotepeque, 109 n. SEE ALSO Cantones; Caseríos; and under individual tribes sewing machines: 61, 231, 232, 343, 363, 584, 618, 746, 755, 760 sexual behavior: abstinence, 52, 65, 128, 130, 186 (Table 5), 199, 202, 212, 238, 356, 366, 432, 443, 473, 542, 575, 840; adultery, 427, 576; in bean fields, 239; between comadres-compadres, 58, 267; extramarital, 242, 306, 431; at fiestas, 393, 862, 867, 869; homosexual, 576; incest, 58, 306; masturbation, 869; premarital, 218, 267, 288; prostitution, 306, 391, 576, 771—of Kekchi at planting time, 238-239 shamanism: among Papago, 887; among Pima, 887; among Seri, 887 shamans: activities of, 64, 92, 94, 142 (fig. 7 ) , 161 (fig. 4 ) , 166, 173, 174 (fig. 10), 178, 364, 365, 672, 676, 679, 680, 789, 806, 808 (fig. 7 ) , 810, 812, 819, 820 (fig. 5 ) , 828; assistant to, 65, 810; bonesetters, 166, 173, 262, 345; ceremonial chair of, 797; divinatory powers of, 64, 94, 173, 364; fees paid to, 802; training of, 64, 92, 166, 819; witchcraft accusations against, 65 —in Larrainzar, 173; in midwestern highlands,

958

92; among Tzotzil, 165-166; in Zinacantan, 173. SEE ALSO Divination

shawls (rebozos): 111, 163, 208, 231, 261, 343, 363, 381, 384, 386, 407, 439, 484, 494, 509, 510, 518, 569, 590, 613, 614, 620, 710, 753, 759, 801, 856 sheep: 52, 75, 77, 84, 160, 164, 175, 179, 228, 317, 326, 372, 381, 408, 413, 483, 579, 586, 590, 605, 610, 623, 691, 736, 787, 797, 835, 851, 869, 870, 875 sheepskin: for drum head, 854; for pulque storage, 609 shoes: 83, 231, 240, 260-261, 303, 505, 548, 659, 661, 758, 759. SEE ALSO Huaraches; Sandals shovel: 438, 501, 508, 605, 615, 689, 746, 825 shrimp: 300, 339, 420, 422, 437, 483, 567, 737, 796 (fig. 3 ) . SEE ALSO Fish; Fishing sickle: 157, 301, 539, 690, 736, 746 sickness, causes of: aigre, 129; aires, 94, 352, 395, 446, 503, 520, 628 (fig. 18), 629, 630, 717; anger, 181, 352, 630, 631; arthritis, 181; "bad air," 495, 542; bad blood, 237; bronchitis, 181; brujos (brujas), 116, 575, 717; chipil, 395; complaints, 9 1 ; dead relatives, 809; diarrhea, 181; diseases, 93, 181, 278-279, 307; duendes, 116; dwarfs, 575, 630; dysentery, 181, 233, 307; eclipses, 9 1 ; enteritis, 181; envy, 352; foods ("hot" or "cold"), 395; fright (espanto, susto), 63, 116, 352, 353, 395, 413-414, 430, 446, 474, 495, 503, 520, 630, 673, 717; ghosts, 630; God or gods, 93, 414, 559, 575, 631, 809; grippe, 181; imperfect knowledge of prayers, 181; influenza, 181; intrusion of objects, 352, 446, 474, 630, 672, 673, 717; killing of the nagual, 414; malaria, 181, 233, 307, 414; "meddlesome bird," 273; microbes, 228, 273; misconduct, 93, 273, 352; naguales, 224, 234, 474, 630; nocturnal birds, 274; ojo (evil eye), 63, 94, 116, 228, 273, 274, 308, 352, 395, 414, 542, 575, 630, 631, 673, 717; pneumonia, 307; rheumatism, 181, 307; rooster as, 274; smallpox, 62; sorcery, 93, 129, 273, 274, 672, 673, 809, 864; soul-damage, 228; soul-loss, 94, 181, 307, 308, 352, 446, 474, 495, 520, 542, 575, 672, 673, 863; souls of recent dead, 864; spirits, evil, 228, 237, 273, 295, 352, 575, 672, 673, 828, 863, 864; tapeworm, 307; tuberculosis, 233, 307, 414; weakness, 93, 129; "winds," 273; witchcraft, 116, 181, 228, 233-234, 273, 352, 395, 429, 430, 446, 474, 551, 630-631, 673, 717, 828, 842 sickness, classification of: as "hot" or "cold," 94, 181, 273, 717, 827 sickness, curing of: by alcohol, 395, 503, 673; animal parts used for, 353, 430, by black beans, 116; by bleeding, 65, 237, 274; by blowing smoke, 809, 820; by brujos, 429, 430, 575; with candles, 512, 631, 673, 717; by cane liquor, 180,

