EMPIRES CHILDREN: THE PEOPLE OF TZINTZUNTZAN FOSTER 



23 



Over a period of several centuries following 

 the initial period of readjustment, remarkable 

 stability has been maintained, and as the result 

 of the assimilation of Spanish and Indian ele- 

 ments a new culture arose. This new culture 

 has been perhaps more resistant to outside in- 

 trusion than the aboriginal one. Before the 

 Conquest the Tarascans reigned supreme in 

 their area; they feared no one and could afford 

 to journey far or admit strangers to their vil- 

 lages. After the Conquest the picture changed. 

 The Tarascans were now the victims, no longer 

 the aggressors. Admission of outsiders was fol- 

 lowed by loss of lands, loss of freedom — loss 

 of all save self-respect. Resistance became a 

 prime survival necessity, to be practiced by all 

 members of the community. This resistance 

 was, and is, not selective. Over the years the 

 Indians learned that it is hard to tell who is 

 friend, who is foe, what is good, what is evil. 

 Hence, everything new is a potential danger 

 and must be treated with extreme suspicion. 

 Obviously, many changes have taken place since 

 colonial days, and will take place at an ever 

 increasing tempo. Nevertheless this fundamen- 

 tal policy has made possible the linguistic and 

 cultural solidarity of perhaps 40,000 persons 

 for over two centuries, once equilibrium was re- 

 established after the initial shock of contact and 

 mestization of peripheral areas. 



Tzintzuntzan was one of the towns which 

 could not resist the first invasion. As the most 

 important city of the empire it was predestined 

 to receive the first attention of tlie Spaniards, 

 and, caught off guard, it literally collapsed. To- 

 day, except for the sleeping ydcatas and a few 

 memories, nothing remains to remind one of its 

 former glory. The traveler or tourist en route 

 to Patzcuaro from Morelia swings off the main 

 road at Quiroga, and for 8 km. skirts the marshy 

 edge of Lake Patzcuaro. Presently he sees a 

 few nestling houses, then a small concrete build- 

 ing on his right, the pump house which provides 

 running water for the pueblo, still hidden from 

 view. Immediately beyond is a rock-lined spring 

 almost always surrounded by women washing, 

 and facing it on the left side of the road, on 

 higher ground, the small chapel of Guadalupe. 

 This tiny settlement. El Ojo de Agua, so named 

 because of its springs, is the only "suburb" of 

 Tzintzuntzan, a mocking caricature of the time 



when all of the pueblos of the lake were wards 

 of the mighty capital. At this point the high- 

 way divides into two wide lanes separated by a 

 row of cedars to form a boulevard. A kilometer 

 farther, and directly ahead, appears a low, 

 rambling modern structure, the federal school 

 "2 de Uctubre." In two sharp curves the pave- 

 ment divides. One branch turns right and still 

 as a boulevard continues a couple of hundred 

 meters to end in a circle, beyond which stands 

 a concrete pier now high and dry on the mud 

 flats, left behind by the lowering of the lake 

 level. On the pier is a red steel lighthouse, one 

 of 11 on the lake. Tended by the Mexican Navy, 

 it Avas placed with unconscious irony to facilitate 

 night commerce — in dugout canoes. 



To the left the highway unites in a single 

 strip and follows up a gentle slope past a contin- 

 uous adobe wall on the right, spotted by occa- 

 sional wooden doors. At irregular intervals low 

 tile roofs rise above the wall, and closer inspec- 

 tion reveals shuttered windows below. Other- 

 wise it would be impossible to tell which section 

 of wall conceals patio and garden, and which 

 living rooms. Some parts of the wall are dark 

 red and rough, each adobe outlined by pebbles 

 or potsherds placed to strengthen the mud used 

 to bind the brick. Other sections have been 

 plastered with mud and horse dung, and may 

 show the dull remnants of white or blue paint. 

 The left side of the road is a marked contrast. 

 A row of tall glistening white houses stretches 

 solidly for several blocks, and doors and win- 

 dows are carefully outlined with a raised plas- 

 ter frame painted red. The regular roofs all 

 slant to the street, and those houses at street 

 corners have roofs de dos aguas, with two 

 sheds, one for each street. Seldom do two sides 

 of a street appear so different. At the time the 

 highway was cut through in 1939 it was neces- 

 sary to widen the street through which it was 

 to pass. All houses on the left, the east side, 

 were condemned and destroyed, and, to compen- 

 sate the owners, new and finer houses of real 

 brick and plaster were built on the street line. 



Again on the right, a little farther along, 

 appears the town plaza, with a corrugated iron 

 bandstand in the center which rises above and 

 dominates the houses with their wooden porta- 

 Ics. or covered sidewalks. The bandstand for- 

 merly saw better days when it graced the great 



