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INSTITUTE OP SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 2 



and are served. While all this is going on, a 

 few women start dancing. 



Before the last arrivals finish eating, most of 

 the women leave with the musicians to bring 

 the cuclgas and to bring the relatives of the 

 wife who had been preparing them. The 

 cuclgas are women's narrow belts to which are 

 tied pieces of bread in the shape of animals, 

 m^ostly bulls, thin tortillas made of wheat, and 

 paper flowers. There are also some figures 

 of animals, such as birds and mules, made of 

 painted corn husks and filled with pinole 

 (parched corn flour). The house owner is 

 decked with several of the cuclgas. Single 

 cuclgas are also put on some 20 men present, 

 including the master carpenter and various 

 uncles and cousins of the house owner. (At the 

 Chavez festival the mayor and his alternate 

 arrived about this time.) They are not fed but 

 are ofl^ered drinks. Everyone now starts to 

 dance. Dancing and drinking continue until 

 late at night. 



The host, on the occasion observed, drank 

 very little. The following day his relatives 

 returned with bottles, saying now he had really 

 to drink with them. He did, for about 3 days. 



FIESTAS IN OTHER TOWNS 



A few data collected on fiestas from other 

 towns may be of interest here. None of the 

 data are complete in any respect, but some 

 similarities and differences are apparent. 

 Properly, many of the fiestas described are 

 part of Cheran culture, for many people from 

 Cheran attend them either as visitors or as 

 participants. The band, of course, goes to 

 many fiestas. Other people go to sell goods, 

 barbers often go to pick up some business, 

 and so on. 



Like most Tarascans, the people of Cheran 

 pay special reverence to the miraculous Christ 

 of San Juan Parangaricutiro, perhaps better 

 known as San Juan de las Colchas, a former 

 Tarascan town but now primarily a Mestizo 

 village some 15 miles west of Uruapan. Many 

 Cheran residents take vows to make pilgrimages 

 to the saint on September 14 for various rea- 

 sons, for example, if they are going on a long 

 journey. The father of Agustin made such a 

 vow when he went to the United States. When 

 he returned safely 27 years later, he kept his 



vow at the first opportunity. Of course, as all 

 thrifty Tarascans would, he also made the 

 event a business occasion, taking advantage of 

 the big market at San Juan on the day of the 

 fiesta by carrying several burro loads of apples 

 from Pichataro. The San Juan fiesta is the 

 occasion of the major interchange of goods 

 between the temperate region and the Balsas 

 Basin. 



Pilgrims to the San Juan fiesta come from a 

 distance of as much as 22 days' journey, and 

 obviously many of them are not Tarascans. 

 Often individuals will take vows to go part way 

 on their knees, wear a crown of thorns, carry 

 a sack of cactus on their shoulders, or do other 

 types of penance on the way. It is believed that 

 invalids may be cured if they dance before the 

 image in the cliurch. Those who cannot dance 

 may be cured by rubbing them with pieces of 

 cotton passed over the "ulcers" on the Christ 

 image. Many also dance from the edge of the 

 town to the church when they first arrive. It 

 is believed that anyone who laughs at the 

 dancers will become paralyzed and must him- 

 self dance in order to be cured. Others say 

 everyone must dance on entering the town or 

 he will never be able to dance again. 



The fiesta at nearby Paracho on October 20, 

 that of Santa Ursala, offered some interesting 

 points. Each side of the path through the 

 atrium to the church was lined with posts 

 covered with moss, paper flowers, and palm 

 leaves. On two strings between the posts were 

 hung paper flowers and paper candle lanterns 

 in bright colors. The inside of the church was 

 decorated with ropes of pine needles and candle 

 lanterns also. 



In the same town, for the fiesta of the natron 

 saint, celebrated August 11, somewhat similar 

 decorations were used. The. front of the church 

 was decorated with flowers. In the decorations 

 there was much use of ropes of flowers from 

 which various fruits and vegetables were sus- 

 pended. The images of saints were placed in 

 cloth-covered booths at the four corners of the 

 atrium. On the following day, Monday, a 

 group of little girls danced in the streets, 

 dancing once in the office of the mayor about 

 11 o'clock. About noon a Mass was held, fol- 

 lowed by a procession moving counterclockwise 

 about the atrium and stopping before each 



