104 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 2 



parents and com padres are taken seriously in 

 Cheran, it is obvious from the description given 

 above that the compaclrazgo obligations are 

 nearly as important as those of kinship, if not 

 more so. Scarcely a person in Cheran does not 

 have at least 10 or 15 compadres. Most people 

 have 20 or 25 or more. Don Luis Velasquez, the 

 oldest of the marriage arrangers, who also says 

 prayers at funerals, stated that he had more than 

 100 coDipadres of baptism alone. When it is 

 considered that usually one acquires most of his 

 compadres through weddings, the total number 

 possessed by Don Luis must be enormous. He 

 declined even to make a guess at the number of 

 compadres he had of all classes. The obliga- 

 tions of compadres of baptism are as great or 

 greater than those of relatives, with the excep- 

 tion of the immediate family (parent-child and 

 possibly sibling obligations) , while those of 

 other classes are at least equal to those of cousins. 

 Some use of the compadrazgo is made by the 

 church on special occasions. When a new 

 image is blessed in church, for example, people 

 are invited to become godparents of the image. 

 They kneel behind the image when the priest 

 blesses it. For this they are expected to pay 

 from 1 to 5 pesos. In such cases the partici- 

 pants do not call each other compadres, nor do 

 they have any relationship with the owner of 

 the image in case it is a household saint. 



GOVERNMENT 



The governmental system of Cheran on the 

 surface and in its organization is not obviously 

 different from that of any other Michoacan 

 mnnicipio. In its functioning, however, it pos- 

 sesses many unconventional features. Even 

 elections, ostentatiously conducted according to 

 legal forms, may actually be conducted very 

 differently beneath the surface. 



The major governmental agency is the 

 aijuntatniento of five persons and five alternates 

 or suplentes. These serve a term of 2 years 

 and are alternated in office, two being elected 

 one year and three the next. Elections are 

 made by barrio. Formerly Cheranastico elected 

 one of the five; since this tenencia has become 

 associated with Paracho, I could not discover 

 what device was used to elect the fifth member. 

 Whether the situation is still not resolved or 

 whether there was a purposeful vagueness about 



procedures I could not discover. One of the 

 members of the ayuntamiento automatically 

 serves as mayor, the office rotating from one 

 barrio to another each year. 



In addition to the ayimtamiento, there are a 

 secretary and a treasurer, both chosen by the 

 ayuntamiento; a sindico, who is one of the mem- 

 bers of the ayuntamiento; an elected judge and 

 suplente and a secretary of the court. 



Certain other duties are performed by 

 comisionados, that is, persons commissioned by 

 the ayuntamiento or by the mayor. These in- 

 clude the 4 barrio chiefs and the 45 block chiefs. 

 Comisionados may also be named for special 

 duties in connection with fiestas or public 

 works. 



In addition to the above officials, there are 

 other groups with special duties. The repre- 

 sentative of the people, representante del 

 pueblo, and two assistants are named by the 

 town. The representative is confirmed in office 

 by the Governor of the State and stays in office 

 until deposed. His main duties are looking 

 after the public lands. Finally, there is the 

 reserva, headed by the jefe de defensa. The 

 reserva is a group of armed men, 11 in number, 

 authorized by the State military authorities, 

 and, at the time of the study, headed by the 

 real political boss of the town. 



The nature of these offices will now be de- 

 scribed in more detail. 



Ayuntamiento. — Five proprietarios and five 

 suplentes make up the group, serving 2 years. 

 Those from odd-numbered barrios are elected 

 one year, those from even-numbered barrios the 

 next year. Cheranastico was classed as an 

 odd-numbered barrio; what is done now is not 

 clear. One of the members of the group serves 

 as mayor, the other as sindico. The remaining 

 members participate in policy decisions and in 

 the naming of certain officials. Otherwise they 

 have few duties. The suplentes apparently 

 sometimes participate in discussion, but they 

 have no real function except in case of the 

 death or absence of their proprietario. Mem- 

 bers of the ayuntam.icnto receive no pay. Nor- 

 mally they meet once a week to discuss muni- 

 cipal affairs. 



Mayor or Presidente Municipal. — In years the 

 odd-numbered barrios elect, if the mayor is to 

 come from barrio I, the sindico comes from 



