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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 2 



kei^i, who serves them posole. Afterward they 

 return home. On this occasion, also, the colector 

 is supposed to sponsor a dance called los viejitos 

 in which five boys and five girls take part (some 

 say six of each sex) . The girls are said to be 

 the future uandnces. 



Although the new priostc takes office on 

 December 8, the duties of the prioste do not end 

 until the mayordomia of the Holy Child, the 

 Santo Niiio. On this occasion he is obligated 

 to accompany the uandnces while they dance.^" 



The uandnces mentioned above are a group 

 of young girls selected by the prioste. (This is 

 contradicted in a sense by the fact that some 

 parents make a vow for their girls to serve as 

 uandnces, for example, if the girl is sick when 

 small.) They act as servants of the prioste, 

 going every day to the church (usually accom- 

 panied by their mothers). At church they 

 sweep, bring flowers for the altars, and help 

 keep things in order. At Christmas time they 

 perform a sort of pastorela dance, aided by 

 other girls. One of the girls is known as the 

 su);anda and is regarded as the first or leader. 

 She is in charge of the incense, the "one who 

 carries copal." The other girls have no special 

 names. 



Frequent references have been made to the 

 quarrel between the cabildo and the new priest. 

 The motivations and the exact events probably 

 were not discovered. In any case, the roots of 

 the quarrel go far back in time. Ostensibly, 

 however, the fight started with the departure 

 of the old priest. 



So far as could be ascertained, the first overt 

 act in the struggle was the calling of a junta on 

 the matter. While the junta was called by the 

 mayor, in this he was merely conforming to 

 the custom of calling such a meeting whenever 

 it was requested. The request was made by 

 one David Guerrero, a somewhat surly and 

 unapproachable person (so far as the staff of 

 the study were concerned) who ran a small 

 store and saloon (mostly the latter) not far 

 from the plaza. Guerrero's motivations seem 

 obscure. Ha was not particularly active in the 

 church. Neither did he seem to belong to any 



2^ It should be noted that the above account is based on data 

 from informants. Owing to the quarrel between the priest and 

 the cahildo none of the ceremonies were performed in 1940. The 

 data are from musicians who always attended and from members 

 of the cabildo. 



other group, although he was one of the few 

 active supporters of Almazan in the previous 

 presidential election. In the opinion of the best 

 informants there had existed no movement 

 against the cabildo until Guerrero undertook 

 his campaign, although obviously the roots of 

 the charges and bad feeling were already 

 present. 



At the junta between 75 and 100 persons 

 were present. Guerrero spoke, charging the 

 cabildo with demanding gifts from the car- 

 gucros, stealing from the church, driving out 

 the previous priest, and being very drunken. 

 The last charge was what many believed to have 

 convinced the new priest so that he turned 

 against the cabildo. An arrangement was 

 reached in which the assignment of mayor- 

 domias would be taken from the cabildo and 

 persons wishing to "take a saint" would ask 

 it of the priest. 



At the first junta everyone agreed with the 

 charges. A second junta was called. In the 

 meantime the prioste, one Magdaleno Guerrero 

 (no relation to David) went to the Bishop in 

 Zamora and secured a letter (which I saw) 

 categorically stating that neither he nor anyone 

 else had attempted to have the former priest 

 removed. This letter was presented at the 

 second junta by the representante del pueblo, 

 who defended the cabildo. (The cabildo did not 

 attend. Magdaleno Guerrero said for a while 

 they were afraid they might be killed.) This 

 made the people less bitter, but they still agreed 

 to abolish the cabildo. 



With regard to the other charges, the prioste 

 asserted that all the work of the cabildo was 

 voluntary, while his own expenses as prioste 

 amounted to between $100 and $200 for the 

 year. Among his duties was to pay for Masses 

 on December 8 and December 25. Following 

 the latter Mass, the cabildo met at the house of 

 the prioste who served food. To this assembly 

 came people who wished to ask for a saint. 

 They brought presents of cigarettes, while the 

 wives brought bread. These presents, the 

 prioste asserted, were voluntary and were not 

 demanded. The names of the persons were put 

 down on lists in the order applications were 

 received and each mayordomia was awarded to 

 the person whose name headed the list. 



