EMPIRE S CHILDREN: THE PEOPLE OF TZINTZUNTZAN FOSTER 



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the image of the Santo Entierro while the white 

 cloth used to lower it from the cross on Good 

 Friday was placed on their shoulders as a token 

 of transfer of ofHce. The rezandero of the retir- 

 ing cargueros gave the symbols of office to the 

 newly elected men: a small wooden cross to 

 the mayordomo. a small wooden image of the 

 Santo Entierro to the deputy, a small bell to 

 the scribe, and a framework of rods to be cover- 

 ed with flowers each Sunday to the attorney. In 

 the evening the old and the new cargueros as- 

 sembled in the house of the new mayordomo for 

 the fiesta which the incoming men offered to 

 those retiring. Then in turn they went to the 

 houses of the deputy, scribe, and attorney where 

 the same meal of nacatamales and brandy was 

 repeated. 



Each carguero was in charge of La Soledad 

 for a month before passing his responsibilities 

 to the next. Thus, each served three times dur- 

 ing the year. The man in charge burned incense 

 morning and afternoon in front of all images 

 of saints in the church, and rang the bells of La 

 Soledad Thursday afternoons to call the cargue- 

 ros to clean the building. Friday evenings the 

 cargueros and their wives gathered in La Sole- 

 dad to sing praises, and each Sunday they dec- 

 orated the church with flowers and carried a 

 small image of the Santo Entierro to Mass in 

 the parish church. 



All four cargueros participated in most major 

 town fiestas throughout the year. For Ascension 

 Thursday each gave a small fiesta for which 

 preparations began the preceding Tuesday night 

 when all cargueros met in the house of the ma- 

 yordomo. The gathering was known as the con- 

 tadera, or counting of the money, because each 

 man brought contributions to pay for the Mass, 

 music, candle wax, and the salary of the rezan- 

 deros. To give it the proper legal atmosphere 

 all contributions were taken to the home of the 

 municipal judge to be counted and recorded. 

 Later in the night the homes of the deputy, the 

 scribe, and attorney were visited. Next morning 

 the cargueros staggered through the streets, the 

 fiscal carrying the wax on his shoulders and 

 imitating the actions of a bull, while the others 

 went through the pantomime of fighting him. In 

 the late afternoon they arrive at La Soledad and, 

 aided by their less intoxicated wives, decorated 

 the church. An image of Nuestro Senor de la 



Ascension, adorned with walnut branches and 

 covered with bananas, mangoes, oranges, and 

 other fruits, was placed in the center of the 

 church. By means of a rope tied to its neck it 

 was lifted to the ceiling during Mass on Thurs- 

 day morning to simulate the ascension of Christ. 

 The same evening the fruits and other food with 

 which the image was decorated were given away. 

 Three weeks later, on Corpus Christi, the cargue- 

 ros took the image of the Santo Entierro of La 

 Soledad to the parish church for Mass, and in 

 the late afternoon joined with the cargueros of 

 San Isidro in the throwing of fruit, corn, wheat 

 tortillas, and other foods from the porch of the 

 parish church (pp. 216-217). 



On November 1 the cargueros asked their 

 friends and relatives for help in the preparation 

 of a breakfast to be served on the morning of 

 November 2, All Souls' Day. During the night, 

 while friends and relatives worked with prep- 

 arations, the cargueros visited each house in 

 which a carguero or ex-carguero of La Soledad 

 had died during the past year, where, after pray- 

 ing, they were offered pozole and other foods. 

 Meanwhile a mock tomb was set up in the church 

 and during the early morning hours the cargue- 

 ros kept vigil,^ remaining until noon when the 

 priest came to chant responses for the dead. 

 In the forenoon a table was set up in the small 

 patio between La Soledad and the chapel of 

 La Concepcion. Invited guests included all past 

 cargueros of La Soledad, the current 12 car- 

 gueros of the chapel of the Virgin of Guada- 

 lupe, the municipal judge, and a few other old 

 and respected men. Each carguero offered a 

 cup of chocolate and 10 or 12 pieces of bread 

 to each of the past cargueros, the chocolate and 

 5 or 6 pieces of bread to other guests, and to 

 all a wooden tray on which a quarter of a kilo 

 of sugar and 3 or 4 squares of chocolate were 

 placed. This "breakfast" began about 3 o'clock 

 in the afternoon and ended about 8 o'clock, af- 

 ter which everyone began to drink brandy. 



On December 12 the cargueros of the chapel 

 of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Ojo de Agua in- 

 vited those of La Soledad to participate in their 

 fiesta of this day. On December 16 a nude 

 image of the Holy Child adorned with colored 

 paper and wheat straw, and with a peach in one 

 hand, was placed in the center of the church 



^ I observed this custom in 1945 in the church at Janitzio, 

 (See pp. 220-22L) 



