cherAn: a sierra tarascan village— beals 



141 



the MAYORDOMIAS of SAN ANSELMO 



There are two viayordomias of San Anselmo, 

 each with its saint's image. Both belong to the 

 honey gatherers, the panaleros, and there is a 

 certain amount of cooperation between the two 

 cargitcros. For example, they share the cost 

 of the Mass on the saint's day. One of the 

 mayordomias is always in barrio III or IV, the 

 upper barrios, while the second is always in 

 the lower barrios, that is, I and II. It is 

 said that only honey gatherers can receive the 

 mayordomias. Although honey gatherers ap- 

 parently are not numerous, there are a good 

 many men who occasionally follow the occupa- 

 tion. As it is highly dangerous, the aid of the 

 saint is felt important and there usually are 

 numerous persons willing to accept the mayor- 

 domia, especially as it is not a very expensive 

 one. 



The new cargucro receives the saint at the 

 church 8 days after the fiesta of Corpus. The 

 new carguero presents the saint with a hat, 

 blanket, palm fiber raincoat, and other minia- 

 ture items. As the saint's image is small, 

 everything connected with it is small. On 

 April 22 the two cargueros jointly pay for a 

 Mass, but it is said not to be such an important 

 Mass as for other saints. The Mass follows 

 that of Santa Inez on April 21 ; it is said that 

 as the mayordomias of this saint follow after 

 Santa Inez, one should not spend as much as is 

 spent for Santa Inez. San Anselmo is more 

 humble. The giving of a fiesta in the house on 

 the saint's day is optional with the cargucro. 



Eight days before Corpus both images of 

 the saint are taken to the mountains when the 

 honey gatherers go out to seek honeycombs 

 for the fiesta. The two images are taken to 

 different places, and the men from the different 

 barrios accompany the associated saint's image. 

 The carguero supplies large quantities of 

 charanda on this occasion. The men get drunk 

 and dance every afternoon to guitar music. On 

 Tuesday of Corpus the images are taken to 

 church and left there until taken by the new 

 cargueros. 



The choice of the new cargueros is made by 

 the priest from lists provided by the principals. 

 According to the carguero for the two lower 

 barrios in 1940, four principals named by the 



honey gatherers determine the list of candidates 

 for the mayordomia at a meeting before Corpus. 

 For the upper two barrios, only one principal 

 was mentioned. In this case the principal was 

 interviewed and asserted that all candidates 

 for the mayordomia applied to him. The 

 real carguero in the lower barrios in 1940 

 was the 4-year-old son of the household, accord- 

 ing to his father. The mayordomia was sought 

 because the boy was not growing normally. 



On .some occasions the principals of the lower 

 barrios have some expenses. For example, one 

 year the box in which the saint's image is taken 

 to the mountains was partly burned through an 

 accident. The principals ordered a new box 

 at their expense. 



MAYORDOMIA OF THE THREE KINGS 



The mayordomia of the Three Kings, Los 

 Treyes Reyes, is celebrated on January 6, the 

 new carguero taking the images the following 

 day. The mayordoviia is relatively new, and 

 the present images were secured in 1940. The 

 previous images were small and provisional. 

 The carguero in 1940 had held the mayordomia 

 of the Holy Child the previous year. In both 

 cases the mayordomia was sought to aid the 

 health of a sickly child. In addition, the 

 parents had vowed the child to perform in the 

 dance of the viejos every year. 



It is obvious that the carguero in 1940 was 

 well-to-do to be able to take two mayordomias 

 on 2 successive years. Moreover, he introduced 

 an innovation by taking over all the expenses 

 of the dancers who perform in connection with 

 the Day of the Kings. Previously the dance 

 group had been entirely independent of the 

 mayordomia, raising their own money for ex- 

 penses and music. 



The expenses of the carguero in 1940 were 

 secured in some detail. They are as follows: 



Musicians $ 70.00 



1 pig butchered (estimate) 25.00 



1 ox butchered (estimate) 60.00 



22 fanegus of maize at 



3.75 to 4.00 80.00 



40 sugar canes and 40 oranges 



for dancers 2.U0 



Bread for all (about 200 guests) 



at end of dance ; three breakfasts 



for dancei-s 10.00 



