EMPIRES CHILDREN: THE PEOPLE OF TZINTZUNTZAN FOSTER 



25 



chances to come in early June he will see 

 brown, dull hillsides. Behind the slow-moving 

 oxen the farmer guides his wooden plow, fol- 

 lowed by boys who drop maize, beans, and 

 squash seeds into the furrow. In other seasons 

 the coloring and activities are different, but 

 always one is conscious of the stirring of soil 

 which never should be stirred, of the deepening 

 gullies, and of the growth of the delta deposits 

 on the lake edge. 



A car horn sounds, and the visitor's eye is 

 again brought back to the town. It is the flecha, 

 the autobus, crammed with passengers from 

 Patzcuaro, swaying around the curves of the 

 highway which comes over the pass between Ta- 

 riaqueri and Yahuaro, violates with impersonal 

 efficiency the cemetery, and passes through the 

 center of town. In front of the plaza it stops to 

 leave and pick up mail, and with luck a few 

 travelers will be able to crowd themselves into 

 the protesting coachwork for the trip to Morelia. 



In spite of the height of the rdcalas one does 

 not get a clear idea of the outline of the town; 

 narrow streets, trees, and the ever-present shad- 

 ows reduce the village area to a sea of house- 

 tops. Inspection of map 1 reveals a simple 

 and even plan. The highway, because of its 

 width, has become the central part of the 

 town. To the west stretch four streets, the 

 longest of which terminates a kilometer away 

 in the section popularly known as El Rincon, 

 "the corner." Judging by the maps of Seler 

 and Beaumont these streets have existed from 

 at least shortly after the Conquest, over 400 

 years, giving them an excellent claim to being 

 among the oldest streets in America. Their age 

 is further attested by the fact that in places 

 they are worn down a meter or more below the 

 level of yards and fields. Crossing these arteries 

 at right angles, and in approximately a north- 

 south direction, are several shorter lanes. At 

 the northern end they run out into the lake, and 

 to the south they either terminate against the 

 stony sides of Tariaqueri or enter the church- 

 yard. This latter section, near the church, per- 

 haps revealing a land boom coincident with the 

 erection of the church and convent, is known as 

 the "New Town," Pueblo Nuevo. To the east 

 of the highway, street patterns are less regular. 

 One lane curves off toward Ojo de Agua, and 

 other shorter stubs run out in any direction 



which topography permits. This barrio, Yahua- 

 ro, is the only part of the town which retains 

 its pre-Conquest terminology. The Relacion 

 mentions that when the Tarascans were still at 

 Guayameo (Santa Fe) the goddess Xaratanga 

 was ensconced in Yahuaro. 



Tracing the historical evolution of barrio and 

 street nomenclature is difficult. At the time of 

 the Conquest Tzintzuntzan proper was the focal 

 point of a city which included all of the towns 

 around Lake Patzcuaro, with an estimated pop- 

 ulation of 40,000 persons, about equal to the 

 same area today. The city itself was, however, 

 somewhat more dispersed than today, and con- 

 sisted of a number of satellite communities in 

 the neighborhood of the ydcatas. The early 

 Spaniards called these settlements barrios, as- 

 signed names of saints to them, and built small 

 chapels in each. As the result of the attraction 

 of the new church, the convent, and the hospital, 

 plus the stern hand of the conquerors, tliese 

 outlying populations were rapidly drawn into 

 the framework of what today is the modern 

 village. This process appears to have been com- 

 pleted during the first 20 or 30 years following 

 the subjugation of Michoacan. Yet to the pre- 

 sent day there is a memory of the earlier town 

 arrangement, and surface surveys corroborate 

 local tradition as to the location of these ba- 

 rrios. In the center of most is a small stone 

 mound, the remains of the first chapel, and 

 around it, for a hundred meters or more, the 

 earth is littered with pre-Conquest sherds. All 

 evidence suggests that these settlements were 

 small, and it is doubtful if their combined pop- 

 ulation exceeded that of the modem town. 

 Barrios located by surface surveys and iden- 

 tified according to local tradition are as fol- 

 lows: 



(1) San Pablo. Two rock piles, one of which 

 presumably represents an old chapel, and thick de- 

 posits of sherds a couple of hundred meters up the 

 side of Yahuaro hill behind the ydcatas testify to tlie 

 location of this barrio. 



(2) Santiago. This barrio adjoins San Pablo to 

 the south. A large pile of stones said by informants 

 to be the first chapel built in this ward by the Span- 

 iards is about 1 km. from the stone piles of San Pa- 

 blo. The clay pit known as Santiago is on the east 

 edge of the sherd area. 



(3) San Bartolo. Remains of an old chapel and 

 a scattering of sherds are found a couple of hundred 