INDEX 181; by charms, 65; by chicken sacrifice, 180 (Table 4 ) , 181, 308, 575; by clothing rubbed on body, 116, 274; by confession, 820; by copal, 520, 673; by cupping, 65; by deer horns, 129; by eggs, 116, 503, 512, 520, 575, 628 (fig. 18), 630, 673, 717; by emetics, 181; by enemas, 575; by enfriar, 430; by feathers, 520; by flowers, 673; by foods, 93, 181, 273, 308, 430, 446, 575; with frogs, 129; by garlic, 353; by ground paintings, 789; by hawk plumes, 809; by herbal remedies, 37, 65, 116, 129, 181, 228, 233, 243, 273, 274, 308, 353, 414, 429, 430, 436, 446, 474, 495, 503, 520, 561, 575, 630, 717, 809, 842, 864, 877; with holy water, 717; with images, 512; by incantations, 65; by incense, 512; with limpias, 717; by massage, 233, 820; by Mexican spiritualists, 877; by milk of black cow, 129; modern, 29, 279, 290, 296, 395, 414, 495, 521; number nine used in, 274; by peyote-eating (of shamans), 864; by pilgrimage, 809; by porcupine spines, 129; by prayer, 116, 174 (fig. 10), 228, 273, 295-296, 308, 395, 717; by quinine, 353; with rags, 512; by rattlesnake parts, 129; by rubbing body, 308, 414, 474; by sucking out of objects, 308, 353, 395, 414, 446, 474, 630, 789, 809, 820; by surgery, 129; by sweat baths, 81, 93, 207, 395, 414, 474, 512, 521, 620, 717; with tobacco, 129; by vein-sucking, 181; with wax, 503; by whipping, 94; by zahorines, 116. SEE ALSO Curanderos sickness, prevention of: methods of, 352-353. SEE ALSO Amulets; Charms; Fetishes Sierra Madre del Sur: 315, 553 Sierra Madre Occidental: 604, 777, 778, 792, 822 Sierra Madre Oriental: 315, 604, 686 silk: belts of, 439; for clothing, 82, 161, 261; napkins of, 439; production of, 326, 439, 441; weaving of, 76-77 Sinaloa: early ethnography about, 7 singing: by Lacandon, 290; by Otomi, 718; by Tzotzil, 183 skunk: as animal companion, 177; hunting of, 160, 353, 692 sky, mythology about: 175, 274-275, 350 slash-and-burn process. SEE Milpa, preparation of sling shots: as toys, 65, 189, 718; use of, 161, 567 Smithsonian Institution: fieldwork sponsored by, 1 2 13 smoking: during adolescence, 117; by Lacandon, 281. SEE ALSO Cigarettes; Cigars; Pipes, smoking; Tobacco, use of snails: collecting of, 161; consumption of, 236, 437; dye from, 341, 560 snake fangs: 274 snakes: consumption of, 238, 372, 567; in mythology, 671, 863-864 Sobaipuri: history of, 782

social control: by censure, 89; by clan men, 215; by envy, 37; by gossip, 37, 393, 560; by ridicule, 89; by sorcery, 862 social integration: by cofradía system, 90 social mobility: in Guatemalan highlands, 41 social organization. SEE Family organization; Kinship; and under individual tribes social relations: impersonal nature of, 93. SEE ALSO Interpersonal relations social stratification: economic, 114; ethnic, 114, 581; by land ownership, 541; postconquest, 581; by service in religious hierarchy, 169-170, 595; by wealth, 170, 519—in Guatemalan highlands, 34-35; in Pokomam communities, 106, 1 1 3 114; among Tzotzil, 169, 173 sodalities: military, of Yaqui, 834, 838-839, 841; religious, of Yaqui, 839-840, 844 solidarity: of community, 152, 197 Solola, town of: 35-44 (figs. 5, 6, 8, 13, 14, 15), 70, 75, 85 (fig. 13) Solomec: census of, 23; distribution of, 23, 38, 48 songbirds: selling or trading of, 623, 836. SEE ALSO Birds Sonora: early ethnography about, 7 Sonoran Desert: 777-790 soothsayer: in northwestern Guatemala, 63 sororate: 191, 667, 803 soul: folklore about, 91, 115, 116, 177, 188, 1 9 3 194, 224, 293, 394, 446, 679, 716, 863; loss of, 63, 94, 181, 224, 307, 308, 352, 414, 446, 447, 474, 495, 520, 542, 575, 672, 673, 863; nagual, 63, 412 soul of the dead: beliefs about, 353, 431, 447, 542, 812-813, 821, 828, 861, 862; care of, 110, 115, 118, 193, 194, 234, 241, 242, 308, 395, 431, 599, 611, 634, 636, 666, 677-678 (fig. 20), 679, 681, 721, 771, 812-813, 821, 828, 840, 877 spade. SEE Shovel Spanish conquest: chronicles about, 4 - 7 ; of Chiapas highlands, 143-150, 197-198; of Maya, 28-29, 40-45, 143-150, 197-198, 246-247, 298-299; Mexican attitudes toward, 5; of Mexican highlands, 326-328, 334-337, 370-371, 403, 454, 455-456, 479, 481, 516, 553-554, 581-600, 605, 639-641, 682-685, 727-729; of northwest Mexico, 782-790, 795; settlement pattern affected by, 40, 150, 246, 340, 370, 462-463, 534-535, 587-589, 788. SEE ALSO Colonial administration spears: 281, 746, 800 spearthrower: 737, 745 (fig. 19), 746 specialization: by communities, 34, 36, 61, 84-85, 212, 319, 587, 591, 760, 763; by individuals, 36-37, 61, 345, 510, 573, 614, 621, 663, 760, 801, 802. SEE ALSO by specific craft or crop speechmakers: among Zapotec, 353 spices: sources of, 86 spider: consumption of, 405; in mythology, 542

