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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 6 



tinual work, and also the period of lowest in- 

 come. Conversely, November and December are 

 months of less work, for farmers at least, and 

 with the harvesting of crops comes the greatest 

 income. Potters' incomes are also high during 



Table 45. — Ages at first marriages and remarriages 

 in T zintzuntzan 



this period. Since a wedding is an expensive 

 affair it seems probable that financial consider- 

 ations are largely responsible for seasonal va- 

 riations. 



Although it has been said that marriage is 

 the normal state for adults, there is a surprising 

 number of individuals, particularly women, who 

 have never been married and who, according to 

 village gossip, have never been known to have 

 sexual relations with anyone. According to local 

 speculation, at least five men and nine women 

 between the ages of 30 and 70 have never had 



relations at any time. Apparently they are 

 otherwise normal persons. Table 47 shows the 

 age distribution of unmarried persons of 20 and 

 over. 



The table, which substantiates observations, 

 indicates that most of the men between the ages 

 of 20 and 30 eventually will marry, whereas a 

 considerable number of women in this age 

 bracket will remain single. The relatively large 

 number of women who will never marry is 

 doubtless due in part to the surplus of females 

 over males and the Church stricture against 

 plural marriage. There is no apparent indica- 

 tion that less attractive females are those that 



Table 46. — Civil state of population of Tzintzunlzan, 

 1945 



go husbandless; parental opposition seems to 

 be the principal determining factor as to who 

 marries and who does not. This antagonism 

 may be interpreted at least in part as due to 

 jealousy on the part of parents, and particular- 

 ly fathers, at the thought of having their abso- 

 lute control over families begin to break down. 

 Although mothers often tell their daughters that 

 all men are bad, and that the grief associated 

 with them can be avoided by refusing to marry, 

 the factor of continued help around the home 

 is probably much more important. Thus, eldest 

 daughters particularly have pressure put on 

 them to prevent development of romantic attach- 

 ments. 



Otilia Lara's case is illustrative. She was 



