CHERAN: a sierra TARASCAN village — BEALS 



125 



town and were waiting both for the proper 

 time and for the last finishing touches to be put 

 on the bull ring. 



About this time the chirimia band appeared 

 again and played in front of the mimicipio. It 

 then started on a round of the stores, with 

 special attention to the saloons. 



The bulls were brought in about 3 : 45. This 

 was a high point for many of the crowd but it 

 was somewhat of an anticlimax, for the animals 

 seemed a somewhat cowed and meek lot. The 

 moros followed the bulls down the street on 

 horseback, accompanied by a band. When the 

 bulls were finally in the ring, the moros de- 

 parted to remove their costumes. A band was 

 placed in each grandstand. The municipal 

 officials were seated in a special reserved section 

 of one of the band stands, each carrying a 

 bunch of flowers. The grandstands were soon 

 filled. Those who did not have the admission 

 price or who could not find a place, sat on the 

 railings of the fence or peered between them. 



The man in charge of the bull ring is always 

 the owner of the bulls being used that day. 

 He is assisted by a number of volunteers, some 

 mounted and some on foot. The first act is to 

 clear the ring and get the bulls in a pen at one 

 side. Then one bull is let out into the ring 

 and the performance starts. 



The object of the performance is not to fight 

 the bull but to ride him. For this, a front foot 

 and a hind foot of the bull must be lassoed and 

 the animal thrown (pi. 5, lower left). Before 

 this is accomplished the bull is teased and 

 played for a time. A few men and boys imitate 

 the actions of bullfightei-s, using blankets in- 

 stead of capes to persuade the bulls to charge. 

 Several men on horseback also try to lasso a 

 foot; they usually fail and often the bull is 

 goaded into charging. This is mightily pleas- 

 ing to the audience. Usually the lassos are 

 actually placed by men on foot. 



When the bull is thrown, several men hold 

 him down while a rope is wound tightly 

 several times about the bull's chest and knotted 

 securely. The volunteer rider has heavy spurs 

 fastened to his feet and mounts the bull while 

 it is still held down. He takes a firm grip on 

 the rope and hooks his spurs under the rope 

 also. When he is ready, the bull is released. 

 It rises and endeavors to throw the rider (pi. 5, 



upper and lower, right) . By the end of 2 or 3 

 minutes either the rider is thrown or the bull 

 gives up. In the first case, men with blankets 

 rush out to attract the bull's attention so he 

 does not gore the rider. In the second case, 

 the crowd cheers lustily and the band plays the 

 bullfighter's triumphant flourish, the "Diana." 

 The performance is then repeated until the bulls 

 have all been used or darkness puts a stop to 

 the performance. 



The bull riding at Cheriin is carefully super- 

 vised, and drunken men not only are forbidden 

 to attempt to ride the bull but are excluded 

 from the ring. If they manage to get in, they 

 are quite literally thrown out by a couple of 

 husky helpers. In this respect Cheran differs 

 from many places. I saw bull riding at the 

 Paracho fiesta, and not only were drunken men 

 permitted in the ring but were permitted to 

 ride. Serious injuries are said often to result 

 in such cases, although I saw no mishaps. 

 Even at Cheran it is not uncommon for two or 

 three persons to be injured, although serious 

 injuries are fairly rare. One boy's front teeth 

 were knocked out on the third day of bull 

 riding in 1940. 



The procedures described above were re- 

 peated on Tuesday and Wednesday. In theory 

 this ended the fiesta, but the musicians by now 

 were so much in the spirit of things that they 

 did not go home Wednesday night. Thursday 

 a group of young men got permission from the 

 municipal authorities for another day of bull 

 riding and paid one of the bands an extra 10 or 

 15 pesos to stay and play for the affair. On 

 this day, the good bulls all having been ridden, 

 the young men borrowed bulls from residents 

 who had more or less tame bulls nearby. Bulls 

 are not ridden at any other fiesta. 



While the market continued to some extent 

 throughout the 3 days of bull riding, some 

 people left even by Monday. By Wednesday 

 the majority of the vendors had departed. 

 There were no special closing ceremonies for 

 the fiesta. 



THE FIESTA OF CORPUS 



The fiesta of Corpus in May is apparently 

 the most interesting of the Cheran fiestas. It 

 was not observed, and the notes which follow 

 are based on accounts of informants. There 



