CHERAN: a sierra TARASCAN village — BEALS 



201 



unmarried girls put the brightest outside; mar- 

 ried women wear the darkest outside. 



Undoubtedly the greatest amusement in 

 Cheran is simply talking. Both men and 

 women gather in their spare time and talk by 

 the hour. Most of the talk is gossip. Who 

 has recently done what, the price of corn, the 

 condition of the crops, the change in the 

 weather, forthcoming events, the problems of 

 the church, the progress of the war, what one 

 would do if the Germans came to Cheran — all 

 the everyday things of life and a great deal of 

 speculation about the unknown form subjects 

 of conversation. The North American mem- 

 bers of the staff found two questions most 

 common in 1940 and 1941 — what were the 

 chances of getting work if one went to the 

 United States, especially since the rearmament 

 program, and what did we think of the progress 

 of the war. Particularly on the subject of the 

 war and its economic repercussions for Cheran 

 did men seem surprisingly well-informed, con- 

 sidering the few who read and the scarcity of 

 newspapers. 



With all the talk that goes on in Cheran for 

 amusement's sake, one would expect to find an 

 important repertory of tales. This is not the 

 case. No doubt one could collect a body of 

 tales if one cultivated the older people assidu- 

 ously. The tales that were found were few, 

 and the majority of them circled about hidden 

 treasure. In addition, there were a few deal- 

 ing with supernatural happenings and some 

 fragments about the founding of Cheran. 

 Even these prosaic stories had to be sought for 

 diligently and were told badly and in obviously 

 incomplete form. Most persons questioned 

 could not recall any specific occasion on which 

 tales had been told, nor did they know any 

 stories themselves. Story telling is not a 

 significant part of the culture of Cheran. 



OLD AGE 



The transition from adult to old age is not 

 a clear one in Cheran. In general, parents 

 whose children are all grown up, married, and 

 moved away from home are not necessarily 

 "old" by Cheran standards. At least one indi- 

 vidual apparently over 80 years old was en- 

 countered who still did his own farm work, 

 was completely self-supporting, and an inde- 



fatigable dancer at fiestas. By any standard 

 this man is old, but he certainly shows no sign 

 of senescence, although it is unlikely he is still 

 sexually potent. Similarly, women obviously 

 far past child-bearing age are often the most 

 active workers at fiestas and the most eager 

 dancers, in contrast to the often lackadaisical 

 attitudes of young mothers who dance not at all. 



For women the menopause comes between 

 40 and 50. Information from women on 

 sexual subjects is difficult to secure even by 

 women, and the scanty information is quite 

 unsatisfactory.^* 



Some women appear to be more or less 

 spiritless and sad after the menopause, while 

 others seem to be quite gay. In some cases this 

 difference may have psychological basis or 

 may reflect the presence or absence of physio- 

 logical difficulties. Indifference of husbands, 

 the sexual potency of husbands, and the con- 

 tinuance of sexual relations may also have some 

 bearing on individual cases. At least one 

 woman expressed herself as pleased to have 

 passed the menopause because "now she was 

 free" and was not dependent upon men. 

 Further study of the problem is needed but 

 would require considerable time and tact on the 

 part of women investigators. 



In general, whether old age is depressing and 

 unhappy or not seems to depend upon the con- 

 tinuance of a successful marital relationship 

 and the possession of adequate economic 

 resources. The only really unhappy old people 

 seem to be elderly women without children or 

 husbands who eke out a miserable existence in 

 ways that could not be discovered. They dwell 

 in hovels and lean-tos of brush and boards, 

 carry their own wood, and to some extent live 

 on charity. Those with reasonable health and 

 either dutiful children or enough property to 

 insure care on the part of the children seem to 

 lead a fairly satisfactory life. Often nephews 

 and nieces also help care for old people ; again, 

 possession of property probably aids in securing 



^ Early in the study Mrs. Ruth W. Beebe, of New York, aided 

 by the nurse from the boarding school at Paracho and by a Mestizo 

 girl from Paracho. tried to fill out comprehensive questionnaires 

 on sexual subjects, directed primarily toward gaining insight into 

 the psychological problems related to the menopause. She was able 

 to secure only three reasonably complete schedules and even these 

 probably contain evasions and some unanswered questions. I am 

 indebted to Mrs. Beebe for copies of the schedules and have drawn 

 upon them slightly for these remarks. 



