EMPIRES children: THE PEOPLE OF TZINTZUNTZAN FOSTER 



147 



Bean price structure follows very closely the 

 pattern for maize. Individual growers sell in 

 small lots to consumers, or to local stores. Prices 

 are lowest at harvest time, highest a short time 

 before. Theoretically the grower of wheat, since 

 he must sell to a mill, is more apt to be vic- 

 timized. In practice, milling is in the hands of 

 a good many small millers, and competition be- 

 tween them is sufficiently intense that cartel 

 arrangements are not feasible. 



Perhaps Tzintzuntzan is one of the last fron- 

 tiers of free enterprise. No one who is willing 

 and able to work need go hungry, and he who 

 works with extra energy and intelligence profits 

 accordingly. Some families are poor, at times 

 because leisure or loafing are more highly valued 

 than an extra meal. Some families are rela- 

 tively well off, primarily because they combine 

 hard work with good judgment. No one feels 

 that he is bucking an unfair economic system, 

 a victim of forces greater than he can control. 



TRAVEL 



A large percentage of Mexicans are inveter- 

 ate travelers. Many, like the rescatones of 

 Tzintzuntzan, do so for commercial reasons. 

 Many more make as their excuse the desire to 

 go on pilgrimages to famous shrines. Under- 

 lying all reasons is, in most cases, the sheer 

 pleasure of going from one place to another, of 

 seeing new faces and sights. Tzintzuntzenos are 

 no exception to the general rule. Almost all 

 have been out of their own local area, and a 

 number have been as far as diverse points in 

 the United States. Were it not that in Tzintzun- 

 tzan pilgrimages are of relative unimportance, 

 still more people than is the case would have 

 traveled widely. The famous shrine of Chalma, 

 for example, is unknown to the Tzintzuntzenos. 

 Only three religious pilgrimages, none of them 

 lengthy, are observed in Tzintzuntzan. The first 

 is to Morelia for the fiesta of the Sagrado Cora- 

 zon de Jesiis, in June. Formerly people went on 

 foot, a 2-day trip each way; now they ride in 

 a bus in an hour. The second is the great fiesta 

 of the Immaculate Conception in Patzcuaro on 

 December 8. Since many people go there every 

 Friday, the trip can hardly be compared to the 

 lengthy travels characteristic of other parts of 

 Mexico. 



The longest perigrination was that to the 



former town of San Juan Parangaricutiro, com- 

 monly known as San Juan de las Colchas, where 

 on September 14, a great fiesta in honor of the 

 Christ of Miracles was held. Geronimo Monroy 

 was for many years in charge of the group which 

 went from Tzintzuntzan. He guarded the small 

 chest, to which those who contemplated the trip 

 brought alms to be delivered to the priest of 

 San Juan. The night of September 10 the travel- 

 ers went by canoe to Erongaricuaro, paddling 

 all night, and walking all the next day to Turi- 

 cuaro in the sierra, where they passed the night. 

 On September 12 they walked to San Lorenzo, 

 and on the 13th arrived at San Juan. Upon 

 entering each town along the route the travelers 

 sang and prayed. The return trip was made by 

 the same route, without formalities. Others, 

 with less time to spare, went by train from Patz- 

 cuaro to Uruapan, and by foot from there. This 

 routine was upset in 1943 with the eruption of 

 the volcano Paricutin. In spite of the ashes the 

 fiesta was held in this year, but by 1944 the 

 town was nearly buried by lava, and the inhab- 

 itants moved to a new settlement called San 

 Juan de los Conejos, near Uruapan. The image 

 of Christ was moved with great solemnity to the 

 new town, and the fiesta has been continued, 

 though on a smaller scale, and the mass peri- 

 grination has not been repeated from Tzin- 

 tzuntzan. 



A number of persons have been to the Unit- 

 ed States, lured by higher wages and the desire 

 to see new country. These immigrants may be 

 divided into two categories: those who went be- 

 fore World War II, traveling on their own, and 

 moving freely about the country; and the brace- 

 ros, or contracted laborers, who went during the 

 War under the terms of an agreement between 

 the governments of Mexico and the United States. 

 Unlike the former group, the latter went for a 

 stipulated period of time, usually 6 months or 

 a year, and much closer tab was kept on their 

 movements and work by the American govern- 

 ment, for the purpose of avoiding any exploita- 

 tion. It is gratifying to find an almost univer- 

 sally favorable reaction to the United States 

 among members of this group. 



This is rather at variance with the common 

 impression received from the daily press to the 

 effect that Mexicans, especially in the south of 

 the United States, are discriminated against. The 

 answer appears to be simple. Most of these mi- 