959

INDEX

spindle whorl: 285, 291 (fig. 1 5 ) , 439, 511 (fig. 6 ) , 590, 613, 705 (fig. 2 9 ) , 706, 800 spinning wheel: introduction of, 590; use of, 613, 751 (fig. 2 6 ) , 753 spirits and gods: animistic, 364; anthropomorphic, 62, 63, 488; duendes, 233, 351, 445; evil, 93-94, 129, 224, 228, 237, 273, 295, 352, 575, 672, 673, 828, 863, 864; influence of, 128, 270-273; sirens as, 473; stalactite as, 506—of Amuzgo, 429; of Chol, 236; of Chontal, 233; of Chorti, 128-129; of Cora, 806-810 (Table 2 ) ; of Cuicatec, 4 4 4 445; of Huastec, 308; of Huichol, 806-810 ( T a ble 2 ) ; of Ichcatec, 503; of Kekchi, 239, 2 4 1 242; of Lacandon, 292-293, 295-296; of Mazatec, 520; of Mixe, 472-473; of Mixtec, 394; in northwestern Guatemala, 61-63; of Otomi, 715, 716; of Popoluca, 472-473; of Tepehuan (northern), 827; of Tequistlatec, 559; of Tlapanec, 564; of Totonac, 671-673; of Trique, 410, 412; of Tzeltal, 202, 221, 222-223; of Tzotzil, 1 7 5 177; of Yucatec Maya, 270-273; of Zapotec, 350-352; of Zoque, 472-473

string: manufacture of, 285 subsistence. SEE under individual tribes sugar. SEE Panela sugar mill: 159, 301, 307, 341 sugarcane: cultivation of, 52, 120, 123, 126, 136, 146, 158 (Table 1 ) , 159, 227, 235, 281, 300, 326, 327, 339, 373, 420, 421 n., 546, 563, 607, 643, 646, 797 sugarcane haciendas: of Spanish, 579 sugarcane press: description and manufacture of, 123, 206, 219 (fig. 6 ) , 380; use of, 423, 649 (fig. 7 ) suicide: among Huastec, 307 sun: mythology about, 175, 199, 272, 292, 308, 364, 412, 432, 473, 495, 542, 671-672, 715, 864; saluting of, 841 supernatural beings: brujas, 716; the Devil, 770; hierarchies of, 37, 351, 412; lack of, among Popoloca, 495; naguales, 213, 215, 223, 237, 473, 488, 575, 630, 672; nahuales, 520, 716; Our Mother (Virgin Mary), 840; pingos, 629; santos

squash: 35, 50, 75, 157-159 (Table 1 ) , 201, 252, 280, 300, 338, 373, 398, 420, 421 n., 436, 459, 517, 518, 539, 555, 567, 607, 609, 643, 689, 733, 736, 786, 797, 824, 835, 851, 852 Squash ceremony: of Huichol, 806, 807 (fig. 6) squirrels: 160, 300, 405, 801, 816, 824, 852, 866, 869 staff of office: status of, 220, 442 Stanford University: fieldwork sponsored by, 13, 199 Starr, Frederick: anthropological contribution by, 11, 141, 196, 198, 234, 337, 456-457, 506, 605, 732 stars: mythology about, 272, 542, 671, 863 status. SEE Social stratification status symbol: hats as, 409; staff of office as, 220 stealing: by charmed people, 116; among Tepehuan (northern), 826 steam bath. SEE Sweat house Stephens, John L.: anthropological contributions of, 249-250 stick loom. SEE Loom, backstrap stimulants. SEE Cigarettes; Cigars; Coffee; Marihuana; Tobacco Stoll, Otto: linguistic contribution by, 10, 48-49 stones: for house construction, 79, 162, 615 (fig. 10), 616-618, 697, 698, 699 (fig. 1 7 ) , 701-702, 738, 757, 797, 817; mythology about, 671, 672; as phallic symbol, 394; as representing rain, 394; for sculptures, Huichol, 800; for sculptures, preColumbian, 92 (fig. 14) stonework: tools used for, 206—by Chamulas, 162; by Tzeltal, 206 storytelling: of pascolas, 843 strawberries: as luxury food, 72

Dwarfs; Spirits and gods; and under religion of individual tribes supernatural concepts: animistic, 9 1 , 364; anthropomorphic, 62, 63, 9 1 , 599 supernatural power: beliefs in, 57, 62-63, 473 surnames: Indian, 169, 213, 236, 242; inheritance of, 36, 169, 266, 519, 714; Spanish, 58, 169, 213, 236, 305, 472, 817 susto. SEE Sickness, causes of, fright sweat house: construction of, 54, 81 (fig. 10), 207, 227, 238, 341, 385, 406, 497 (fig. 9 ) , 504 (fig. 6 ) , 514 (fig. 1 1 ) , 618, 619 (fig. 1 4 ) , 649, 659, 700 (fig. 1 8 ) , 702; distribution of, in Guatemalan highlands, 38; as dormitory, 55; lacking among Popoluca and Zoque, 465; offerings made to, 415; as sacred place, 58; umbilical cord buried in, 58, 66 sweat house, use of: for bathing, 8 1 , 207; after childbirth, 66, 96, 187, 207, 224, 242, 356, 385, 397, 415, 475, 496, 503-504, 512, 513, 620, 717, 719; for curing, 81, 93, 207, 395, 414, 474, 512, 521, 620, 717; by expectant mothers, 8 1 , 356, 475, 717 sweet potatoes: cultivation of, 239, 252, 280, 300, 436, 482, 532, 646, 735, 797 syncretism, cultural: 583, 595, 599, 600, 605, 606, 862

