CHERAN: a sierra TARASCAN village — BEALS 



159 



WITCHCRAFT IN CAPACUARO 



As is often the case, more specific details of 

 witchcraft were secured in Capacuaro, which 

 has no reputation for witchcraft, than in 

 Chenin. In the course of a brief stay in Capa- 

 cuaro, Rendon and Carrasco made the acquaint- 

 ance of a delightful couple who openly admitted 

 to being witches. The remaining members of 

 the staff subsequently became fairly well 

 acquainted with the couple. Their witchcraft 

 seemed, on the whole, a relatively harmless and 

 unmalicious variety, which may account for 

 their willingness to admit to the practice. Per- 

 haps the most entertaining incident was when 

 the wife told Rendon under promise of secrecy 

 that she had secured her husband through 

 witchcraft and had been able to keep him only 

 through the same means. The husband told 

 Carrasco the same story about his wife ! 



The following are details, mostly collected by 

 Rendon : 



1. Method of winning the love of someone; 

 of making a wife return to her husband ; or of 

 making a husband return to his wife; or 

 causing someone who is impassioned without 

 hope to obtain what he desires : 



Secure five candles costing 5 centavos, three of 

 paraffin and two of tallow. The practitioner must 

 shut himself in a room without anyone seeing him, but 

 if he has asked a witch to do the ceremony for him, he 

 must be present. The candles are arranged in the 

 following form: 



* tallow candle 



* * * paraffin candles 



* tallow candle 



The paraffin candle in the center is known as the 

 "Candle of the Heart." The candles must be in the 

 center of the room and oriented to the cardinal 

 directions. 



Placing of the candles begins with the lower tallow 

 candle. First the candle is turned between the fingers 

 in a certain way, saying "so and so, come, come, come, 

 come, come ..." many times. Upon saying this the 

 necessary number of times depends much of the success 

 of the ceremony, but there are no rules; the witch sim- 

 ply feels when it has been enough. The candle is then 

 lighted and put in position. The same is done with 

 the other candles, but the order could not be given 

 unless the investigator had hii'ed the ceremony per- 

 formed with serious purpose. 



The center candle, the "Candle of the heart," is pre- 

 viously softened by exposure to the sunlight. Two 

 fingers are then measured on the candle from the base 

 506569—46 12 



"for your guardian angel, two fingers for the Holy 

 Spirit, and one finger for your name." At the point 

 reached by the five fingers measurement, the candle is 

 opened and a flower called the "flower of thought" is 

 placed inside, and the wax is replaced carefully as 

 though the candle had not been opened. 



The center candle is now lighted at the butt end and 

 placed in position upside down. Great care must be 

 exercised, however, not to permit the candle to burn 

 past the point where the flower is located. If it did, 

 the bewitched person would die and the person per- 

 forming the incantation would go to the inferno and 

 suffer throughout eternity. 



This ceremony may be performed in any position of 

 the moon and by either day or night. Nevertheless, 

 Wednesday is the best day, and night is the best time. 

 The indispensable prerequisite is that no one see the 

 ceremony except the person on whose behalf it is per- 

 formed. Any other person, even though equally inter- 

 ested in the success of the procedure, would interfere 

 with the result, while a hostile person who knew, could 

 intercept the "labor" and even do injury to the witch. 



Despite this prohibition in ordinary cases, there are 

 some circumstances in which several witches or women 

 "initiated in remedies," even though they did not know 

 how to officiate, might perform this ceremony together. 

 The informant, however, refused to tell how the cere- 

 mony was performed in this case or the object of the 

 ceremony. 



After the ceremony has been performed, the subject 

 is observed for sevei'al days or a week. If no improve- 

 ment in attitude is noticeable, the bewitchment con- 

 tinues in the following form: 



Candles are burned again as described above. In 

 addition, the witch procures a meter of black belting 

 material, a small stamp of Saint Judas, a bit of red 

 paper, "flowers of thought," dahlias or other red 

 flowers, and a collection of as many kinds of flowers 

 as can be found. The Saint Judas is wrapped care- 

 fully and thoroughly in the black belt. The bundle is 

 then wrapped in the red paper and laid on a cross made 

 of the miscellaneous flowers at the "head" of the 

 candles with the saint's face downj On the bundle is 

 placed the red flower and the "flowers of thought." 

 Then the witch says, "Saint Judas, bring me so and so, 

 for I have you there prisoner and if you do not hurry 

 I will burn you." A "prayer" is then said in Tarascan 

 which the informant refused to divulge. The witch 

 remains in a kneeling position and recites seven credos 

 until the "Candle of the Heart" reaches the point past 

 which it must not burn. (In order to have the candles 

 burn an equal amount, it is necessary to put out the 

 others when they reach the same level.) 



2. To make someone hate another person; 

 to make a husband leave his wife or a wife 

 leave her husband; to make children desert 

 their parents or parents abandon their chil- 

 dren ; to make a person feel repulsion for others : 



