CHERAN: a sierra TARASCAN village — BEALS 



89 



other types of incorporeal property possibly 

 are the knowledge of the herb gatherers, mid- 

 wives, and \'C'itches. However, there is no sense 

 of property in Cheran concerning this know- 

 ledge, -and the idea of buying or selling it was 

 not encountered. Such knowledge seems not 

 to be differently regarded from the knowledge 

 of how to farm or to care for animals or make 

 bread. 



A unique type of property right is the owner- 

 ship of certain images of saints and of maijor- 

 domias. Two cases were encountered. One is 

 tlje Ownership of the mayordomla of the Three 

 tvings (Los Tres Reyes), January 6. Several 

 men were instrumental in starting this mayor- 

 domia, formerly celebrated only by the dance 

 of the Europeans (danza de los Europeos). 

 Not only did these men put on the first mayor- 

 domia, they put up funds, aided by contribu- 

 tions, to secure a fine set of images for the 

 mayordomia. In subsequent years they decided 

 who should receive the viayordomia each year. 

 As one of them said to me, "It looks like this 

 mayordomia is going to be a good business." 

 However, he spoke in figurative terms, for, so 

 far as could be learned, the "owners" of the 

 mayordomia expected to receive only spiritual 

 rewards and perhaps community approbation. 



The second case is the ownership of a miracu- 

 lous saint. The owners found the saint, erected 

 a chapel, and receive contributions from wor- 

 shippers. The owners claim that all gifts go 

 to clothe the saint properly and care for the 

 chapel, a statement that is open to doubt 

 although there is no evidence to the contrary. 



The distribution of wealth in Cheran appears 

 to be relatively equitable. Certainly there are 

 no really wealthy men in Cheran and there are 

 relatively few impoverished individuals. So 

 long as wealth is measured in land and most 

 families in Cheran have a reasonable amount 

 of land, this condition will continue. It is true 

 that people in Cheran talk a great deal about 

 los ricos (the rich men). In practice, almost 

 no one can readily identify the rich men. 

 Partly, of course, this is because rich men, 

 in order to avoid envy, are careful not 

 to flaunt their wealth. But it also is an 

 indication that really wealthy men are probably 

 scarce, if not absent. One of the regular assis- 

 tants, Pedro Chavez, talked constantly about 



the rich. Repeated efforts to pin him down 

 resulted in the identification of not a single 

 individual as a rico and the assertion that any- 

 one who harvested 50 to 100 cargas of maize is 

 a rich man. As this means a cash income from 

 this source of around $300 to $600 or $700 a 

 year, the standard is not high, although prob- 

 ably wheat, cattle, and other sources add to 

 such income. It is worth observing that al- 

 most no storekeepers are classed as wealthy — 

 they usually do not have much land. 



The inheritance of property in Cheran is 

 normally from parent to children. Should an 

 individual die without formal disposition of his 

 property, the municipal officials would endeavor 

 (subject to whatever influences might be 

 brought to bear on them) to divide the property 

 equally among children without regard to sex. 

 Normally, however, the heirs would make the 

 division, and it would merely be submitted to 

 the municipio for approval. In this way in- 

 equalities often creep in through domination of 

 one heir by another and the desire to avoid 

 a fight. 



It is quite common in Cheran for the property 

 to be disposed of by the owner before death by 

 making a will or, more commonly, by making 

 a statement of intention to a reliable and trusted 

 friend before witnesses. Such decisions will 

 be respected and enforced by the municipio. 



Property owned by women will ordinarily go 

 to their children. However, should a couple be 

 childless, the spouse does not inherit. There 

 are numerous cases in Cheran of well-to-do 

 couples where the bulk of the property is owned 

 by the wife. Although the husband uses and 

 administers the property, he has no rights in 

 it unless it is formally made over to him by his 

 wife during her life time. Similarly, a widow 

 does not inherit except in special cases. This, 

 again, involves a will or making over of the 

 property during the life of the owner. Usually 

 such an act is taken by a man only when his 

 sons are rebellious and unfilial. 



There are frequent cases where men do not 

 leave property equally to all children or where 

 they leave it to some other relative. In rare 

 cases, there may have been some assignment 

 of property to children before death. Then the 

 child, usually the youngest, who hag cared for 

 the parent in old age, receives all the remaining 



