CHERAN: a sierra TARASCAN village — BEALS 



163 



back where it enters, but no further beliefs 

 could be discovered. 



An animal said to be unique in Cheran is the 

 hachoque or ecekurita. It resembles a lizard 

 and is spotted black and white. It lives in 

 corners, inside the walls of houses, or in the 

 stone pillars. It does not bite or injure people, 

 but it is. believed to suckle the breasts of nurs- 

 mg mothers while they are sleeping, taking all 

 the milk. The animal cannot be killed with 

 blows or by cutting it up, for the pieces reunite. 

 Only by burning it with coals can it be killed. 



A very clever man once went up on San 

 Marcos and struck the mountain. Water 

 poured out, creating a barnuica, and continued 

 for several days until the plain west of town 

 was covered several feet deep. The priest then 

 went up the mountain and ordered the water to 

 stop, which it did. 



Against hurricanes and hail, a cross is made 

 in the patio or the street, of ashes, taken from 

 the household fireplace. Salt is not put in the 

 fii'e for this purpose. 



The crosses put on top of houses are to 

 protect them from lightning or whirlwinds. 



If people swim in Las Pilas. a small pond 

 northeast of town, they will sink after swim- 

 ming out a certain distance. Horses will 

 drown there also. 



Eclipses are thought the work of some higher 

 power and that nothing can be done about them. 

 There is no fear of eclipses, though, except in 

 connection with childbirth. Some believe 

 eclipses result from struggles between sun, 

 moon, and earth. The defeated element is said 

 to devour part of the foetus, causing adhesions 

 between various parts and the womb and making 

 birth difficult. No beliefs could be discovered 

 about the stars. Indeed, informants insisted 

 that there were no names for the stars and that 

 people did not distinguish one from the other. 

 This is unusual if true. 



Mention should be made here of beliefs in the 

 evil eye and in los aires, "the airs or winds." 

 They will be discussed in connection with 

 disease concepts and curing. 



THE INDIVIDUAL AND THE CULTURE 



In the preceding sections the culture of 

 Cheran has been treated primarily from its 

 technological and institutional aspects. The 

 position of individuals and their activities have 

 been discussed, it is true, but the orientation 

 has been toward generalized and institutional- 

 ized activities. In the following pages will be 

 discussed the activities which are more directly 

 individual in character. This is not to say that 

 many of these activities are not institutional- 

 ized ; certainly the wedding ceremonies, for 

 example, are quite as institutionalized in charac- 

 ter as the mayordomla. Nevertheless, the 

 wedding is more closely related to the develop- 

 ment of individual personal relationships. 

 Emphasis in succeeding pages will be upon the 

 crisis periods in the individual and upon the 

 developmental and behavioral patterns in the 

 intervals between crises. 



It will be obvious in the following discussion 

 that treatment of the role of the individual in the 

 culture and the impact of the culture upon the 

 individual is very incomplete. Particular weak- 

 nesses are apparent in the discussion of infancy 



and childhood and in the part of women. These 

 lacks are inevitable, not only from the shortness 

 of the study, but from the special attitudes in 

 Cheran which closed so many avenues of 

 approach to male investigators. Material col- 

 lected by Rendon is very helpful, but it is 

 fragmentary and insufficient. It does show, 

 though, that women investigators could secure 

 many data otherwi.se difiicult to collect. 



BIRTH 



Children are generally desired in Cheran, and 

 motherhood is regarded as normal and expect- 

 able. There is a clear idea of the physiological 

 causation of pregnancy, and normally no means 

 are taken to avoid it. Men are said to prefer 

 boys and women to prefer girls, but whatever the 

 sex, both parents usually welcome the child and 

 wish many, and childbirth appears to cause 

 minimal emotional disturbances, although they 

 are not lacking. Although no accurate data 

 were available, informants did not believe there 

 were more than six or eight women in Cheran 

 who had not borne children. Some said that 



