CHERAN: a sierra TARASCAN village — BEALS 



103 



The cotnpadrcs both have the duty of visiting one 

 another when one of them is sick or has encountered 

 some difficulty and, if it is possible, help him in some 

 form. When one of the compadrcs has a duty (that is, 

 a wedding, funeral, mayordomia, house roofing, house 

 moving, or fiesta duty), it is the duty of the other to 

 accompany him as many days as may be necessary. 

 (The same mutual obligation exists between godparents 

 and godchildren.) 



When a godson kidnaps a girl with intention of 

 marrying her, it is the duty of the father of the youth, 

 before all else, to go to the house of the godfather of 

 the youth, that is his (the father's) compadre and give 

 him the news so that they may present themselves to- 

 gether in the house of the bride. This is a duty of the 

 godfather. This duty (the father) has toward the 

 three godfathers, of baptism, confirmation, and crown. 



The duties of the marriage compadrcs are limited 

 solely to accompanyfng each other when one has some 

 obligation (such as wedding, mayordoinia, etc.), the 

 moving or termination of a house, and the duty of 

 saluting each other with the name of "compadre." 



Method of selecting compculres. In selecting the 

 compadrcs some of the following characteristics are 

 taken into consideration: 



1. When a family wishes to have compadrcs, in 

 general if it is rich it endeavors to find compadrcs in 

 the same category. 



2. If the family is poor, it tries to have a compadre 

 in its same category, as it has been seen that sometimes 

 when a poor person seeks a rich man as compadre, the 

 latter accepts but afterwards he is ashamed to say 

 "compadre" to the other who is somewhat poor. For 

 this reason the latter (rich compadrcs) are not common. 



3. Many times they (the parents) try to find a 

 compadre who knows how to read. They say this is 

 with the object that the infant will also be intelligent 

 and know how to read. This is a belief among many, 

 but it is not universal. 



4. On other occasions efforts are made to find a 

 compadre who is distinguished as a valiant person, in 

 the sense of having bravery or, better, to be bold to 

 fight when occasion offers — this, in general, indicates 

 what among us is meant when a person is called 

 "valiant" — with the object that the child will grow up 

 and may be equally valiant as his godfather. 



5. There are also cases in which a godfather is 

 selected because he has done a favor on some past 

 occasion or because of hope to receive some favor in 

 the future. In general, this is the method of selecting 

 a godfather. All usually try to find their compadre in 

 an equal (social) category with these exceptions al- 

 ready noted. 



The marriage compadrcs : In order to recognize one 

 another as compadrcs of marriage, it is necessary to 

 perfonn a certain act or ceremony in the moments when 

 the last act of the marriage is about to terminate. 

 This act takes place in the house or the kitchen (usually 

 the latter) of the bridegroom. Present are the 

 t'arepiti diosv uandari (marriage manager), the parents 



of the bride and groom together with all their brothers, 

 sisters, and first cousins, in short, all the people the 

 bride or groom may call aunt or uncle. Only these 

 have the right to become compadrcs. Inside the build- 

 ing a mat is spread on the floor. The parents of the 

 bride and groom enter first and kneel on the mat, where 

 they remain during the ceremony. The others follow. 

 They also kneel, but before kneeling they embrace one 

 another, saying "In the future you will be my compadre 

 (comadrc) of Heaven and 1 pray God that we never 

 offend one another. Buenos tardes, conrpadrc." One 

 after the other repeats the same words. Sometimes 

 they are in Tarascan: "Kumbeskari ka auandaJu 

 anapueskari ka ueke diosA eskaksA no meni ambe ar- 

 ijperoka. Na cuskuskia kumba." Meantime the 

 t'aaepiti is iterating that all have the right to be 

 compadrcs, that is to say, the aunts and uncles. (The 

 language used by the marriage manager is not a fixed 

 speech.) When this act is completed, all have the right 

 to call each other compadrcs in the future. 



To the preceding account a few additions 

 must be made. Relatives may be sought as 

 godparents of a child, especially of baptism, 

 but only rarely is this done. The reason 

 usually is a desire to save money, as between 

 relatives there need be no ceremony or expense. 

 Compadres of confirmation are selected to 

 accompany the child to church at the time of 

 confirmation. Compadres of the crown or cir- 

 cumcision are normally sought when the child 

 is between the ages of 6 months and 10 years. 

 The child is taken to the image of any saint 

 wearing a crown (the mayordomia saints kept 

 at private houses are used, not those of the 

 church), and the godmother places the saint's 

 crown on the child. She says an "Our Father" 

 and burns a candle. When she has finished, 

 she hands the crown to the mayordomo or his 

 wife to replace on the saint and pays from 6 to 

 25 centavos. Normally only one compadre of 

 the crown is sought.''^ 



In some parts of Mexico — for example, 

 among the Mayo of Sonora — if a child dies, the 

 same godparents are sought for the next child 

 born. The Tarascans are more apt to seek 

 another godparent, believing that the death of 

 the child was from the "luck" of the godparents. 

 Any request to be a godparent may be refused. 



In view of the fact that the duties of god- 



^ In other towns, a godparent of the crown may be sought at 

 any time, especially if a child has been sickly for some time, or 

 merely because the parents like someone. I received requests to 

 be godfather of the crown in other towns where I visited very 

 briefly : I never received a request to be a godfather of any type 

 in Cheran. 



