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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 6 



The term gente criolla is less common, but is 

 applied by some to Spanish-speaking persons 

 who clearly show Indian ancestry. Probably 

 most people in Tzintzuntzan, since financially 

 they are excluded from the upper crust, consider 

 all persons who cannot speak Tarascan as gente 

 de razon, without regard to ancestry. Practical- 

 ly speaking, these distinctions are of little sig- 

 nificance. Tzintzuntzenos are catty people, and 

 like nothing better than to criticize their neigh- 

 bors; praise is the rarest thing in the world. 

 Nev'ertheless, criticism is based on character and 

 actions, and not on class. An energetic man, 

 be he naturalito, criolla, or gente de razon, can 

 expect all the opportunities that his own person- 

 ality will offer. 



Most people in reply to a point-blank ques- 

 tion could not assign their neighbors to a specif- 

 ic class. The term Mestizo is understood by 

 all and generally used without stigma. Even 

 the gente de razon recognize that the population 

 of all Mexico is much mixed, and that there 

 are few persons without some Indian blood. 

 Hence, today almost all Tzintzuntzenos would 

 admit to being Mestizos, except for those of 

 Indian speech whose affiliation is clear. For- 

 merly in the birth records the parents' racial 

 affiliation was indicated as Mestizo or Indian. 

 In 1931, the first full year in which records 

 were kept, two-fifths of all births were to "In- 

 dian" parents, a figure all out of proportion to 

 any linguistic classification at that time. By 

 1935, only one Indian birth was recorded; the 

 rest were Mestizo. Subsequently no attempt has 

 been made to indicate racial affiliation. These 

 data have very little to do with race or language. 



They do indicate a change in the way of think- 

 ing of the people, the tendency to regard them- 

 selves first as increasingly Mestizo, and in 

 recent years, simply as Mexicans. Today the 

 Tzintzuntzeno is Mexican in his own thought, 

 and proud of it. He thinks little about social 

 stratification within his pueblo, and is not hand- 

 icapped socially by what he may or may not 

 be. He accepts the few successful Tarascans 

 living in his town with a feeling that approaches 

 equality; certainly there is no apparent friction. 

 Likewise, though he condescendingly smiles 

 when the naturalitos are mentioned he has no 

 real feeling of hostility or antagonism. Lack 

 of economic competition is one of the strongest 

 factors which eliminate friction, more so than 

 any feeling of common ancestry. 



Most Mexican towns, including those of very 

 small population, have one or more outstanding 

 families which, on account of wealth and edu- 

 cation, stand out beyond their fellow citizens. 

 Parsons has noted this for Mitla (ibid., p. 15), 

 while almost any of the local lists of "Who's 

 Who" published in all ])arts of Mexico show 

 individuals who as lawyers, doctors, military 

 men, or educators have some claim to fame. 

 Quiroga, 8 km. from Tzintzuntzan, produced 

 the famous Nicolas Leon and a number of lesser 

 though prominent men. But Tzintzuntzan, since 

 the last of the Tarascan kings, has produced 

 no notable personality, and one looks in vain 

 through the pages of Mexican history for men- 

 tion of even a single claimant to fame. Today 

 no single family stands out from the rest, and 

 it is hard to see how a local cacique or jefe po- 

 litico could be produced. 



MATERIAL CULTURE 



HOUSES AND FURNISHINGS 



Houses are most closely bunched along the 

 highway and around the plaza and, in true 

 metropolitan style, property values are here 

 highest. Nevertheless, families like the luxury 

 of land about them, and most houses are set 

 in a solar, or lot. The house often, though not 

 always, is built on the street line. Farther from 

 the center of town a house may be set back a 

 short distance from the road, and instead of a 



high adobe wall there is a lower stone wall over 

 which passersby can look, or stop to chat. Fre- 

 quently one enters through a large double door, 

 the sagudn, wide enough to permit the entry of 

 loaded animals. This door opens to a passage 

 which runs through two halves of the house, 

 terminating in a pleasant open porch which 

 runs the length of the back of the house, facing 

 an open patio which is the work space of the 

 family. 



Almost inevitably the low adobe rail of the 