960

as,

627;

water-serpents,

861, 863.

tábatci, game of: 866 Tahue: location of, 779 Talea, town of: Zapotee in, 340-358 talking saints: 175, 223 tamal: 239 tambourine: 543 tanneries: in Yucatan, 259

SEE ALSO

INDEX Tantoyuca, town of: Huastec in, 299-310 Tapachulteca: language of, 452-453, 454 tapancos: for corn storage, 690. SEE ALSO Maize, storage of Tapia, Andrés de: chronicle by, 4 tapir: 317 Tarahumara: aesthetic and recreational patterns of, 864-867; annual cycle of, 869-870; distribution of, 822, 846-849 (figs. 1-3); dolichocephaly of, 141; economy of, 857-859; effect of Spanish mines on, 782, 846, 850; ethnographical studies of, 7, 11, 850-851; geographical area of, 8 4 6 849 (figs. 1-3); history of, 846, 850; language of, 15, 779, 780; life cycle of, 867-869; population estimates of, 784, 785, 850; religion and world view of, 862-864; seasonal mobility of, 853; settlement patterns of, 852-853; social organization of, 859-862; subsistence of, 786, 8 5 1 852; technology of, 853-857 Tarascan Project: studies by, 732 Tarascans: acculturation of, 15, 727-730; census of, 730, 732; distribution of, 725-726; economy of, 760-766; ethnological studies of, 12, 7 3 2 733; geographical area of, 726-727; history of, 727-730; recreational patterns of, 772-773; religion of, 769-772; settlement patterns of, 7 3 8 746; social organization of, 766-769; subsistence of, 733-738; technology of, 746-760 tarima. SEE Dance platform Taxco: mining center of, 579 taxes: collection of, 56, 171, 220, 768, 769; imposed by Spanish, 335, 591, 593, 640 tea, herbal: 610, 797 Tehuacan: geology around, 316 Tehuacan site: cultural sequence of, 323 Tehuantepec, town of: Zapotec in, 331-358 Tehuantepec River: 316 teknonymy: among Totonac, 675 temascal. SEE Sweat house tempering materials: quartz, 161; sand, 123. SEE ALSO Pottery, manufacture of temples: of Huichol, 798, 799 Templo Mayor: in Quintana Roo, 269-270 Tenango: Tzeltal in, 195-225 Tenejapa: Tzeltal in, 195-225 Tenejapans: cephalic index of, 141 Tenochtitlan: founding of, 5; Spanish conquest of, 326, 727 Teopisca: Ladinos in, 137 Teotihuacan: influence of, during Classic stage, 27 Teotihuacan, Valley of: 607, 614, 616 tepache: consumption of, 355, 374, 405, 414-415, 420, 436, 437-438, 443, 473, 533, 676; sprayed in fields, 405 Tepahue: location of, 779 teparis: 786 Tepecano: acculturation of, 816; distribution of,

816; ethnological study of, 11; history of, 816; language of, 814; peyote used by, 820; technology of, 817. SEE ALSO Tepehuan, southern Tepehuan: ethnographical studies of, 11; language of, 15, 780, 814, 822; linguistic relationships of, 15, 780, 814, 822; population estimates of, 784, 814; rebellion of, 816; subsistence of, 786. SEE ALSO Tepehuan, nothern; Tepehuan, southern Tepehuan, northern: aesthetic and recreational patterns of, 828; distribution of, 822, 823 (fig. 1 ) ; economy of, 825-826; history of, 822; language of, 822; life crisis rites of, 828; population estimates of, 822; religion and world view of, 8 2 7 828; settlement patterns of, 824-825; social organization of, 826-827; subsistence of, 824; technology of, 825. SEE ALSO Tepehuan; Tepehuan, southern Tepehuan, southern: aesthetic and recreational patterns of, 820-821; annual cycle of, 821; distribution of, 814-816; economy of, 818-819; life cycle of, 821; population estimates of, 814; religion and world view of, 819-820; settlement patterns of, 816-817; social organization of, 819; subsistence of, 816; technology of, 817-818. SEE ALSO Tepehuan; Tepehuan, northern Teponaxtla, town of: Cuicatec in, 436-447 Tepoztlan, town of: 604-636 tequila: 610, 634, 811, 878 Tequistlatec: aesthetic and recreational patterns of, 560; annual cycle of, 563; economy of, 557-558; geographical area of, 553; history of, 553-554; life cycle of, 560-563; population estimates of, 554, 556-557; religion and world view of, 5 5 9 560; settlement patterns of, 555-557; social organization of, 558-559; subsistence of, 555; technology of, 557 territorial units. SEE Settlement patterns tesgiiino: 824, 826, 827, 852, 861, 867, 887 testigo. SEE Courtship and marriage customs, gobetween Texcoco: relación about, 7 textiles. SEE Clothing; Cotton; Dyes; Embroidery; Linen; Loom; Silk; Tie-dyed material; Velvet; Velveteen; Weaving; Wool threshing machines: 746 thunder: beliefs about, 271-272, 473, 549, 672, 673 tie-dyed material: for clothing, 82 tight-rope walkers: at fiestas, 356 Tila: religious center of, 236 tiles: manufacture of, 110, 546, 801. SEE ALSO Roofing materials Tipai: distribution of, 871-872 (fig. 1 ) ; language of, 871. SEE ALSO Baja California Indians Tirindaro, town of: 742 (fig. 16) Tlacolula, town of, 319

