180 



THE LEVEL AND COST OF LIVING 



for using the cemetery and getting the ofBcial 

 registration ($0.17) remaining constant. An in- 

 formant calculated the cost of a funeral at $16.67. 

 The greatest cost is always that of the licjuor con- 

 sumed by the mourners and those who help open 

 the grave, etc., and the official in charge.'^" The 

 few cents buried with the body in at least some 

 cases are not included. Nor is the cost of pro- 

 tracted drinking that frequently follows a death; 

 this cost is attributed to "secular" drinking. 



The cost of sickness — not including the value 

 of the time lost, which will be calculated in the 

 next chapter — is seen to be considerable. These 

 figures are less authentic than the foregoing 

 because I have no independent data on the number 

 of the sick during a year. However, the number 

 of cases of local shamans and curers has already 

 been calculated, and one can judge the cost of 

 drugs from the data of the sample families, so 

 that a calculation can be made without knowing 



1" In 1041 an informant described a funeral whose participants are usually 

 sober people. Both men and women drank. By the time the funeral pro- 

 cession bepan, 3 round.s of liquor had already been passed among the twenty- 

 odd relatives and friends; a liter was taken to tlie cemetery and consumed; 

 and hack at the house another 2 liters were drunk before the visitors left for 

 the uight. The next morning 11 persons did away with 3 liters more, and of 

 course on the following day there was hangover lo be cured with more liquor. 

 In this ca.se 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 total number of cases of all kinds of sickness 

 in a year.'^' The liquor, incense, and candles 

 referred to is chiefly that consumed by the 

 shamans in their divinations and rituals; but food 

 and liquor are sometimes brought to the patient 

 by friends and relatives. 



The other shamanistic rituals are those for 

 finding lost articles, getting luck for a business 

 venture, and so on. Twenty cases in a year seems 

 a good guess, though it is not more than a guess. 



To ask for a wife for one's son, or a godparent 

 for one's child; or to ask for a loan of money, even 

 with laud as security, or that a document or a 

 bargain be witnessed or a letter written — to ask 

 any "favor" it is customary to accompany the 

 recjuest with a gift of food, and sometimes licjuor. 

 Most of these gifts have already been included in 

 such items as marriage, baptism, etc., but the resi- 

 due is accounted for under "gifts and favors." 

 Likewise there are here included the periodic gifts 

 to godparents, usually presented during certain 

 festivals, and the occasional gifts of food to rela- 

 tives and friends. The calculation of the value 



16" The shaman's fee Is calculated at 50 cents a "treatment." I have cases 

 where it Is less (when It is explained that the shaman was a "friend" and 

 wouldn't charge much) and one case in which a Ladino "doctor" of another 

 town charged a woman $15 (and still she died). Nonshaman curers take no 

 cash fees. 



Table 71. — Expenditures for public rituals 



I $0.40 to drum-flageolet players; destiny of $3 (public contributions) not known to mo. 



3 To drum-flageolet players. 



3 $0.40 to drum-Dageolct players; $1 for purchase of drum by new alguaciles from old alQuaciles. 



< $2 the Priest's fee; $0.50 for the Prie.n's breakfast. 



' $3 lor hire of a marimba band, $1.20 for drum-flageolet players. 



6 Hire of a marimba band. 



' $2 tlie priest's fee; $0.50 for his breakfast; $1.20 for drum-flageolet players. 



' $5 (estimated) for purchase and rental of clothing by "Negrito" dancers; $1.60 for drum-flageolet players. 



' $6 the priest 's lee; $s for hire of a band; $1, rental of house; $0.50, hiring of a cook for the band; and $2 for drum-flageolet players. 



