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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 6 



night one can easily imagine that one has been 

 taken back 1900 years in time. The large church 

 doors open and out comes the image of Christ, 

 carried by the other four cargueros, and in 

 close order, the Virgen de los Dolores in shining 

 black velvet robes, carried by four women, the 

 wives of the cargueros. Then, unlike the earlier 

 processions, the Virgin turns off to the left to 

 proceed alone in a clockwise direction, while 

 the centurion and his charge follow Christ to 

 the right. Both make the stops, just as for the 

 preceding Via Crucis processions. On the far 

 side of the atrium from La Soledad, Christ 

 meets His mother. She comes as close as is pos- 

 sible and then is inclined forward as if she 

 were kneeling. After a moment of silence she 

 is picked up and falls in the procession behind 

 her Son. Together they visit the remaining sta- 

 tions. Finally, upon reaching the church, Mary 

 is carried in backward, followed by Christ, and 

 both are placed in their customary positions. 



PALM SUNDAY 

 (Domingo de Ramos) 



Before Palm Sunday most families buy palm 

 fronds either in Patzcuaro or from wandering 

 peddlers, and weave them to form imitation ears 

 of corn and other ornaments. Some people ob- 

 tain olive branches and a few, to make doubly 

 sure, bring both to the Sunday Mass where they 

 are blessed by the priest who sprinkles holy 

 water on them. Next the priest passes down 

 the central aisle and out the church door follow- 

 ed by several dozen people with palm branches. 

 The great doors swing shut, the chorister sings 

 for 5 minutes and then Father Tovar pounds 

 three times on the door with a small wooden 

 cross. The doors open and he and his followers 

 return to the church. This ceremony symbolizes 

 the entrance of Christ into Jerusalem when the 

 way was strewn with palm branches. The ani- 

 mation, color, and gaiety of the people mark this 

 as one of the most impressive Masses of the 

 year. The blessed palms are nailed to the walls 

 of houses where they exercise a protective in- 

 fluence. When there are bad storms, a little of 

 the palm is burned and the ashes are strewn on 

 the floor in the shape of a cross to protect the 

 family from lightning. 



HOLY WEEK 



(La Semana Santa) 



Formerly, work was forbidden during all of 

 Holy Week. Nowadays Monday and Tuesday 

 are rather normal days, and in 1945 the high- 

 way gangs continued work until noon Wednes- 

 day. 



Hoi.Y VCednesday 



On Holy Wednesday all good Catholics con- 

 fess, and the spies appear for the first time. 

 A half dozen boys of 18 or so, dressed in bril- 

 liant satin dresses of their mothers and wearing 

 cotton stockings are mounted on horseback. Their 

 pointed red flannel caps and hooded faces give 

 them the appearance of latter-day Ku Klux Klan- 

 ners. Bareback, and without shoes, they ride 

 down parallel streets, stopping at each intersec- 

 tion. The first blows a plaintive note on a whis- 

 tle, and as it dies out the next spy takes up the 

 sound, and so on down the length of the line. 

 Then all ride to the next series of intersections 

 where the act is repeated. According to local 

 tradition these boys represent the men who spied 

 on Christ and carried him off to be sentenced. 

 Formerly, when work was forbidden in Tzin- 

 tzuntzan during all of Holy Week, the spies had 

 a real function. It was their job to see that 

 nobody was working, and if they found some- 

 one so engaged, they took his tools and locked 

 them up in the courtroom, forcing the owner to 

 pay a fine to regain them. The spies are for- 

 bidden to speak, and one of the pastimes of 

 small boys is to try to trick them into breaking 

 their silence and thus reveal their identity. 



Maundy Thursday 

 (Jueves Santo) 



The church bells ring for the last time for 2 

 days calling people to the only Mass of the 

 morning. From now until Saturday the bells are 

 in mourning and the faithful will be summoned 

 by the matraca. an apparatus consisting of board 

 leaves to which are hung wooden clappers which 

 resound on the boards when a crank is turned. 

 Father Tovar, accompanied by the members of 

 the Junta Vecinal, each sheltering a burning 

 candle, slowly advances up the aisle under a 