961

INDEX

Tlapanec: aesthetic and recreational patterns of, 564; census of, 320 (fig. 2 ) , 321, 563; distribution of, 318 (fig. 1 ) , 321, 417, 563; economy of, 564; life cycle of, 564; religion of, 564; settlement patterns of, 563; social organization of, 564; subsistence of, 563; technology of, 564 Tlatelolco: history of, 5 Tlatilco: relationships with Monte Alban, 323 Tlaxcala, town of: 7, 602-636 Tlaxcala-Puebla area: early ethnography of, 5, 7 toads: consumption of, 567; folklore about, 863 tobacco: cultivation of, 126, 252, 281, 327, 518, 521, 539, 540, 797, 852; use of, 129, 185-186, 187, 203, 306, 355, 381, 397, 421, 424, 445, 493, 499, 520, 521, 533, 672, 675, 695, 867; weighing of, 290 (fig. 14). SEE ALSO Cigarettes; Cigars Todos Santos, town of: 33 (fig. 3 ) , 45, 46, 49, 51 (fig. 2), 54, 56, 59-61 Tojolabal: census of, 23, 226-227 (Table 1 ) ; distribution of, 133, 134, 138, 139, 140, 226; geographical area of, 226; history of, 133; integration of, 138, 227; linguistic history of, 25; location of, 23, 25; political-religious organization of, 228; prehistoric location of, 140; religion of, 228, 229; settlement pattern of, 138; subsistence of, 227 Toltec: Postclassic "invasions" of, 28 Toluca, city of: 686 tomatoes: 50, 252, 280, 300, 373, 420, 459, 508, 607, 636, 691, 735, 736 tombs: cruciform subterranean, 324 tonal ( t o n o ) : concept of, 351, 394, 430, 445, 475, 679 Tonantzin. SEE Virgin of Guadalupe tools, agricultural: in Guatemalan highlands, 35, 50; in midwestern highlands, 75; storage of, 55. SEE ALSO Coa; Dibble stick; Digging stick; Hoe; Machete; Plow; and under subsistence and technology of individual tribes tools, for pottery manufacture: cane piece, 79; cloth, 79; corncob, 79; leather, 79; metal piece, 79; potter's wheel, 705; revolving base, 79; stone piece, 79 Torquemada, J. de: as chronicler, 7-8 tortoiseshell: objects made from, 259, 285 Totolapan, town of: Cuitlatec in, 567-576 Totonac: aesthetic and recreational patterns of, 673-678; annual cycle of, 680-681; census of, 641; distribution of, 580-581 (fig. 1 ) , 582 (fig. 2), 638, 639 (fig. 1 ) ; economy of, 662-666; geographical area of, 638; life cycle of, 678-680; linguistic relationships of, 638, 641, 643; religion and world view of, 671-673; settlement patterns of, 647-649; social organization of, 666-671; Spanish conquest of, 639-641; subsistence of, 642-647 (figs. 2, 3 ) ; technology of, 649-662

962

Totonac Cempoala: Spanish missionizing at, 6 3 9 640 Totonicapan, Dept. of: economic specialization in, 71-72; ethnographic study in, 7 1 ; pottery manufacture in, 76, 79 Totonicapan, town of: 34 (fig. 4 ) , 7 1 , 73-75, 8 1 , 84-86, 90, 98 toys: airplanes, wooden, 286, 290; balls, 631, 718; blowguns, 189, 380, 441; bows and arrows, 189, 296, 441, 561; of cane, 674; of clay, 674; dolls, 189, 286, 290, 296, 365, 475, 544, 561, 633, 674, 718, 868; flowers as, 188; hoops, 365; looms, 189; marbles, 189, 773; metates, 189; of palm, 495, 674; peashooters, 544; pots, 189; puppets, 445; sling shots, 65, 189, 718; string, 188; tops, 65, 189, 290, 296, 674; trucks, 189, 633; wood pieces, 188. SEE ALSO Games Tozzer, Alfred M.: anthropological contributions by, 251, 280 tractor: in farming, 736, 746 trade: among Chocho, 510, 512; by Lacandon, 288; by Mixtec, 319, 369, 389, 391; in northwest Mexico, 788, 802, 818, 819, 825, 836, 857, 858, 877; by Tarahumara, 857, 858; by Yaqui, 836; by Zapotec, 319, 346-347, 363. SEE ALSO Markets; Trade routes trade routes: geographical barriers to, 69; of traveling merchants, 263-264, 765. SEE ALSO Markets; Trade trade unions: in Cantei, 7 1 , 90; in Totonicapan, 90 trading system: of Tarascans, 733, 736-737, 761 (fig. 33), 763, 765 "traditional" Indians: definition of, 45 trait distributions: in Guatemalan highlands, 37-38 tranchete: 609, 613 transportation: by bicycles, 111, 386; by burro, 372, 386, 427, 557, 620, 621 (fig. 16), 692, 736, 759, 765, 816, 817, 836, 857; by bus, 61, 111, 164, 375 n., 386, 620, 621, 641, 661, 697, 711, 759; by canoe, 261, 278 (fig. 2 ) , 287, 538, 711; by car, 641, 661; by cart, 344, 481 (fig. 4 ) , 485, 759; by donkey, 303, 801; by flatboats, 569; by horse, 48, 363, 386, 620, 668, 759, 801, 817; by litter (shoulder-borne), 661; by mule, 48, 303, 386, 620, 759, 765, 801; by oxen, 620; by plane, 363, 422, 661, 801; of produce and crafts, 61, 83, 164, 208, 261, 303, 385, 408, 427, 518, 538, 711; by rafts, 538, 539 (fig. 2 1 ) , 569; by trucks, 61, 164, 208, 261, 303, 344, 386, 422, 494, 510, 518, 623, 661, 711, 729, 759, 822, 881; by wagons, 822. SEE ALSO Tumpline traps: 161, 206, 236, 253, 300, 339, 372, 380, 406, 420, 422, 423, 459 (fig. 9 ) , 825, 854 treadle loom. SEE Loom, foot trees: as private property, 346, 470 Tres Zapotes: relationships with Monte Alban, 323 tribute: paying of, 591, 640. SEE ALSO Taxes

