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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 6 



and carry wood. The most notable ydcntas are 

 the five in Tzintzuntzan and the two in Ihuatzio. 

 In the beginning the Tarascan Chichimecs 

 made offerings of deer meat to their gods; later, 

 human sacrifice was instituted. War prisoners 

 were preferred, and one reason for war was to 

 have sufficient victims. Criminals and slaves 

 were sacrificed when war victims were lacking. 

 There was a series of priests, called "grand- 

 fathers." The most important was the pelamiti. 

 who, according to Seler, was a shaman who 

 could enter a trance and thus learn the will of 

 the gods. He was charged with the maintenance 

 of the sacred fires, with the dispensation of 

 justice, and with the conservation of tradition. 

 The common priests were known as curid-echa; 

 they offered incense to the gods and maintained 

 fires in each temple. Lesser priests were sacris- 

 tans who guarded temples, and assistants to a 

 class known as azami-echa who performed the 

 sacrificial rites. Others carried the gods on their 

 migrations, to fiestas, and to war. Wizards, 

 sorcerers, and medicine men were likewise con- 

 sidered members of the priestly class. Some 

 were rainmakers, others had powers to prevent 

 crop-destroying hail, others divined by throwing 

 maize in the Aztec fashion, and still others 

 made use of the technique of scrying, which 

 consisted in this case of looking into mirrors or 

 jars of water to see by the reflection where rob- 

 bers had fled. Priests were not celibates, and 

 their position was hereditary. Seler concludes 

 that the basic concepts of Tarascan religion and 

 the hierarchy of gods were very similar to those 

 of the Aztecs. 



A recent reconstruction of the Tarascan cal- 

 endar by Caso shows conclusively that it was 

 of the basic Middle-American type, involving 

 18 months of 20 days each, and a 5-day period 

 at the end of the year. Names of 15 of the liJ 

 months are known, and can be correlated both 

 with the modern calendar and the month names 

 of the Aztecs. Likewise the Tarascans were 

 acquainted with the ritual 260-day period, call- 

 ed tonsil pohualli in Aztec and huriyata miyu- 

 cun in Tarascan. On the final day of each month 

 a great fiesta was observed (Caso, 1943). 



WARFARE 



War had two basic purposes: to extend the 

 boundaries of the realm, and to obtain prisoners 



for sacrifices. At the time of the fiesta of hon- 

 zinasquaro the king sent messengers to all parts 

 of the kingdom advising the lords to come to 

 his capital city. Wood was brought to the tem- 

 ples for huge fires, and priests burned incense 

 and prayed to the god of fire, Curicaveri, that 

 the enemies be smitten with illness so that they 

 could not fight. Then all the lords named their 

 special enemies, asking that some of their vas- 

 sals be left to be taken. 



Meanwhile, spies were sent into enemy lands 

 to study the military organization, to learn the 

 paths, river fords, and other data essential to a 

 successful campaign. Then, in front of each 

 captain, they traced maps on the ground to show 

 him the best routes. Warriors put wreaths of 

 flowers or deerskin on their heads, with plumes 

 of crane, eagle, or parrot feathers. The captain 

 general in command of the entire expedition 

 wore a headdress of feathers, a silver buckler 

 on his back, a quiver of tiger skin, earrings and 

 bracelets of gold, breeches of leather, and 

 anklets of gold rattles. 



After exhorting both nobles and commoners 

 not to falter and not to turn back, priests carry- 

 ing images of Curicaveri, Xaratanga, and other 

 gods set out with the parties made up of columns 

 and squadrons of warriors. A light squadron of 

 400 men attacked an unsuspecting town, set fire 

 to it, and then, feigning injuries, retreated, 

 drawing the opposing warriors into an ambush 

 where they were set upon by the bulk of the 

 Tarascan army, to be killed or taken captive. 

 The very old, the very young, and the wounded 

 were sacrificed on the spot and cooked and eat- 

 en. Captives were taken home and sacrificed to 

 the gods, except boys, who were spared and 

 raised to work in the fields. A peace mission 

 was then sent to the king by the defeated party, 

 and with it returned officials to govern the new 

 conquest. 



Weapons were the bow and arrow, the sling, 

 and two classes of clubs, one a heavy cudgel, 

 the other with pieces of sharp flint along the 

 edges, after the manner of the Aztecs. 



By means of constant raiding, the Tarascans 

 in the century or century and a half before the 

 arrival of the Spaniards had carried the limits 

 of their empire to the Pacific coast at Zacatula, 

 into Colima and Jalisco, and into northern Gue- 

 rrero. Along the eastern boundaries a chain of 



