MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY'— GII.LIN 



27 



meter or more and to be as big around as a boy's 

 arm. 



The belief has been previously mentioned that 

 each tiiinbo vine also has a serpent guardian. I 

 personally have never succeeded in seeing a snake 

 of any kind in a huerta and therefore am unable 

 to say from direct experience whether this belief is 

 based on materialistic experience, or not. 



Witchcraft ibrujeria) can be used to damage 

 crops as it can be used to do harm to almost any- 

 thing else. Certain individuals are believed to 

 possess the power of casting blights upon crops. 

 By way of illustration, the following two ex- 

 periences are presented, recorded directly from in- 

 formants and checked and approved by others: 



M. K.. an old woman, was known as a witch in the pueblo. 

 But, although it is said that witches cannot enter the church 

 without being struck dead, nevertheless, M. R. regularlj- at- 

 tended church and spoke to all the people. This is regarded 

 as proof of her extraordinary power. One day the old 

 woman fell sick. Her son, with whom she lived in the 

 pueblo, went out in the evening to visit friends, leaving the 

 invalid in the house. Upon returning he found that his 

 mother was gone. He and his family went out searching for 

 her all over town. No one had seen her. After 2 days they 

 received a report from a farmer living near the Huaquita, 

 saying that the old woman had been seen near his chacra — 

 in the form of a cow. How did he know it was she? Be- 

 cause he had hit the cow to force it out of a field, and it had 

 yelled out in human words, "Don't hit me. I am M. R." 

 Also, this farmer had noticed that several days previously 

 his alfalfa crop liad started to wither and go bad. He sud- 

 denly realized that it had been bewitched and that this 

 apparition of the bruja in the form of a cow explained every- 

 thing. The farmer and his sons beat the cow violently with 

 sticks to drive it away, despite its human screams. Two days 

 later the old woman appeared in the town at the house of her 

 son. The story of the farmer about the cow was obviously 

 true, because the old woman bore marks on her back showing 

 that she had been beaten with a stick. .\ few days later she 

 died, as must hapjjen to all transfigured witches discovered 

 in their disguise. 



Everyone consulted obviously believes this stor}', 

 even one of my principal informants, an enlightened 

 "accepted forastero." 



Another story has to do with old J. B. It is said that one 

 day he came to the house of a neighbor, one of my 

 informants. J. B. had a general reputation as a malevolent 

 brujo. or witch, although he does no harm to persons, as a 

 general rule. He asked the wife of my informant if she had 

 any chicha (corn beer). The woman said, "No," rather 

 brusquely. "All right," said J. B., and went away without 

 further comment. It was not more than an hour after his 

 departure before the chicha in the house turned to vinegar, 

 and the ne.xt day a blight appeared upon the field crops. A 

 week or so later J. B. again appeared at the house and asked 



if there were chicha. The lady of the house had drawn her 

 own conclusions and said "Yes, indeed," with alacrity, forc- 

 ing J. B. to drink as much as he could hold. Then she 

 brought up the matter of the blight which had fallen on the 

 crops and the chicha, and asked J. B. tactfully if he could 

 not do something about it. He replied hesitatingly that he 

 would see. She gave him several bottles of chicha to take 

 with him when he left. The next day the blights on chicha 

 and field crops disappeared. This is only one of a number of 

 similar incidents which are supposed, according to one of my 

 informants, to prove tliat J. B. is a witch. 



In summary, it is believed that witches may cast 

 spells on crops and that they may be hired by rivals 

 to do so. Likewise, the victim may seek out another 

 brujo (witch) who may succeed in counteracting the 

 spell, or, on the other hand, the victim may placate 

 the witch and induce him to remove the spell. 



San Isidro the Laborer,^'' whose feast day is 

 Alay 15, is celebrated as the patron of agriculturists. 

 The image of the saint is taken out of the church 

 under the care of a group of devotees (mayordomia) 

 to make a pilgrimage about the countryside, stopping 

 in the houses of those who have raised altars in his 

 honor. People say that the purpose of this journey 

 is "Pa que haga la bendicion en las sicinbras" ("In 

 order that he bless the' crops"). Formerly, it is said, 

 special crops were planted in the plaza for San Isidro, 

 but this custom went out of practice 40 years or 

 more ago. My period of contact did not include 

 the day of San Isidro, so the translation of the 

 written description of one of my informants is quoted : 



The 5th of May, the Saint goes forth from the parochial 

 church en route to the caml>ina where he spends the night at 

 various altars erected by individual families and where also 

 religious ceremonies take place. These frequently turn into 

 carousals (se Ionian en jaranas) and gorgings (comilonas) 

 where the chicha. the liquor of the Incas, flows from gourd 

 to gourd (de poto en [•oto) and from mouth to mouth. Great 

 quantities are consumed until the Sai'nt arrives at an altar 

 near the Huaca del Sol. From that point commences what 

 is known as the "descent of the Saint" (la bajada del Santo) 

 and exactly in the evening of the 14th the Patron of the 

 Croi)S enters the pueblo accompanied by a great crowd which 

 has dressed in its best clothes (de gala) for the occasion. 

 .\ curious note in the celebration is the dance of the Devils 

 (Diablos) who do not cease to dance from the moment of 

 the Saint's entrance until the evening of the 16th, enlivened 

 by drinks (avivados por las copas) and the joy of serving 

 the Saint. A band of musicians welcomes the Saint upon his 

 entrance into the pueblo and he leads the procession to his 

 altar erected beside the church. Covered with flowers, the 

 progress of the Saint is the center of attention for natives 

 and strangers. Afterward come the vespers, which ha\ e two 

 stages, one inside the church and the other outside. The fol- 



* Not to be confused with St. Isidore of Seville, whose feast day 

 is April 4 fCabrol, 1934, pp. liv and 841). 



