empire's children: the people of TZINTZUNTZAN FOSTER 175 



and raises the question as to why. One reason was probably also a factor responsible for the 



seems to be the natural indolence of the people, lack of interest in the ejido. Two Tzintzuntzeiios 



which is apparent in the history of water, elec- were members of this band: Francisco de J., who 



tricity, and other cases. Once the individual's is now the town drunk; Geronimo Monroy, who 



way of life is established, a more than ordinary was once listed to receive an allotment, in 1945 



force is required to incite him to something was the local judge, apparently a fair and hon- 



new and different. At the time of the distribu- est man with his militant fires burned low. All 



tion of lands, there were no longer able-bodied in all, the history of the ejido reflects neither to 



individuals who had formerly lost lands. Hence, the credit of the Church nor to that of the citi- 



all adult males had grown up and established zens of Tzintzuntzan. 



their ways of life with the small amounts of At the present time there are about 152 hec- 



land which remained with the village, or with tares of land owned by the Indigenous Com- 



none at all. Poor as it might be, the economic munity." The largest areas are two tracts of 131 



basis of their lives was established. Lands which hectares in the hills of Tariaqueri and Yahuaro, 



required an hour's brisk walk to reach did not which apparently have been in community hands 



seem attractive. since Colonial and pre-Colonial times. Seven- 



A second factor was the attitude of the teen hectares of the Cerrito Colorado were ac- 



Church, which, it will be remembered, tradition- quired by purchase in 1923 (p. 80) and 4 



ally sided with the large landowners for the hectares of pasture land by purchase in 1937. 



very good reason that it was the largest land- Records in the State tax collector's office show 



holder of all. Tzintzuntzan, like most other the following breakdown: 



towns in Michoacan, is fanatically Catholic, and Unspecified lands $9,840 



the influence of a priest is very great. At the Pasture land "Los 'Granginos'"' . .' 200 



time of the presidential resolution of 1928, the Cerro Colorado 900 



Government had just introduced stringent legis- 



lation designed to curb the power and influence ^°'^' »10,940 



of the Church. Priests elected not to enter Except for "Los Granginos," no area is given 



churches to say Mass rather than to comply with {„ the tax records. Those that are quoted were 



the regulations laid down by the Government, taken from documents dealing with the history 



and were forbidden, among other things, to ap- of the ejido, and presumably represent official 



pear on the streets in clerical garb. Tzintzuntzan surveys. 



was one of those towns which successfully hid a INHERITANCE 

 priest during this period, and Mass was regular- 

 ly said in private homes. Embittered by such The aboriginal inheritance rule among the 

 action, the Church was violently anti-Govern- Tarascans was for sons to receive the property 

 ment. Potential ejidatarios in Tzintzuntzan ask- of their fathers, and daughters that of their moth- 

 ed the priest if they should accept their allot- ers. There was some emphasis on primogeni- 

 ments, and he advised them to have nothing to ture, particularly if it were a question of a small 

 do with the project, that the lands were being plot of land which was not to be divided. Among 

 stolen from the rightful owners, the hacienda the Tarascans living near Tzintzuntzan today, 

 owners, and that the time would come when the this pattern is still followed to a considerable 

 ejido would be turned back to these owners and extent. In Tzintzuntzan itself, inheritance rules 

 all ejidatarios sent to jail. With this dire threat, reveal almost nothing of the earlier custom. A 

 it is not surprising that a wavering individual man dies either testado or intestado — with or 

 would decide against the new land distribution without a will. In the former case, property is 

 scheme. disposed of as the dead man has dictated. More 



This was also the period of the Cristeros, or commonly a man dies without a will, and the 



armed bands of men who opposed by force the division of property may depend upon a number 



anti-Church decrees of the Government. General of factors. Often the deceased has told his fam- 



Ladislao Molina was the cristero most feared, or ily, preferably in the presence of a disinterested 



esteemed, as the case may be, in the PatZCUarO 2 See p. 281 for subsequent developments concerning the 



area, and the attacks of his men on ejidatarios lands of the Comunidad Indigena. 



