EMPIRES CHILDREN: THE PEOPLE OF TZINTZUNTZAN- 



-FOSTER 



203 



furnish the local priest and the church came 

 directly under the jurisdiction of the secular 

 clergy, probably during the mid-1 7th century, 

 the Third Order was abolished. In view of the 

 antagonism between the regular Church and the 

 religious orders of that time it is not surprising 

 that the new priests did not encourage interest 

 in other than secular organizations. It was not 

 reestablished until 1937, when two Franciscan 

 priests came from Salvatierra and remained for 

 9 days. Since that time the order has grown, 

 and now includes a great many members of both 

 sexes. The order is divided into two sections, 

 one for men and the other for women, each with 

 its president, treasurer, and secretary. 



The principles of the order are summed up 

 in the words Faith, Hope, and Charity: faith 

 in God, hope that one will be saved from the 

 Devil, and charity toward fellow men. All per- 

 sons who wish to join the order must pass 

 through two preliminary stages, apostolate and 

 novitiate, before becoming full professing mem- 

 bers. 



The Perpetual Candle 

 (La Vela Perpetua) 



La Vela Perpetua, or the Eternal Candle, is 

 an organization embracing almost all men and 

 women of the town. The women are organized 

 formally into 31 groups, each with a chief 

 known as the cabeza del dia or head of the day. 

 Each group is charged with furnishing and light- 

 ing candles during the rosary for the day of the 

 month which falls in its charge. Each member 

 pays $0.06 monthly to her chief, who turns over 

 the proceeds to the priest. Men are charged 

 with bringing candles and contributing $0.25 on 

 each of the "Three Thursdays," Maundy Thurs- 

 day, Ascension Thursday, and Corpus Christi. 

 Unlike the Third Order, joining is simple. One 

 asks the priest to put one's name on the rolls, 

 and in return he issues a membership card. 

 Children as young as 7 or 8 often join. Women 

 are allowed to join the group of any chief whom 

 they like. Thus some groups are very large, 

 while others with an unpopular chief are small. 

 Natividad Peria first belonged to the group of 

 the 19th day of the month, of which her bap- 

 tismal godmother was chief. When the old lady 

 died, the chieftainship passed to her grand- 



daughter, whom Nati felt neglected the day so 

 that in disgust she deserted and joined the group 

 corresponding to the 15th day of the month. 

 This inheritance of chieftainship is one of the 

 few forms of intangible property rights known 

 in Tzintzuntzan. When a member is dying, the 

 priest calls her companions of the same day to 

 the church to recite the prayer known as the 

 hermandad, which consists of the rosary and the 

 Trisagion. 



The Society of Our Lady of Guadalupe 



(La Sociedad de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe) 



The Society of Our Lady of Guadalupe is 

 composed of married and unmarried women 

 whose principal duty is to pay for the Mass said 

 on the 12th day of each month in the chapel of 

 Guadalupe in Ojo de Agua, and to decorate the 

 altars with flowers and to clean the floor of the 

 chapel. They wear a tricolor sash over their 

 shoulders, red, white, and green, during proces- 

 sions around the atrium and within the church. 



The Apostolic Society of The 

 Sacred Heart of Jesus 



(La Asociacion Aposlolada del Sagrado 

 Corazon de Jesus) 



Individuals of both sexes and of all ages may 

 be apostolates of the Heart of Jesus. They must 

 confess the first Friday of each month, at which 

 time they contribute alms of $0.02. The society 

 is divided into groups of from 5 to 10 persons, 

 headed by a selador who collects the alms to 

 give to the priest. The contribution is supposed 

 to go in its entirety to Morelia. Members of this 

 organization have as a distinguishing insignia 

 a bright crimson sash worn over their shoulders. 

 For major fiestas, they also carry a banner with 

 a picture of Christ and with the wording '\4pos- 

 tolado de la Oracion' followed by "Tzintzun- 

 tzan, Junio, 1924" presumably representing the 

 date of the founding of the society. Small girl 

 members go to each rosary during May and 

 June. They are dressed in white and during the 

 first month wear a blue sash, symbolic of the 

 Virgin Mary, and during the second month a red 

 sash symbolic of the Sacred Bleeding Heart of 

 Jesus. 