INDEX trickster, in mythology: 473, 809 Triple Alliance, pre-Hispanic: tribute paid to, 640 Trique: aesthetic and recreational patterns of, 4 1 4 415; census of, 318, 320 (fig. 2 ) , 404; distribution of, 318 (fig. 1 ) , 369, 400, 401 (fig. 1 ) , 403 (fig. 3 ) , 404; economy of, 408-409; ethnographic studies of, 404-405; geographical area of, 4 0 0 402 (figs. 1, 2 ) ; history of, 402-404; language of, 400, 404; life cycle of, 415-416; religion and world view of, 412-414; settlement patterns of, 405-406; social organization of, 409-412; subsistence of, 405; technology of, 406-408 (fig. 4 ) truck gardens: in Trique area, 405 Tula: Mexican influence at, 28 Tulum: pilgrimages to, 270 tumpline: manufacture of, 123, 165, 301, 439; use of, 83, 111, 125, 126, 164, 287, 344, 380, 385, 408, 425, 442, 467, 485, 621 (fig. 16), 661, 703, 711 (fig. 4 3 ) , 759, 760 tunas: consumption of, 693, 824; harvesting of, 608 (fig. 5 ) . SEE ALSO Nopal

tunics: 54, 286 turban: 557 turkey sacrifice: 64, 130, 131, 306-307, 351, 356, 436, 443, 473, 495, 672 turkeys, domestic: 52, 58, 64, 126, 127, 160, 227, 253, 300, 306-307, 310, 372, 387, 408, 420, 441, 462, 483, 508, 518, 555, 558, 591, 609, 623, 646, 691-692, 736, 824 turkeys, wild: consumption of, 238, 281; hunting of, 254, 339, 778, 824, 852 turnip: 159 turtle: 231, 420, 883 turtle eggs: 238, 483 turtle shell: 355 Tuxtla mountains: 316 twins. SEE Childbirth Tylor, Sir Edward B.: Mexican field trip by, 9 Tzeltal: census of, 23, 195-197; distribution of, 23, 25, 27, 133, 134, 136 (fig. 3 ) , 139, 155, 1 9 5 197, 227; dolichocephaly of, 141; economy of, 209-213; ethnographic studies of, 198-199; geographical area of, 195; history of, 133, 139-140, 197-198; kinship structure of, 143, 215-216; life cycle of, 223-225; linguistic history of, 25; physical description of, 141, 196-197; political and religious organization of, 219-221; religion of, 221-223; revolt of, 149; settlement patterns of, 203-205; social organization of, 213-219; subsistence of, 199-203; technology of, 205-209 Tzintzuntzan, town of: 727, 731 (fig. 9 ) , 732, 745 (fig. 19), 749 (fig. 2 4 ) , 751 Tzotzil: aesthetic and recreational patterns of, 1 8 3 186; census of, 23, 155 n., in Chamula settlements, 139; distribution of, 23, 25, 133, 134, 136 (fig. 3 ) , 139, 152-155; dolichocephaly of, 141; ethnographic studies of, 155-157; history of, 133,

139-140; kinship structure of, 143, 169; life cycle of, 186-194; linguistic history of, 25; physical anthropology of, 141, 197; religion of, 1 7 5 183; social organization of, 169-175; subsistence of, 157-159; technology of, 161-168; traditional nature of, 152 Tzutuhil: census of, 23; distribution of, 23, 38; jaguar dance of, 43; mutual intelligibility of, 39; weaving of, 42 (fig. 13) Ubico dictatorship: ethnographic studies during and after, 7 0 - 7 1 ; in northwestern Guatemala, 49,59 umbilical cord. SEE Childbirth "Uncle Sam" suit: in northwestern Guatemala, 54 underdrawers: 260 underworld: folklore about, 116, 295, 297, 416, 629 unions. SEE Trade unions universe, beliefs about: 274-275, 351. SEE ALSO Creation; Earth University of California: fieldwork sponsored by, 12-13, 732, 875 University of Chicago: fieldwork sponsored by, 13 Uringuitiro, town of: 741 (fig. 14) Uruapan, town of: 727, 733, 755, 760, 763 Uspantec: census of, 23; distribution of, 23, 38, 69 Usumacinta River: 21, 23, 133, 140, 195, 230, 234, 276 Uto-Aztecan language: speakers of, 15, 777-790, 830, 846, 879 Uxmal: archaeological explorations of, 249 values: personal vs. group, 859, 869 vanilla: marketing of, 665; production of, 641, 643, 644 (fig. 3 ) , 645, 680 vanilla beans: 287 Varogio: language of, 780 Varohio. SEE Varogio velvet: costumes of, 240 velveteen: clothes of, 163 Venustiano Carranza, town of: Tzotzil in, 155-194 Veracruz, State of: 24, 315, 316, 317 Villagutierre Soto-Mayor, J. de: writings by, 8 violin: manufacture of, 162, 206, 751, 825, 854; use of, 67, 183, 306, 396, 673, 718, 801, 810, 811 (fig. 9 ) , 828, 842, 864 Virgin of Guadalupe: 605, 627, 629, 808 (fig. 7 ) , 819, 838, 840 Virgin Mary. SEE Deities, Christian volador: 600 vulture: 129, 351 wage labor. SEE Labor, wage wagers: among Tarahumara, 866 Waldeck, Jean Fredéric: anthropological contributions of, 249-250

