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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 6 



study of Mexican fishing techniques in relation 

 to those of Europe is necessary before a final 

 answer can be given. We do know that the atlatl 

 for hunting ducks is a survival from earliest 

 times, a near-vanished archaic custom which 

 somehow still manages to hold its own against 

 gunpowder and shot in an atomic age. 



The continued use of the periodic open mar- 

 ket as a means of effecting the interchange of 

 merchandise clearly reveals how much of the 

 aboriginal economic system survives today. The 

 Tarascans of the 16th century had advanced far 

 beyond the point where each family was an 

 economically self-sufficient unit. Craft indus- 

 tries and village specialization already had made 

 necessary a means to exchange produce and 

 manufactures with persons of other areas, and 

 the problem had been solved with success. Don 

 Vasco de Quiroga strengthened this pattern by 

 the introduction of new industries, and money 

 little by little replaced the more common system 

 of barter. But the changes were of degree only, 

 and did little violence to long-established habits. 

 The continued existence of the periodic market 

 in much more urban centers than Patzcuaro sug- 

 gests that this aspect of economic life will not 

 disappear for a long time. 



Though generalizations usually are dangerous, 

 it seems safe to say that changes in nonmaterial 

 aspects of life have been more far-reaching in 

 Tzintzuntzan, and the Tarascan area as a whole, 

 than those just described. A dweller in Tzin- 

 tzuntzan of four centuries ago would find, in 

 spite of great differences, more than mere traces 

 of similarity between the outward, material 

 manifestations of life today and that which he 

 had known. The political, social, and religious 

 forms of today would, however, be entirely un- 

 recognizable. Gone is the Empire, gone the god 

 Curicaveri, gone the nobility, the commoners and 

 the slaves, the priests and the human sacrifice. 

 A feeling for manifest destiny prevailed at that 

 time. The warriors willingly undertook cam- 

 paigns that led them hundreds of kilometers 

 from home, and without fear held off" the attacks 

 of the Aztecas, before whom all other groups 

 crumbled. The will to govern and the know-how 

 to rule were as much a part of the equipment 

 of the Tarascans of Tzintzuntzan of the 15th and 

 16th centuries as of the Spaniards of succeeding 



generations. No help was sought from outside 

 sources, and no quarter was given. 



How different the pattern today! Through the 

 corridors of four centuries of time Tzintzuntzan 

 drowsed its way, not only not governing, but 

 because of its insignificance, hardly being gov- 

 erned. Recently, through a jest of history, it has 

 found itself to be the political head of a tiny 

 township. But the old confidence and the old 

 urge are gone. Tzintzuntzan still looks to the 

 outside for leadership, confused with the simple 

 administrative problems of 5,000 people. The 

 old ruling class is gone; the new rulers are far 

 away, and only by chance has Tzintzuntzan 

 received more attention than a thousand other 

 sleepy pueblos of the same size. But the lethargy 

 of years has not worn off — has scarcely been 

 scratched — and the town, unable to make up 

 its collective mind, misinterprets the outstretched 

 hand of the central Government as a crutch for 

 all time, and not as a temporary aid during con- 

 valescence; the muscles of the village become 

 perpetually dependent, and less than ever is the 

 organism able to help itself. 



The picture of religion in Tzintzuntzan is, at 

 once, identical to and entirely diff^erent from 

 that of political rule. The old religion is gone, 

 swept out in its entirety, and a new has taken 

 its place. Undoubtedly Catholic images went 

 through transitory periods when they were 

 identified with local gods, and pagan belief 

 survived in the new ritual. But these stages are 

 long since past. The early friars did their work 

 well, and today there are few traces of abo- 

 riginal belief. Church ritual and dogma are 

 Catholic, and though modified to fit village life, 

 do not represent the mixture of pagan and Chris- 

 tian elements characteristic of so many parts of 

 Mexico. The villagers believe themselves to be, 

 and in effect are. Catholic. The few surviving 

 creencias and superstitions are, for the most 

 part, simply superstitions, and do not form a 

 part of the religious body. 



In its outward form, then, the old religion has 

 been destroyed just as much as the old Empire. 

 Perhaps this was inevitable; Empire and relig- 

 ion were one and the same thing, and one could 

 not survive without the other. But nothing took 

 the place of the Empire. A jagged hole was cut 

 in the whole cloth of the old culture, and 



no 



mending was done. 



A political consciousness. 



