EMPIRES CHILDREN: THE PEOPLE OF TZINTZUNTZAN 



can afford to send their children away from 

 home for schooling. 



-FOSTER 



245 



LITERACY 



An attempt to determine literacy was made 

 by asking in the census if the individual were 

 able to read. Since there was no easy way to 

 check the veracity of answers, the word of the 

 person in question was accepted at face value. 

 Subsequent more intimate knowledge of the vil- 

 lage suggests that the resulting figures, given in 

 table 43, are somev/hat too high. 



Of the total of 726 persons of both sexes 11 

 years and more of age, 472, or 65.3 percent, 



Table 43. — Literacy in T zintzuntzan 



Birth years 



1931-35 



1926-30 



1921-25 



1916-20 



1911-15 



1906-10 



1901-05 



1896-1900 



1891-95 



1886-90 



1881.85 



1876-80 



1871-75 



1366-70 



Total (or average) 



Present 



age 



11-15 



16-20 

 21-25 

 26-30 

 31-35 

 36-40 

 4145 

 46-50 

 51-55 

 56-60 

 61-65 

 66-70 

 71-75 

 76-80 



Niinil)er 



of 



literate 



men 



44 



41 



34 



19 



16 



22 



18 



14 



13 



9 



8 



5 



1 



1 



245 



Percent 

 of all 

 men in 

 this age 

 bracket 



68.3 

 60.7 

 46.3 

 55.2 

 45.8 

 54.5 

 63.6 

 68.4 

 50 

 80 

 62.5 

 100 

 50 



TO.i 



Number 



of 

 literate 

 women 



58 

 37 

 27 

 17 

 14 

 20 

 15 

 15 



4 

 10 



o 



4 

 3 

 1 



227 



Percent 

 of all 



\vomen 



in this 



age 



bracket 



73.4 



56.9 



50 



39.5 



34.2 



46.5 



38.5 



.39.5 



30.8 



55.5 



20 



50 



75 



50 



59.7 



claim to be able to read and write. Of the 346 

 men in these age brackets, 245, or 70.8 per- 

 cent, and of the 380 women, 227, or 59.7 

 percent, claim to be able to read and write. 



Significant literacy differences between Ta- 

 rascans and Mestizos came to light. Of Taras- 

 cans of 11 years and more, 38.2 percent claim 

 to he literate; 52.6 percent of Tarascan men, 

 and only 25.8 percent of Tarascan women, fall 

 into this category. Of the Mestizo population 



in these age brackets 70.6 percent claim to be 

 literate. Sex division shows 74.4 percent of the 

 men and 66.9 percent of the women as able to 

 read and write. 



It thus appears that not only do Mestizos en- 

 joy a two to one superiority over Tarascans, 

 but that Mestizo women are particularly favor- 

 ed. This lack of opportunity for Tarascan wo- 

 men is gradually being remedied. Male Taras- 

 can superiority is due to the fact that of all 

 Tarascans over 41 years of age, 14 males 

 and only 2 females are literate. Of those of 40 

 years of age and less, 16 men and 15 women 

 can read and write. If this ratio is maintained, 

 the Tarascan percentage will be much higher in 

 the coming years. Within Tzintzuntzan, Taras- 

 can children go to school in about the same 

 proportion as Mestizo children. In the neigh- 

 boring Tarascan ranchos there are, unfortunate- 

 ly, no schools, owing in part to opposition to 

 Government teaching on the part of parents. 



PUBERTY AND YOUTH 



Between the ages of 10 and 12 the mixed 

 play of childhood ends and the sexes are more 

 carefully segregated. In the case of youths this 

 is, during the earlier years, largely a question 

 of choice. Girls are now watched over much 

 more carefully by their parents, and admon- 

 ished to have nothing to do with boys. There 

 is a rather strongly developed pattern of paren- 

 tal antagonism to marriage of daughters, and 

 mothers spend much time telling their daughters 

 how wicked men are and advising them to 

 remain at home and avoid the trials and tribu- 

 lations of married life. Girls may be beaten 

 by their fathers when found talking with boys. 



Girls' transition to maturity is marked by 

 the first menstruation, which in many, if not 

 most cases, comes as a fearful surprise to the 

 girls. Mothers are said to conceal successfully 

 their own periods from their daughters, and for 

 reasons of shame tell them nothing. Hence, 

 girls often go through agonizing hours of fear 

 before their condition becomes apparent to their 

 mothers, who then explain to them the nature 

 of their illness and the proper means for dealing 

 with it each month. There are few real food 

 restrictions, though some say it is bad to eat 

 bananas, oranges, and quiote. the mezcal cactus 

 stalk, all of which are thought to produce colic. 



