EMPIRES CHILDREN: THE PEOPLE OF TZINTZUNTZAN FOSTER 



217 



first baseball game of the season, throws the 

 first gordita to the cheering crowd. Then all the 

 rest who have brought objects to throw begin a 

 bombardment of the crowd which lasts nearly 

 half an hour. Maize ears join the gorditas, and 

 dien the mangoes, pots, and petates. For Cor- 

 pus a special giant-size wheat cake, called hoja- 

 rasca, is baked, and also a bread known as 5e- 

 mita which is simply a gordita to which molasses 

 has been added, baked in an oven instead of 

 on the comal. Again the huacaleros begin to 

 dance, and the ox drivers, who rested during the 

 rosary, take up their plowing. Finally they re- 

 move the corn and cakes from their oxen, hurl 

 the food at the crowd, unfasten the plows, and 

 drive their animals home. Potters, huacaleros, 

 ox drivers, and muleteers then go to the home of 

 one of their numbers for the inevitable pozole, 

 while the others go home to take stock of their 

 loot. 



The Octava 



The burlesquing of this day and the prepara- 

 tion of most details of the celebration are the 

 work of the Tarascans from La Vuelta. Basical- 

 ly the activities form a rite designed to ensure 

 bountiful harvests. Again the oxen, covered 

 with ears of corn and wheat cakes, plow in the 

 atrium, but this time a real miniature milpa 

 consisting of several score stalks of corn, bean 

 plants, and tomato plants has been set up in the 

 yard, transplanted bodily from the irrigated 

 plots of La Vuelta which have been planted 

 early and carefully nurtured for this occasion." 

 Through the milpa stalks the velador, the watch- 

 er, face hidden behind a grinning wooden mask, 

 wearing a battered straw hat, a long black over- 

 coat, boots, and carrying an ancient muzzle load- 

 er. In the milpa are hidden a stuffed opossum 

 and a stuffed fox. With elaborate motions the 

 watcher pours powder into his musket, rams 

 home the wad, and then carefully stalks around 

 the edge looking for the animals. He sights one, 

 falls to his stomach, aims carefully, fires, runs 

 through the stalks and gleefully seizes the opos- 

 sum by the tail, much to the amusement of the 

 Mestizo onlookers. Meanwhile, a large group of 

 dancers circles the milpa. First comes a masked 

 figure of imposing size and great dignity, a 

 baton of command in his hand. He is the own- 



^1 Most maize has not yet sprouted. 



er of the field. Then follows his '"wife," a man 

 wearing a dress and further disguised by a 

 straw hat and a rebozo drawn over his head and 

 face. Finally come a dozen girls of all sizes in 

 indigenous costume, the children of the couple. 

 They dance with a slow jogging step, revolving 

 in place periodically. All show great joy. The 

 milpa is nearly ripe, the crop is good, and the 

 velador has successfully protected the maize 

 from the depredations of animal pests. 



To one side of the milpa a mock market has 

 been set up, a circle of a couple of dozen Ta- 

 rascan women with fish, corn, gorditas and other 

 foods, petates, fire fans, and baskets. A man 

 passes around with slips of paper bearing the 

 marking $0.50 which, following the burlesque 

 of the day, represent only $0.05. He, as the 

 tax collector, exacts $0.05 from each woman. 

 Meanwhile the buyers go from one seller to the 

 next asking prices, and being told $20 or $10 

 for the smallest items. It is undeistood that this 

 means centavos, and the transactions are made 

 to the satisfaction of all. Women get up from 

 their places and dance, to the accompaniment 

 of one of the orchestras, and pull in spectators 

 to dance with them, often to their embarrass- 

 ment. Most of the talk is in Tarascan, with the 

 addition of -ta and -na to all words, forming a 

 curious double talk that is hilarious to all who 

 understand it. There is great sport in address- 

 ing Spanish-speaking persons in Tarascan, and 

 shrieking with delight when they show confusion 

 at not understanding. This probably has consid- 

 erable psychological significance. This is one 

 way in which the naturalitos can lord it over the 

 Tzintzuntzeiios who habitually look down upon 

 them and make fun of them. Actually, for fear 

 of being made to look foolish in this way, many 

 of the Mestizos entirely avoid the fiesta. 



Before the rosary the oxen are led to the 

 church door where Father Tovar sprinkles holy 

 water on them, a blessing which reaches all 

 whether actually touched by the water or not. 

 The rosary itself is marked, as in the case of 

 that of Corpus Christi, by the priest's ceremonial 

 visits to the temporary altars, the pozas. 



As the rosary terminates, the market and mil- 

 pa representations begin anew, and presently 

 the hurling of objects at the crowd again takes 

 place, this time without the priest. The sense 

 of burlesque is magnificent. Big Mariano Cor- 



