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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 6 



Cargueros de San Fri\ncisco 



The chapel of San Francisco is tended by 

 eight cargueros, the chief of whom is the mayor- 

 domo, while the rest have no special names. 

 Each one keeps the key to the chapel during 1 

 month of the year and goes daily to burn in- 

 cense in the morning and afternoon. When he 

 delivers tlie key to the next he offers a pozole 

 to the other cargueros. Since there are only 8 

 men for 12 periods, the last 4 months are split 

 into halves of 15 days each and all men repeat 

 their obligation. The cargueros elect a rezande- 

 ro who must pray in the chapel each Sunday af- 

 ternoon and at the transfer of office at the end 

 of the year. Saturday afternoons all eight men 

 clean and decorate the chapel with flowers, pre- 

 paratory to spending Sunday evening praying 

 there. On the fourth day of each month they 

 pay the priest about $12 to say a special Mass. 

 On October 4, the day of San Francisco, the 

 cargueros participate in the celebration by serv- 

 ing a breakfast at which the priest is the guest 

 of honor, and a dinner to which the ex-cargue- 

 ros are invited. In the evening there is food and 

 dancing in the home of the mayordomo. Follow- 

 ing the fiesta the retiring cargueros decide on 

 their successors, each one acting as an individual 

 without consulting the others. Because of the 

 relatively low expense of being a carguero of 

 San Francisco it is usually not difficult to find 

 a volunteer, but if a retiring carguero is unable 

 to find a successor he must serve through an- 

 other year. 



In addition to the regular cargueros there is 

 a junior auxiliary composed of several young 

 children known also as cargueros. Four or five 

 go to the chapel on each of the 9 nights before 

 the day of San Francisco carrying trays of cook- 

 ed squash, roasting ears, and other foods known 

 as the offering of parande (T.). 



Even very small children may be cargueros; 

 when too young to walk they are carried by 

 their parents. 



Cargueros de San Isidro 



These six men, always Tarascans, are named 

 in Ichupio. The chief is the mayordomo, the 

 other five acorn panantes. Each Saturday they 

 decorate the table on which rests the image of 

 San Isidro, and each Sunday they place and 



light candles on it. As in the case of the car- 

 gueros of San Francisco they hire a rezandero 

 to pray on Saturdays and at other gatherings. 

 On the fifteenth day of every second month 

 Mass is paid for by one of these men. The 

 same evening he offers a pozole in his home. The 

 principal ceremony of these cargueros, really 

 little more than an elaborate Mass, is on the Day 

 of San Isidro (May 15), patron saint of farm- 

 ers. Some farmers, particularly Tarascans, bring 

 maize and beans which are blessed to ensure 

 good hai'vests. Later, breakfast is served to the 

 priest in the patio between La Soledad and La 

 Concepcion, and in the afternoon the mayordo- 

 mo offers a pozole, at which time new cargueros 

 are elected. These men formally are installed 

 on May 17 when the retiring cargueros signify 

 the transfer of office by placing small sugar 

 crowns decorated with doves and ribbons on 

 their heads. On the octava of Corpus Christi 

 the cargueros of San Isidro are expected to fur- 

 nish some of the objects which are thrown to 

 the crowd from the porch of the parish church. 



Cargueros de San Miguel 



These cargueros, boys from 10 to 15 years of 

 age, are elected in an undetermined manner on 

 the first night of the novena of San Miguel. They 

 pass each of the 9 nights velando and pay (more 

 exactly, their fathers pay) for the Mass on the 

 Day of San Miguel, September 29. 



Cargueros de La Soledad 



Until recently the cargueros of La Soledad 

 church were, because of heavy financial and ma- 

 terial obligations, the most respected and impor- 

 tant of all cargueros. In 1942 the priest abol- 

 ished the posts, and their place was taken by 

 eight encargados who have contented themselves 

 with supervising the cleaning of the church and 

 other limited activities. With the arrival of 

 Father Tovar in 1944 clerical antagonism was 

 removed, but the future fate of these cargueros 

 is still in doubt. Since their activities were not 

 observed the past tense is used in description. 



The four cargueros were the mayordomo, 

 deputy (diputado), scribe {escrihano) , and at- 

 torney (fiscal). They began their year of service 

 on the second Sunday following the Resurrec- 

 tion, when the men and their wives knelt before 



