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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 2 



almost as complex, particularly if it is the first 

 marriage of one of the parties. A widow or 

 widower is not expected to marry for 6 months 

 after the death of his or her spouse, but mar- 

 riage usually occurs soon after that time. 

 Marriage is regarded as the normal state for 

 an adult, and one who does not marry is thought 

 to be queer. "Here they believe that a man 

 without a woman or a woman without a man 

 cannot be either man or woman and they are 

 not respected." Moreover, life is very difficult 

 for the widow or widower. The woman has 

 difficulty getting her fields properly cultivated, 

 even though she may own suflficient property. 

 A man, unless he has relatives who will take 

 him in, also has great difficulty in getting food, 

 for no man knows how to cook. Women do 

 not wish to take a widower as a boarder, fear- 

 ing either that he will make some attempt on 

 their virtue or that their reputation will suffer. 

 Husbands are also much opposed to such an 

 arrangement, so the widower must marry, if 

 he is to eat decently. 



In Mestizo Chilchota, Rendon found many 

 similarities with the Cheran wedding customs. 

 The bride is sometimes stolen, sometimes not. 

 If stolen and then not married, the girl finds 

 marriage difficult, and mothers will not let their 

 daughters talk to such a girl. Chilchota resi- 

 dents assert that in the Tarascan villages of La 

 Canada this is not the case, but such evidence 

 from Mestizos is notoriously unreliable. 



Generally the bride is stolen. In Chilchota, 

 Rendon definitely secured the impression that 

 this custom is older than asking for the bride. 

 The bride is taken to the house of a friend or 

 to the godparent of baptism of the bride. 

 According to some women marrying in this 

 way, the marriage was not consummated until 

 after the wedding ceremonies ; others said they 

 had relations with their husbands the day they 

 were stolen. If the girl is asked for, rather 

 than stolen, the relatives of the groom take 

 mescal and cigarettes when they visit the 

 bride's parents. They are accompanied by an 

 old man skilled in such matters. 



The wedding takes place traditionally in the 

 house of the groom, but among the "snobs" 

 it takes place in the house of the bride. Guests 

 take a kilo of salt, a kilo of chiles (preferably 

 dry chiles which are more expensive), several 



kilos of rice, and a basket of corn or beans. 

 The male relatives of the bride supply one or 

 two loads of wood and also present to the groom 

 agricutural tools if he is a farmer or utensils 

 of his trade if he has some other occupation. 

 The male and female relatives of the groom also 

 dress the bride in a complete new outfit and 

 present her with clothing and household and 

 kitchen equipment. Gifts received by the bride 

 and groom are divided with their respective 

 relatives. The sisters of the groom carry 

 rosaries made of amole tubers to indicate that 

 they should wash with this and not with soap. 

 (This statement is ambiguous and needs further 

 investigation; possibly it refers to bathing the 

 bride.) 



The church wedding takes place in the early 

 hours of the morning and is followed by a 

 breakfast in the house where the celebration is 

 to be held. Invariably the breakfast consists 

 of bread and chocolate. After breakfast there 

 is a dance, which continues through the day 

 except for intervals in which to eat. The food is 

 mole of chicken or turkey, fried rice, beans, and 

 tortillas. After the meal a drink made of 

 pulque and called charape is served. If it is 

 not the season for pulque, the charape is made 

 of a wild plant resembling the maguey and 

 called timbirice. 



After dancing a while following the dinner, 

 the bride is taken to the house of the godparents 

 of the groom, in case she has been stolen, or to 

 her own parents' house, if she has been asked 

 for. The bride spends the night at this house 

 without her hu.sband. Some time during the 

 day the sisters of the groom wash the bride 

 and dress her. 



The following day the godparents of the 

 wedding hold a fiesta in their house similar to 

 that on the preceding day but with some addi- 

 tional features. Early in the morning, when the 

 invited guests arrive, they are served breakfast 

 of bread and chocolate made with water. Then 

 there is dancing. At midday a dinner is served, 

 consisting of many of the typical Tarascan 

 foods such as curipo (beef broth with cabbage, 

 chile, and meat), kuriindas (yellow tamales), 

 chayote, and cooked squash {cliilacai/ofe) . 



About o" o'clock in the afternoon, while the 

 dancing goes on in the house of the godparents 

 of the wedding, the godparents of baptism of 