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INDEX wall jumper (saltapared): in mythology, 352 war clubs: of Baja California Indians, 876 War of the Castes: 247, 248, 299 War of Independence: 335, 684, 728, 783, 832 warfare: of Apache, 782, 783, 850; in Guatemalan highlands, 40; in northwest Mexico, 789, 795, 816, 832, 850; of Trique, 404 Warihio. SEE Varogio wasp combs: collecting of, 161 water conservation: by Papago, 786-787 watercress: 555 watermelon: 252, 281, 797, 835 wattle-and-daub. SEE Houses "weakening" influences: of clothing, 9 1 , 92; of heat, 9 1 ; of women, 91 wealth: animals as, 623, 826, 858; burying of, 304, 409, 802; huípiles as, 425 n.; land as, 86, 126, 391, 426, 495, 623, 765, 858; leveling-mechanisms against, 36, 87, 88, 167, 213, 264, 347, 391, 393, 433, 471, 486, 593, 623, 665, 803; livestock as, 802, 803; orchards as, 802; stored in house, 802; village house as, 802—among Huastec, 304; among Mixtec, 391; among Nahua, 623-624; among Seri, 886; among Totonac, 665-666; among Tzotzil, 167; among Yucatec Maya, 264; among Zapotec, 347 weaning. SEE Infancy and childhood weasel: as animal companion, 177 weaving: of baskets, 345, 362, 653, 705; of cotton, 53, 76-79, 161, 208, 341, 381, 406, 424, 463, 465, 569, 653, 706, 753, 800, 836; of fiber hammocks, 161; of fiber nets, 161; of linen, 76, 259; of palm, 161, 380-381, 383, 501-502 (fig. 4 ) , 509 (fig. 4 ) , 510, 511 (fig. 7 ) , 514; plaiting, 65; sexual division of labor in, 53, 65, 77, 125, 161, 164, 228, 262, 287, 303, 383, 613, 652, 706; of silk, 76; techniques of, 613-614, 653, 755; twilling, 755, 836, 854, 883; wickerwork, 65, 161, 463, 653, 705, 755, 801; of wool, 53, 76-78, 161, 228, 341, 345, 381, 383, 439, 509, 613, 652, 706, 753, 800, 853, 854—by Chamula women, 173; in midwestern highlands, 76-79; in northwestern Guatemala, 50, 53 (fig. 3 ) , 54, 65; in San Antonio Aguascalientes, 53 (fig. 3 ) ; by Tojolabal, 228; by Tzeltal, 207; by Tzotzil, 161; by Tzutuhil, 42 (fig. 13). SEE ALSO under technology of individual tribes wedge: use of, 564 weights and measures: of Amuzgo, 425; of Chocho, 510; of Cora, 801; of Cuitlatec, 569; of Huastec, 303; of Huichol, 801; of Ichcatec, 502; of Lacandon, 287, 290 (fig. 14); of Mazatec, 518; of Mixtee, 387; of Otomi, 712; of Popoloca, 494; of Popoluca, 467, 469; of Tarahumara, 857; of Tarascans, 759-760; of Tepehuan (southern), 818; of Totonac, 661-662; of Tzeltal, 199, 2 0 8 -

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209; of Tzotzil, 164; of Yucatec Maya, 252, 262; of Zapotee, 344-345 wheat: 50, 52, 72, 159, 201, 206, 339, 369, 373, 436, 546, 590, 605, 609, 634, 688, 690, 726, 735, 736, 787, 824, 835, 869, 870 wheelbarrows: 386 whip: with deceased, 476 whipping: as curing technique, 94; as punishment, 233, 380, 388, 443, 549, 827, 828, 861, 868 whirlpool, in mythology: 863 whirlwind, as a supernatural: 63, 129, 181, 445, 542, 863 whistle: for communication, 712; for iguana hunting, 567; musical, 575; of reed, 503, 828 whistling: of charmed people, 116; of duendes, 233 whitewash: on buildings, 8 1 , 342, 343, 673, 752

