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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 2 



people hid them when the priest approached, 

 placing them out again when he moved on. 

 The rezadores continued, but kept unobtrusive 

 in another part of the graveyard from the 

 section where the priest was functioning. 

 Most people had both priest and rezador. 



About noon or shortly afterward most people 

 eat lunch consisting of nakatamales, bread, and • 

 fruit. Friends and acquaintances who stop 

 to chat are usually given two tamales, which 

 they eat at the time. After 3 or 4 hours at the 



graveyard, people return home. Few people do 

 any but the most necessary work on this day. 

 Sometime during the day, either before going 

 to the graveyard or after returning, most people 

 hang strings of yellow flowers over the frames 

 of the house doors. Yellow is regarded as the 

 color of mourning still, as it is in many parts of 

 Indian Mexico. In view of reports of more 

 elaborate ceremonies in other Tarascan towns, 

 it should be recorded that no one at Cheran 

 spends the night in the cemetery. 



CONCLUSION AND FURTHER PROBLEMS 



Of immediate concern in dealing with a group . 

 as large as the Tarascans is the question 

 whether Cheran is adequately representative 

 of the group as a whole. Certainly Cheran is 

 not typical in its size and this difference alone 

 makes it probable that it is not entirely repre- 

 sentative of other Tarascan towns. A complete 

 answer to the question raised must await more 

 extensive investigation, but the staff of the 

 present study visited or investigated enough 

 other communities to indicate that, in a broad 

 sense, Cheran is probably fairly typical. From 

 a narrower viewpoint it is certain that many de- 

 tailed differences exist. Strong indications also 

 exist that there are some regional differences 

 which have already been mentioned. The vil- 

 lages about Lake Patzcuaro, through their partial 

 dependence upon fishing and closer contacts with 

 Mestizo culture, necessarily must be somewhat 

 different. The villages about La Canada like- 

 wise seem distinguishable as a group. Prob- 

 ably the Sierra communities may be set apart 

 as a regional unit, although it is possible that 

 the Sierra group may ultimately be found to 

 consist of two or more sections. Finally, a 

 number of marginal towns assimilated to some 

 degree into Mestizo culture present special 

 problems. 



Final resolution of the question raised seems 

 to call for at least two further steps in the study 

 of the Tarascans. First, at least two or three 

 additional community studies are needed, one 

 in the Lake Patzcuaro region, and another in 

 La Canada. Very probably another Sierra 

 town should also be studied, preferably one at 

 considerable distance from Cheran and with a 



significant manufacturing industry supplement- 

 ing its agriculture. The second step would be 

 an intensive but rapid survey of a large number 

 of communities, perhaps by a trait-list tech- 

 nique, to discover the extent of local and 

 regional variation. Quite possibly such a sur- 

 vey would reveal additional types of communi- 

 ties meriting study. For certain types of 

 problems, of course, the marginal, more accul- 

 turated communities require study, but a fairly 

 complete knowledge of typical Tara.scan culture 

 seems the first need. 



The present study of Cheran reveals a num- 

 ber of points of considerable interest. Perhaps 

 the most striking fact about Cheran is the 

 essentially European origin of most of the 

 culture and the relatively small number of 

 traits of native provenience. Most of the 

 material culture of Cheran is probably 

 European, although obviously some of the 

 plants, including the major crop, maize, is 

 native. Farming techniques, implements, hous- 

 ing, men's clothing (and possibly women's 

 clothing) are Indian only to a slight degree. 

 The economic specialization and trade patterns 

 may be based upon aboriginal conditions, yet 

 they are known to have been formalized by 

 Europeans. Political and ceremonial organi- 

 zation are also European, although in part their 

 origins represent Bishop Vasco de Quiroga's 

 interpretation of Thomas More's "Utopia" 

 (1923) . The extensive compadre system is but 

 an enlargement upon European ideas. The 

 origin of the Tarascan wedding ceremony alone 

 remains obscure and may have important native 

 antecedents. Concepts of the supernatural. 



