EMPIRES CHILDREN: THE PEOPLE OF TZINTZUNTZAN FOSTER 



257 



Records for 1935 and 1936 are entirely missing, 

 and those for 1941 stop in June. The follow- 

 ing discussion is based on the records for the 

 years 1937-40 and 1942-43. Only those cases 

 in which one or both persons are from Tzintzun- 

 tzan have been used; local records, of course, 

 are for the entire municipio. In addition, a 

 number of marriages of persons from outside 

 the municipio are listed. Lower fees charged by 

 the municipal president as compared to larger 

 towns is probably the reason for making the 

 journey to Tzintzuntzan from Morelia or Patz- 

 cuaro. 



Of the 95 cases listed, 18, or about 20 per- 

 cent, are between persons (mostly males) from 

 Tzintzuntzan and persons (mostly females, who 

 come to live in their husband's home) from 

 other towns, most of which are within the mu- 

 nicipio. In spite of a considerable amount of 

 traveling, opportunities for courtship at a dis- 

 tance apparently are unfavorable. In eight ad- 

 ditional cases the girl left Tzintzuntzan after 

 marriage to live in another town within the mu- 

 nicipio. An unknown, though probably small 

 number of individuals from Tzintzuntzan, were 

 married in other municipios, and hence no re- 

 cord is found of them. 



Because of their small numbers Tzintzuntzan 

 Tarascans more often are obliged to seek 

 males from other places. Actually the entire 

 cluster of water front settlements from Ojo de 

 Agua to Ihuatzio, i. e., the eastern peninsula of 

 the lake, including the island of La Pacanda, 

 forms a unit in which intermarriage is the rule. 

 Cultural bonds are much closer within this group 

 than between Tarascans and any geographically 

 nearer Mestizo neighbors. 



In spite of certain antagonisms between the 

 Tarascans and Mestizos, intermarriage is fairly 

 common. Table 4 shows the composition of 

 homes in which Tarascan is spoken. It will be 

 seen that 20 Tarascan women are married to 

 Mestizo husbands, and 10 Tarascan men have 

 Mestizo wives. As has been pointed out, this 

 intermarriage is one of the main factors which 

 is destroying the use of the Tarascan language 

 in Tzintzuntzan; nearly always the children of 

 such unions grow up speaking Spanish only. 



Table 44 shows the total number of marriages 

 divided by years, and indicates the relative ages 

 of the spouses as well as their previous civil 



Table 44. — Crude data on marriage in Tzintzuntzan, 

 1937-40 and 1942-43 



State. It is seen that in 80 percent of the cases 

 the husband is older than his wife; in 15 percent 

 the wife is older; in 5 percent both are the same 

 age. Relatively few marriages between old men 

 and young women occur, though not uncommon- 

 ly a man marries a girl 15 or 20 years his 

 junior. One exceptional case was that of a 75- 

 year-old widower who married a 17-year-old 

 girl. In 22 percent of all marriages, either the 

 bride, the groom, or both have previously been 

 married. 



Table 45 shows the presumed ages of all per- 

 sons at the time of marriage, separated for first 

 marriages and subsequent marriages. No at- 

 tempt has been made to distinguish between Ta- 

 rascans and Mestizos in this table, since so few 

 Tarascan marriages took place within the town 

 during this period. Unlike the marriage ages 

 given in table 39, cases outside Tzintzuntzan but 

 within the municipio are not given. It is seen 

 that the average age for first marriages of males 

 is 23.8 as contrasted to 20.2 for females, a dif- 

 ference of 3.6 years. For subsequent marriages 

 the average age for males is 42.8 as contrasted 

 to 37.6 for females. Noteworthy is the fact that 

 almost exactly two-thirds of all girls are mar- 

 ried by their 20th year while less than one-third 

 of the boys are married by that time. 



Table 46 shows the civil state according to 

 age groups of the entire population of Tzintzun- 

 tzan in February 1945. 



A count of marriages by months shows a de- 

 cided preference for November and December, 

 while the summer months are least popular. No 

 informant ever ventured an explanation for this 

 phenomenon, and probably most if not all Tzin- 

 tzuntzenos are unconscious of it. The summer 

 months are those of the hardest and most con- 