(fig. 28) wickerwork. SEE Weaving wife exchange: among Lacandon, 288 windows: in native houses, 162, 207, 235, 510, 546, 567, 617, 697, 738, 757; screening of, 567 witchcraft: barrio boundaries of, 170; as cause of disputes, 429; as cause of sickness, 116, 181, 228, 233-234, 273, 352, 395, 429, 430, 446, 474, 551, 630-631, 673, 717, 828, 842; chickens used in, 692; of European origin, 770; fear of, 213, 227; as integrative force in society, 93; shaman-priest denial of, 65; used to achieve justice, 350— among Amuzgo, 429; among Baja California Indians, 877, 878; in Chalchihuitan, 170; among Chinantec, 549; among Pokomames, 115; in Guatemalan highlands, 37; among Popoloca, 495. SEE ALSO Witches

witches: animal spirit of, 177; divining by, 4 1 2 413; techniques of, 630—among Huave, 4 8 7 488; among Nahua, 630-631. SEE ALSO Witchcraft wood: for coffins, 67; in houses, 54, 79, 207, 231, 238, 616-618, 752 (fig. 2 8 ) , 756 (fig. 3 1 ) , 854 (fig. 1 1 ) , 855. SEE ALSO Woodworking

woodwind, musical instrument: 560 woodworking: by Chamulas, 162, 206; by Chorti, 123; by Tarascans, 746, 747 (fig. 2 2 ) , 750-751, 760; in Totonac area, 653; in Totonicapan, 72; by Tzeltal, 206; by Yucatec Maya, 259 wool: blankets of, 55, 77, 613, 800, 853; carding of, 77-78, 706 (fig. 3 1 ) ; clothing of, 53, 77, 82, 83 (fig. 12), 111, 161, 162-163, 208, 341, 343, 381, 439, 509, 564, 590, 613, 620, 652, 660, 709, 710, 758-759, 825, 854; sources of, 77; weaving of, 53, 76-78, 161, 228, 341, 345, 381, 383, 439, 509, 613, 652, 706, 753, 800, 853, 854 world view. SEE under religion and world view of individual tribes worms: consumption of, 437, 499

INDEX X-Cacal, sanctuary of: in Quintana Roo, 269-270 Ximénez, Francisco: historical contribution by, 8, 145 Xinca-Lenca: Ladino speakers of, 38; prehistory of, 27 Xixime: language of, 779; subsistence of, 786 Xochimilco, town of: 614, 623, 629 Yalalag, town of: Zapotec in, 319, 337-358 Yaqui: aesthetic and recreational patterns of, 8 4 2 843; civil-religious organization of, 838-839; cultural solidarity of, 834, 841, 844; distribution of, 830, 832, 844, 871; dolichocephaly of, 141; economy of, 836; ethnography of, 7; history of, 8 3 2 834; language of, 15, 779, 830, 832; population estimates of, 785, 830; religious organization of, 839-842; settlement patterns of, 834-835, 8 3 6 838, 844; subsistence of, 835-836; technology of, 836 Yaqui-Mexican wars: 832-833 yarn: for adornment, 303, 620 Yaxchilan: in Lacandon religion, 293, 295; location of, 140; pilgrimages to, 282 yoke: on animals, 159, 850 (fig. 5 ) ; for watercarrying, 303, 386, 572 yucca ( y u c a ) : 252, 300, 532, 539 Yucatan Peninsula: geography of, 23 Yucatac Maya: acculturation of, 244, 247, 264-265; census of, 23, 247-249; cephalic index of, 141; economy of, 262-265; ethnological studies of, 249-251; geographical area of, 244-246; language intelligibility with Cholan, 231; linguistic history of, 24-25; location of, 23, 25, 27, 237; religion and world view of, 270-275; settlement patterns of, 254-257; social organization of, 2 6 5 270; Spanish conquest of, 246-247; subsistence of, 251-254; technology of, 257-262 Yuman languages: 782, 871

Zaachila: 319 Zacatecas: mines in, 683 Zacatenco: relationships with Monte Alban, 323 zahorines. SEE Sickness, curing of Zapata, Juan Buenaventura: Nahuatl writings by, 7 Zapotec: aesthetic and recreational patterns of, 3 5 3 356; annual cycle of, 357-358; census of, 317, 320 (fig. 2 ) , 329, 336-337; dialects of, 317, 3 2 9 331; distribution of, 317, 318 (fig. 1 ) , 329-331 (fig. 1), 545-546; economy of, 331, 333, 345-347; ethnological investigation of, 337-338; geographical area of, 330 (fig. 1 ) , 332 (fig. 2 ) , 333; history of, 322, 323, 324, 334-337; life cycle of, 356-357; music of, 560; religion and world view of, 350-353; settlement patterns of, 340-341; social organization of, 347-350; subsistence of, 338-340; technology of, 341-345; trading network of, 319, 363, 470, 481, 541, 546, 548, 557 Zempoaltepetl mountains: 315-316, 333 Zinacantan: shaman from, 142 (fig. 7 ) ; Tzotzil in, 154-194 Zinacantans: Aztec relationships with, 141-142 zither: 445 Zoque: aesthetic patterns of, 474-475; census of, 320 (fig. 2 ) , 449; distribution of, 133, 139, 155, 318 (fig. 1 ) , 321, 331, 448-451 (figs. 1-3); economy of, 469-472; ethnographical studies of, 457; geographical area of, 449-452 (figs. 2, 3 ) ; history of, 324, 453-456; languages of, 452; life cycle of, 475-476; religion and world view of, 472-474; settlement patterns of, 462-463; social organization of, 472; Spanish conquest of, 4 5 5 456; subsistence of, 459-462; technology of, 457 (fig. 7 ) , 463-469 Zurita, Don Alonso de: ethnographic contribution by, 6 Zutuhil: ethnographic studies of, 70; location of, 69

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