44 INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY—PUBLICATION NO. 5 
(who makes all municipal expenditures), and a 
regidor (alderman). The concejo regularly meets 
once a week on Monday evenings to conduct the 
routine affairs of the town. In matters of great 
importance to the townspeople, such as_ the 
appointing of officials of the Junta Comunal, 
national elections, etc., the alcalde calls a pub- 
lic assembly of all adult citizens. IJnspecciones 
(inspections) which are of importance to the munic- 
ipality are divided among the members of the 
concejo; elsewhere other individuals are appointed 
as inspectores to supervise and oversee these 
matters. The inspecciones of Sicaya, of which 
there are six, include Educacién (education), 
Asuntos Contenciosos (disputatious matters), Esta- 
do Civil y Cementerio (civil registry: births, deaths, 
marriages), Pesas, Medidas y  Subsistencias 
(weights, measures, and foodstuffs), and Puentes, 
Caminos, Aguas y Parques (bridges, roads, water, 
and parks). 
The entire District of Sicaya is divided into five 
sections called cuwarteles, each of which has its 
president (usually designated cwartelero), vice- 
president, secretary, treasurer, and vocal (member- 
at-large). These officers, elected annually by 
the inhabitants of the cwartel, hold meetings but 
once or twice a year. With the exception of the 
cuartelero himself, the officers of these divisions 
are of little actual importance in the community. 
The chief purpose of the cuartel organization is 
to carry out, under the supervision of the cwarte- 
leros, the public works, or faenas, necessary to the 
well-being of the community. When the time has 
arrived to clean or repair the irrigation ditches, to 
construct public buildings, to build. bridges, to 
work on the roads, or to perform any labor of 
benefit to the town as a whole, all able-bodied men 
are summoned by order of the alcalde. On the 
evening before the faena is to take place, the two 
pregoneros, or town criers, accompanied by the 
cuarteleros and a cornetero, or bugler, make the 
rounds, announcing on each street corner where 
and at what hour the faena is to take place. These 
individuals are well fortified for their evening 
tour with a bottle of liquor (aguardiente), which 
either has been donated by a public-spirited resi- 
dent or has been purchased with municipal funds. 
Those who do not present themselves for the 
jfaenas are fined and the proceeds used to employ 
82 The town of San Gerénimo has a long and impressive list of Inspectors 
including, among others, ‘Industries, Manufactures, and Commerce,” 
“Food, Agriculture, and Stock-Breeding,’’ and ‘‘Rural and Urban Con 
structions.”” 
peons to do the work and to supply the conscien- 
tious citizens who have attended with aguardi- 
ente, coca, and cigarettes during the intervals of 
resting. At the present time, since many towns- 
people prefer to pay the fine rather than devote 
their time to the public works, the faena system is 
gradually being modified into a system of taxation. 
There is but one small hacienda in the District 
of Sicaya. The great majority of the lands be- 
long to the townspeople, but individual land- 
holdings are becoming smaller with each succeed- 
ing generation owing to continued repartitions; 
repartition of the land is frequently cited as the 
principal reason why so many of the younger 
Sicainos have moved to the Coast and elsewhere 
in search of employment more lucrative than 
farming. 
Formerly, the church owned extensive lands in 
the District of Sicaya. Although today some 
fields still pertain to the church and are rented to 
support the resident priest, himself a native 
Sicamo, most of the tierras de cofradia, as the 
church lands are called, were confiscated by the 
community in 1926 and are now municipal prop- 
erty. Prior to this date, the lands dedicated to 
a given saint were farmed jointly by the cofradia 
(brotherhood) of devotees who undertook to spon- 
sor the fiesta of the particular saint day.“ The 
products from the saint’s fields were consumed 
during the course of the fiesta or were sold to de- 
fray the expenses entailed. Today the tierras de 
cofradia are administered by an elected body 
known as the Junta Comunal (Community Coun- 
cil) and the income from these lands, which are 
rented out by yugadas (a yugada is 5/6 of an acre), 
is used for public works. 
The communal grazing lands in the punas of 
Cachi, formerly an annex of Sicaya, no longer 
pertain to the town. Many shepherds of that 
upland region, however, continue to herd the 
flocks of Sicainos on a salary basis. 
The economy of Sicaya, based on agriculture 
with some livestock, is essentially similar to that 
of Chupaca. The extensive, nonirrigable pampas 
of the secarrén, however, favor the production of 
barley, wheat, and potatoes, which form the prin- 
cipal cash crops; maize is of less importance in 
Sicaya than elsewhere in the Jauja Valley, and 
other crops typical of this region are grown on a 
8 Since most lands belonging to the church were left to particular saints 
by their devotees, these lands are often called obras pias (pious acts). 
8 Today such organizations of worshipers are called congregaciones (congre- 
gations) rather than cofradias. 
i aa 
