CHERAN: a sierra TARASCAN village — BEALS 



143 



from the i-anchos came every year with dancers. 

 They spent 3 days in Chercin, dancing in the 

 church and in the municipal building. Then 

 they took the saint to the ranches and it often 

 was kept there many months. In 1940 the 

 owners decided not to let the saint go any more 

 because they wished to have it with them "as 

 we have lost much time with it." 



COMPARATIVE NOTES 



Material collected from other towns suggests 

 that other types of mayordomia organization 

 exist. In Angahuan, Rendon found an elabo- 

 rate hierarchy of officials, evidently correspond- 

 ing to the cabildo and the associated organiza- 

 tion at Cheran. In Angahuan, according to 

 Rendon, the officials are ranked as follows: 

 Alcalde, regidor, kambiti, petajpe and biskal, 

 mayores, kiejyi, anyitakua. 



In addition, there is a group of elderly men, 

 corresponding to the Cheran cabildo, who are 

 known as tarenpenya. These are men who 

 have served the above offices or part of them. 



The alcalde and regidor^ correspond to the 

 prioste-colector positions in Cheran apparently. 

 Thealcaldeisin charge of the church for 1 year. 

 During this time he has to hold six fiestas. 

 The first is at New Year's, when he receives 

 his post and when he must provide food and 

 aguardiente. The second is carnival, when he 

 is aided in the expenses by the "cabildo" (it 

 is not clear from Rendon's notes whether this 

 means the same as it does in Cheran). The 

 third is the day of the Holy Cross when he 

 must pay for two bands and there is the dance 

 of the moors and soldiers. The alcalde pro- 

 vides food for the dancers. The latter dance 

 in the houses of various functionaries. The 

 fourth fiesta is Corpus, at which time all the 

 members of the different occupations take 

 miniatures of their products and dance with 

 them before the church and also perform their 

 offices. The fifth fiesta is that of Santiago 

 (the patron saint), when there is music, 

 dancers, and also bull riding. For this fiesta 

 the alcalde pays for the Masses and gives food 

 to the dancers. The final fiesta is the day on 

 which the alcalde is chosen by the elders. 



The regidor is the helper of the alcalde and 

 aids him in every way possible. The relatives 

 of the alcalde also assist him with food. 



The duties of the kambiti are to pay the ex- 

 penses of the Holy Week festivities and to deco- 

 rate the front of the main altar with fruits from 

 the hot country, such as bananas, watermelons, 

 mameys, coconuts, mangoes, and sugarcane. 

 The fruits are suspended in small nets or are 

 perforated and hung from strings. The cere- 

 mony is called uirimutakua, which means "to 

 adorn the front of something." 



On Holy Saturday the young people of the 

 town divide in two groups and go through the 

 town, the girls carrying an image of Mary 

 Magdalene, the men one of Saint Joseph. 

 At sti'ategic points the two groups meet and 

 have races with the images. Certain young 

 girls also place themselves at the door of the 

 cluirch during Holy Week and offer the re- 

 freshments known as carapes to all comers. 

 These girls must change the flowers on the 

 altars during the ensuing year and are known 

 as cACAki ja^irati. All these ceremonies are 

 regulated by the kambiti. 



The petajpe gathers the young men at his 

 house in February and feeds them "esquite," 

 of the type known as kanita takunji. At this 

 time he announces the date for cleaning the 

 spring from which the town gets its water. 

 The day the spring is cleaned, the petajpe pro- 

 vides music and rice, beans, and pork for the 

 helpers at his house. At the spring, many 

 families go along and take picnic food, singing 

 and enjoying themselves while the young men 

 clean the spring. When the spring is cleaned, 

 they carry alias of water to their houses, using 

 it as drinking water in preference to water 

 from the pipes until it is gone. 



There are no data on the office of biskal. 

 Rendon's notes suggest that the offices of 

 petajpe and biskal are the same. 



To reach the office of mayor, one must give a 

 fiesta to the patron saint and appear as a moro 

 dancer. The moros dance on December 25 and 

 26 in the houses of the elders. On the 24th 

 they worship in the church. Mayores must aid 

 their superiors with firewood and their wives 

 grind and carry water when the alcalde or 

 kambiti or petajpe hold a fiesta. 



The kiev^i has similar duties to the kei^i of 

 Cheran. He is entrusted with the care of the 

 church and follows the orders of the alcalde 

 in cleaning and adorning the structure. He 



