EMPIRES children: THE PEOPLE OF TZINTZUNTZAN FOSTER 



223 



a tenth to a twentieth of the income of the 

 Church itself, not counting other religious ex- 

 penses of the population. 



It is apparent that the Church is of tremen- 

 dous importance. Nevertheless, it must not be 

 assumed that all individuals react to it in the 

 same manner, nor to the same degree. Probably 

 the range of religious emotion is less in Tzin- 

 tzuntzan than in the United States, or than in 

 larger Mexican centers of population. I doubt, 

 for example, that there is a real atheist in the 

 village. On the other hand, inspection of the 

 work charts reveals a surprising number of peo- 

 ple who are by no means regular in their at- 

 tendance at Mass. And there are a few individ- 

 uals who have not confessed for many years, 

 though they will expect to die in the arms of the 

 Church. Comadre Carmen confesses at least 

 once a year, but except for fiestas rarely goes to 

 Mass. Her infant daughter Lupe once cried a 

 great deal during Mass and the priest verbally 

 chastised her; now she does not want to risk 

 another similar experience. Juan M. is one of 

 the few men who can really be called bigamous, 

 since he has lived with a mistress for years and 

 had several children by her, in addition to chil- 

 dren by his legal wife. Because of this relation- 

 ship the priest cannot receive his confession, and 

 he does not go to Mass. Yet during Mass on 

 Good Friday I note that he enters the church and 

 gives money to his legitimate children for the 

 collection plate. And several days later he chats 

 amiably with Father Tovar while the latter waits 

 the arrival of the jlecha, the bus for Morelia. 

 Juan has been to the United States as an inden- 

 tured laborer, a bracero, and among his most 

 treasured souvenirs are pictures of the Catholic 

 churches in the towns where he worked. At the 

 same time, he is impressed with the religious 

 tolerance of the United States. "There, anybody 

 goes to the temple he prefers, and nobody criti- 

 cizes him for it; it would be better for us here 

 in Mexico if we did the same." 



Vicente Rendon is a good Catholic, a form- 

 er carguero, and a faithful churchgoer. One af- 

 ternoon be thinks out loud. "They say that the 

 evangelistas ('evangelists', i. e., Protestants) are 

 more Catholic than we, that they are the real 

 Catholics, that they really feel their religion. 

 Sometimes I think that we are simply Catholics 

 con los labios para afuera, Catholics on the sur- 



face." Knowing Vicente well as a religious man 

 I suspect that his musings are prompted by a 

 feeling of false guilt, that he should be an even 

 better Catholic. Vicente and Nati once accom- 

 panied me to Mexico for several days. Their 

 first act was to visit the shrine of the Virgin of 

 Guadalupe; after that they were ready for sight- 

 seeing. Doira Andrea is the best of all possible 

 Catholics. When her grandchildren come in to 

 receive her blessing each morning before going 

 to school, she kisses each, making the sign of the 

 cross over him. One June day when I am head- 

 ed for Mexico City she comes to the highway to 

 say good-by, and to bring a parting request. 

 "One day, sefwr, when you go to Tepeyac, please 

 ask the Virgin of Guadalupe to remember us 

 here in Tzintzuntzan. Lightning has already kill- 

 ed several people; please ask her to spare us." 



During pozoles and at other gatherings men 

 inevitably tell stories and, curiously, these are 

 in the best smoking-room tradition, centering 

 about the activities of the priest. Many are va- 

 riants of stories equally well-known in the Unit- 

 ed States. Perhaps they represent a subcon- 

 scious resentment of the power and position of 

 the priesthood. By and large, the word of the 

 priest is law. When the former priest declared 

 the Government school off bounds, with the pen- 

 alty of excommunication for parents who sent 

 their children to it, its attendance dropped al- 

 most to zero. Yet there are limits, and even good 

 Catholics stood up against some of the extreme 

 dictates of this man. One father, after seeing 

 his children drift through a year of the priest- 

 sponsored Sinarquista school, decided that edu- 

 cation was so important as to justify flouting the 

 ecclesiastical order. "They had not even learn- 

 ed the alphabet in an entire year, so I sent them 

 to the Government school. Then I wondered if 

 the priest had excommunicated me, since he had 

 never said anything. I knew that an excom- 

 municated man could not confess, so I decided 

 to try to confess. If the priest accepted my 

 confession, then I would know I was still in 

 good standing." With fear in his heart the 

 father waited in line to confess, the priest heard 

 him (he omitted from his confession the fact that 

 his children were in the Government school), 

 assigned penance, and the father knew that he 

 was still a good Catholic. 



All evidence indicates that Tzintzuntzan is 



