CHERAN: a sierra TARASCAN village — BEALS 



177 



track of the periods are used but some account 

 is kept of the phase of the moon and an approx- 

 imate idea formed. The normal menstruation 

 is regarded as lasting 3 or 4 days. Slight or 

 excessive flows during the period are believed 

 to be bad. No special garments are worn, but 

 the ordinary underwear is carefully washed 

 after the flow ends. 



Women should not have relations with men 

 during the menstrual period, and most women 

 do not resume relations with their husbands 

 until they have bathed, although some do so as 

 soon as menstruation ends. Violation of this 

 rule is believed to be bad for the men and to 

 cause them to contract a disease with ulcers. 

 Women may prepare food for themselves and 

 others, but they must not eat certain foods. 

 These include "cold" things, such as avocados 

 or prickly pears. Beans, if eaten, must be con- 

 sumed with quantities of onions. Rice, pork, 

 and preserved chiles (because the liquid is very 

 "cool") are also believed to be bad. Dried 

 chiles may be eaten. Aguardiente is also 

 avoided, although a little in coffee or orange- 

 leaf tea is believed to be helpful. The majority, 

 if possible, drink chocolate in the mornings 

 even though they may not normally do so or 

 may even dislike it. In connection with the 

 concept of "coldness" it should be noted that 

 this refers to the supposed effects on the per- 

 son, not to the quality of the thing itself. Cold 

 water, for example, may be consumed freely. 

 Aside from sexual restrictions, men have no 

 special rules to observe when their wives 

 menstruate. 



MARRIAGE AND SEX RELATIONSHIPS 



Marriage is the normal state of the Cheran 

 adult and unmarried persons are relatively rare, 

 except among the aged. Although sexual in- 

 verts were reported, in every case they had 

 married. One woman is known to be an invert 

 and is called toro-vaca. As a girl she attempted 

 to seduce other girls, and a woman told Rendon 

 that in her childhood the individual in question 

 once tried to drag her into a vacant lot, stop- 

 ping her mouth with a rcbozo, but she tore 

 loose and screamed and was rescued by her 

 father. Various charges were also made 

 against the woman in court, but nothing was 

 ever done. 



The individual in question was also said once 

 to have lived with another woman wlio did 

 the work in the household while the former 

 acted like a man. It is also believed that she 

 is a "man" during one month and a "woman" 

 the next, the change being regulated by changes 

 in the moon. During the month she is a "man" 

 she is said to go through the streets at night, 

 trying to entice girls to her house, or else she 

 stands at the door of her house and offers pres- 

 ents to girls who will come in. At one time 

 the woman married and had two children but 

 later was widowed. That the individual is 

 emotionally unstable is indicated by her claim 

 to have once "died" and come to life again, 

 after which she brought many people messages 

 from their dead relatives whom she had en- 

 countered in the other world. 



No cases of men dressing as women or men 

 who had homosexual relations were encoun- 

 tered, but there evidently are occasional in- 

 stances. The only specific reports encountered 

 were of subadolescent boys who showed a pref- 

 erence for doing women's work. One example 

 cited was of a boy who washed dishes, swept, 

 made tortillas, and did other housework. His 

 voice was high-pitched and he refused to fight. 

 Later, however, the boy's voice changed and he 

 married. 



Some prostitution exists in Cheran. There 

 are several houses of assignation operated by 

 elderly women who know the accessible women. 

 Men go to these houses and the old woman then 

 takes a message to some girl or woman. The 

 younger women are often the daughters of 

 older women who have taken this way of life, 

 but sometimes the girls from other families will 

 visit such houses clandestinely. Such girls be- 

 come known among the unmarried men and 

 usually have difficulty in marrying. Often they 

 attempt to force boys to marry them by claim- 

 ing to have been "stolen" by a boy and lodging 

 complaints with the mayor, often abetted by 

 their parents. If the girl's reputation is bad, 

 the boy may be put in jail as a discouragement 

 to boys who might be tempted to steal a girl 

 without marrying her, but the boy will not be 

 forced to marry. 



The patrons of such houses are usually 

 bachelors and older unmarried youths. Some 

 whose wives are pregnant also visit such houses 



