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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 6 



known as Zizambanacha who formed a small 

 independent political unit called Naranjan. 



Rather than fight, the people of Naranjan de- 

 cided to make peace, and gave a woman of noble 

 blood to Hireticatame as wife. From this union 

 was born Sicuirancha, one of the most important 

 Tarascan kings. When Hireticatame was old, 

 the lords of Naranjan, resentful of the conquest, 

 decided to overthrow him and so planned a 

 secret attack. Hireticatame's wife, the sister of 

 the attacking chiefs, had gone for water, and 

 upon meeting her brothers and learning their 

 mission, rushed home to warn her husband. He 

 put up a valiant fight and held off his attackers 

 until his supply of arrows was exhausted. Final- 

 ly he was overcome, killed, the town burned, 

 and the god Curicaveri carried off. Meanwhile, 

 Sicuirancha, who had been hunting in the hills, 

 returned to find the slaughter accomplished. 

 Quickly he set out with the survivors after the 

 war party, and found them all on the ground 

 suffering from stomach ache, diarrhea, exhaus- 

 tion, and intoxication, a curse brought on them, 

 according to the Relacion, by Curicaveri. In 

 this condition they were easily overpowered and 

 brought back in captivity to be sacrificed. Si- 

 cuirancha extended his realms by conquest, built 

 a new temple for his god on a ydcata, or pyra- 

 mid, and moved to Guayameo, the modern San- 

 ta Fe de la Laguna. Here he died, leaving a son 

 Pavacume, who passed the kingdom to his son 

 Vapeani, who in turn left it to his son Curatame. 

 Thus, at least four monarchs reigned at Guaya- 

 meo. Ruiz believes that the words Pavacume 

 and Vapeani (or Pahuappame and Huappani) 

 mean simply "primogeniture" and "son," and 

 hence represent a series of kings (Ruiz, 1940, 

 p. 89). If this supposition is correct, the dynas- 

 ty lasted longer at this place. 



During this period the people of Guayameo 

 became aware of a goddess known as Xaratanga 

 (later to become an important Tarascan deity) 

 in the barrio of Yahuaro, in nearby Tzintzun- 

 tzan. Friendly relations were established with 

 the people of Tzintzuntzan, who were ruled over 

 by a chief named Tariyaran. Subsequently, 

 during a fiesta the priest in charge of the temple 

 of the goddess burlesqued her by placing gar- 

 lands of beans and other profane objects on her 

 hands and feet. Enraged, Xaratanga caused 

 everyone to become drunk. Tariyaran sent his 



sisters Pacimbane and Zucurabe for fish to leav- 

 en the wine, but they returned only with a ser- 

 pent, which, after being eaten, caused all the 

 revelers to become snakes. With the disintegra- 

 tion of the ruling class in Tzintzuntzan there 

 were no leaders in the immediate area. Minor 

 lords of Guayameo seized upon the chance, and 

 aided by "brothers" of the god Curicaveri (ap- 

 parently smaller copies of the idol) conquered 

 and occupied much of the Lake Patzcuaro and 

 adjacent sierra areas, leaving the sons of Cura- 

 tame, called like their ancestors, Vapeani and 

 Pavacume, in charge of the main deity. 



One day while wandering through the hills, 

 Vapeani beheld for the first time the islands of 

 Jaracuaro and La Pacanda in the lake below. 

 (How he could have missed the islands all this 

 time is somewhat of a mystery.) Descending he 

 come upon a fisherman in a canoe, to whom he 

 spoke. When he noted that the language of the 

 fisherman was the same as his, though with cer- 

 tain different sounds, and when he recognized 

 the names of the gods of the fisherman, he knew 

 that the island dwellers must be of his own peo- 

 ple. From the fisherman he learned about fish, 

 which he had never seen before, and asked the 

 man if he had a daughter, to which he replied in 

 the negative. LIpon being pressed the fisherman 

 admitted to a young and ugly daughter, whom 

 Vapeani asked to have brought. When she was 

 older she was married to the younger of the two 

 brothers, Pavacume, and subsequently gave birth 

 to a son, Tariacuri. The ruler of .Jaracuaro was 

 very angry, but he decided to ask the brothers 

 to the island, one to be chief priest of their sod, 

 and the other chief sacrificer. The brothers 

 accepted, but after a short stay they were driven 

 awav and returned to the mainland and their 

 Chichimec followers, bringing with them know- 

 ledge of agriculture and other higher arts of 

 civilization. 



Desirous of civilizing their own followers, the 

 brothers decided upon a program of pyramid 

 building, and thus the ydcatas at Patzcuaro were 

 erected. Meanwhile the chief of Jaracuaro was 

 angry and worried to see the progress of the 

 people whom he had considered to be barbaric 

 Chichimecs. By treachery and war he succeeded 

 in killing the brothers, but not in conquering 

 their followers. Since the two sons of Vapeani, 



