CHERAN : A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE — BEALS 



187 



turned out to be a relative, was a member of 

 the party. 



Because of the early hour, the marriage 

 manager had not arrived. The party all waited 

 outside until the manager was found and came. 

 The manager prayed, and then the men were 

 given tamales to eat. The women then began 

 exchanging bread and tamales at about 5:30. 

 Later they drank all night and sat around and 

 talked. They would have danced, but Dona 

 Feliciana had provided no music. 



On November 9 the groom was learning the 

 prayers and it was intended to hold the wedding 

 soon, but it was postponed until January be- 

 cause the priest said that no one could marry 

 until after Christmas por los velados. As Doiia 

 Feliciana remarked, "No one knows what these 

 are. This priest is very capricious. We have 

 had various priests here, but never one 

 like this." 



During the interval of waiting, Doha 

 Feliciana made it plain that, as she was a 

 widow, she had no intention of holding a large 

 wedding. The mother of the bride, however, 

 was affronted and sent word that with all the 

 Santa Claras in the town it was a shame they 

 would not do anything. She also announced 

 that although she also was a widow, she in- 

 tended to pay for a band herself. When word 

 of this got around, the Santa Claras became 

 ashamed and bestirred themselves to see what 

 could be done. Soon Agustin's father was 

 remarking that the Santa Claras had gotten the 

 better of the Rangels, and perhaps they should 

 do something. When the wedding finally was 

 held by the Santa Claras it turned out to be, if 

 anything, more elaborate than that given by 

 Antonio Sanchez, described above. 



The distribution of expenses, as it finally 

 turned out, was approximately as follows: 



Breakfast for the women — Erino Santa Clara, 

 a "grandfather." 



Breakfast for the men — provided by a cousin, a 

 Santa Clara. 



Dinner and bread — Emilio Santa Clara, a "grand- 

 father." 



One band — Doiia Feliciana, the cousins, and 

 uncles (Agustin paid a contribution for this). 



Second band — brothers, sisters, and cousins of 

 the groom, "grandfathers" of both bride and 

 groom. (Agustin's father paid a contribution 

 for this.) 



Civil wedding — Domingo Hernandez, a "grand- 

 father." 

 Church wedding — Doiia Feliciana. 



According to report, Doiia Feliciana provided 

 only a new rebozo for the bride in the way of 

 clothing, but this was not verified. No data 

 were secured on who paid for the liquor. 



The church wedding took place about 7 a. m. 

 on January 9, this being the cheaper hour. 

 The bi-ide was returned to her home, then 

 brought with her relatives to the groom's 

 mother's house for breakfast. After break- 

 fast, the party went to the municipal offices for 

 the civil registry. This order was quite incor- 

 rect, as customarily the civil registry should 

 precede the religious ceremony, usually by 

 about a week. After this, matters proceeded 

 as usual with the dinner. The older brother of 

 the groom functioned as the male head of the 

 household. Had the groom had no older 

 brother, Doiia Feliciana would have had to 

 discharge the functions of the male head ; none 

 of her brothers or those of her deceased hus- 

 band would have taken this position. 



Late in the afternoon a number of poles were 

 brought into the courtyard. Stuck in holes in 

 these poles were many small sticks to which 

 were attached small flaglike ornaments of 

 paper of many colors which were divided 

 among the women and children with a great 

 deal of shouting and disorder (pi. 7, lower left) . 

 These banners are not produced at any other 

 time than the period preceding Carnival. 



The crownlike breads were not produced 

 until quite late, about 4 : 30 p. m., and were not 

 distributed until some time later (pi. 7, upper 

 right). In turn, the dancing was late in start- 

 ing in the groom's house, although it began 

 some time earlier in the house of the grand- 

 father entertaining that group. 



Just before dusk the priest arrived and 

 scolded the party for getting drunk. One of 

 the men who took this to heart started home; 

 he was shot and killed while crossing the bridge 

 to Paricutin by an unknown enemy, but none 

 of these events stopped the wedding, which 

 turned into one of the most prolonged large- 

 scale drinking bouts occurring during the time 

 of the study. Atole was served at midnight, 

 while between 4 and 6 a. m. and again at 8 a. m. 

 posole was served. The atole was provided by 



