CHERAN : A SIERRA TARASCAN VILLAGE — SEALS 



189 



garments. Alternatively, some of the clothing 

 may be sold if it is not apt to be needed for 

 gifts. Informants estimated that each garment 

 was exchanged two or three times; probably 

 the estimate is conservative. 



The third aspect of the wedding display in- 

 volves the number of persons who attend. 

 Every relative must attend a wedding if he 

 does not wish to create hard feeling. Should 

 a relative fail to appear, his own functions such 

 as weddings, house movings, house roofings, or 

 mayordomias would be boycotted by the persons 

 he had afl^ronted. At the wedding of the 

 daughter of such a person as Rosalio Sanchez, 

 representative of the town, very large numbers 

 of nonrelatives attended in order to show their 

 liking or admiration for the father. Friend- 

 ship is likewise clearly demonstrated by attend- 

 ing the wedding of a nonrelative. 



Resentment and avoidance seem to be the 

 only methods of retaliation for neglect at 

 Cheran. In many other towns there are prob- 

 ably more direct methods. In Charapan, at 

 least, relatives who do not attend a wedding 

 are sought out by their fellows and forcibly 

 brought to the wedding where they have to 

 parade through the kitchen bearing a water 

 bucket. 



Essential to every wedding, even the sim- 

 plest, is the marriage manager. In a larger 

 wedding the arrangements are too complex to 

 be known properly to most people and the 

 successful carrying out of the wedding depends 

 on his ability. A fee is paid the marriage 

 manager for his services; the amount appar- 

 ently was not ascertained, for it does not appear 

 in the notes, but it probably is fairly generous, 

 for the most active of the few marriage man- 

 agers, Gregorio Castillo, is a fairly prosperous 

 individual. 



As a neutral third party, the marriage man- 

 ager also smooths over differences of opinion 

 more successfully than the principals could 

 ordinarily do face to face. This is especially 

 marked when the bride's father is annoyed with 

 the theft of his daughter. For example, at one 

 "pardon," the father had left for the mountains 

 and only an uncle of the girl was in the house. 

 He claimed to be sick and refused to come out 

 of the house for some time. When he did, he 

 gave evidence of anger. Then Don Gregorio 



said, "Well, it is custom. The girl was not 

 forced but went willingly. There is no reason 

 to be angry about this, nor with me, for I am 

 not concerned in the matter but come to speak 

 for the parents of the groom. They have come 

 as is proper to arrange the affair." Late in the 

 evening the father returned and agreed to the 

 marriage, but he said little and clearly was 

 angry. 



One aspect of the marriage ceremonies not 

 sufficiently emphasized in the preceding ac- 

 counts is important: the new marriage means 

 that the two families, in the most extended 

 sense, will constantly cooperate in all sorts of 

 ceremonial occasions. Thus, the groom's male 

 relatives will help to move a house or roof a 

 house, while the bride's female relatives will be 

 called on to work in the kitchen on the same 

 occasions. Both families will likewise be con- 

 cerned with all the subsequent crisis periods in 

 varying degree, especially when a grandchild 

 marries at some future date. 



The function of the wedding as an occasion 

 for celebration, the release of tensions through 

 drinking, the provision of diversion with the 

 dancing, and the general stimulus through ex- 

 tensive social interaction is very considerable. 

 For the participants, weddings probably rank 

 as high or higher than fiestas as occasions for 

 social contacts and amusement. 



A feature most clearly demonsti'ated in the 

 weddings is the much greater participation of 

 the older women. Young women with children 

 usually do not take a very active part in the 

 kitchen work, nor are they leaders in the 

 exchange of clothing. The old women, on the 

 other hand, are in the forefront of all activities. 

 Essentially the wedding is a woman's affair in 

 many respects. Old women are the most active 

 in the kitchen. They are the first to start 

 drinking, although they rarely drink to the 

 excess common among the men, and they are 

 the first to dance. Indeed, on older women the 

 playing of dance music has an almost compul- 

 sive effect. Time and again, when dance music 

 is being played, even though it is not time for 

 dancing, some of the old women will be seen 

 quietly dancing by themselves in a corner. 



Although the ceremonies of marriage are 

 most elaborate in the case of first marriages, 

 often marriages of widows or widowers are 



