CHERAN : A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE — BEALS 



149 



Usually the pastorela is given the night of 

 December 24 and for 2 or 3 days afterward. 

 The dancers perform first between the church 

 and the municipal building. Then they visit 

 the houses of the members of the cabildo and 

 the various cargueros. At the houses they are 

 usually given some fruit. 



In 1940 considerable feeling was engendered 

 by the collapse of the pastorela, which many 

 believed to be the pleasantest of the various 

 dances, the more moralistic because no one 

 drank in connection with it. Don Inocencio, 

 the father of the first uandncc, the sunanda or 

 pari, wished to give the pastorela so that he 

 could comply with the promise he had made 

 when his daughter was sickly as a small child. 

 He was somewhat incensed because the prioste 

 had spoken to the other families fir.st and told 

 them they should not give the dance. When 

 Don Inocencio visited the other parents he 

 found them unwilling to go ahead and disgusted 

 with the whole situation. Most extreme was 

 Tomas Hernandez, who said he would not com- 

 ply with the obligation, even though it should 

 mean losing the 10 pesos he had advanced on 

 behalf of the group to bring the band from 

 Tanaco. Or, he added, he might be willing to 

 bring the band, but he wouldn't give the dance ; 

 instead, he would give a big paranda or drink- 

 ing party for the benefit of themselves and not 

 for the town. 



Don Inocencio expressed great distress at 

 this attitude. He already had fattened two 

 pigs and expressed himself frequently as will- 

 ing to go ahead with the pastorela if others 

 would help. He appealed to the staff of the 

 investigation to speak to the mayor, asking him 

 to compel the other families to comply with 

 their obligation ; or, failing that, for permission 

 to take up a voluntary collection. Clearly, Don 

 Inocencio felt that the families of the other 

 uanances were taking advantage of the dis- 

 missal of the cabildo to avoid their just 

 obligations. 



This suspicion of Don Inocencio's was quite 

 correct in some cases. One of the other family 

 heads stated that the dismissal of the cabildo 

 canceled the obligation. Although his daughter 

 had become a uandnce in compliance with a 

 vow, her father announced he would not help 

 to give the pastorela even though others volun- 



tarily contributed to the expenses. One of the 

 more cynical assistants in the investigation 

 pointed out that the attitude was quite under- 

 standable, as the man owed a debt of $160 to a 

 woman in the town, who was trying to force 

 him to pay at least half of it. 



The father of another of the uanances stated 

 that with the dismissal of the prioste the custom 

 of the pastorela had ended and that it was 

 unnecessary to continue. Evidently he did not 

 care for the custom and remarked, "To me it 

 seems best that they dismissed the prioste." 



Another case is of some interest. Although 

 the girl was not a uandnce, her parents had 

 made a vow that she should appear in the 

 pastorela. The parents made an arrangement 

 for her to participate in the pastorela of 

 Cheranastico. The Cheranastico pastorela 

 evidently is somewhat different from that of 

 Cheran. The girl would wear a red dress, a 

 silk handkerchief covering the lower part of 

 her face, a man's hat, and shoes and would be 

 known as a ranch erita. She would dance 

 opposite a small boy partner called a ranchero 

 (rancher). The pastorela of Cheranastico is 

 performed January 1. 



DANCE OF THE VIEJOS OR EUROPEOS 



The dance of the viejos or Europeos (old men 

 or Europeans) appears in connection with the 

 Three Kings, January 6. Previous to 1940 the 

 dance had 'oeen given by a volunteer group. 

 In the afternoons, as men lounged about the 

 streets and talked after work, people would 

 begin to mention that the time for the dance 

 vvas approaching. Eventually a group would 

 decide that they should organize the dance. 

 They would collect money among themselves 

 and others and hire musicians and a teacher. 

 In 1940, however, the carguero of the Three 

 Kings, announced that giving the dance was 

 properly part of the mayvrdomia and undertook 

 to organize the dancers, pay the teacher and 

 musicians, and provide food for the dancers. 



The group in 1940 consisted of 30 viejos (but 

 not all of them appeared all the time), three 

 kings, and five pastorcitas or shepherdesses. 

 (There should have been only four shep- 

 herdesses; we were unable to learn the reason 

 for the extra one. Possibly someone asked to 

 participate after the four were chosen or there 



