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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY— PUBLICATION NO. 



The brew is stored in botijas^^ (large jars trom 

 Pisco) and ladled out with a small gourd called a 

 cojodito ("little lame one") into a large goiu'd called 

 a ^oto. Then the single cojodito serves as the drink- 

 ing vessel for all who may be present. The affecta- 

 tion of certain more "modernized" Mocheros of 

 serving the drink in a glass tumbler serves only to 

 render visible the slime left by many mouths on the 

 rim. 



The etiquette is as follows. The host or hostess 

 dips out a cojodito full of the drink, saying, usually, 

 "A vcr, que ustcd tome coninigo" (Look, drink with 

 me ) . Frequently, this is shortened to merely, "A 

 ver." Sometimes it takes the form of "A ver, saliid, 

 plies," or "One dice? A ver." The phrase of in- 

 vitation is accompanied by a bow toward the guest 

 and a raising of the cup to the mouth, followed by 

 draining the contents at once. It is a gross insult to 

 refuse an invitation of this sort and implies, as a 

 refusal to shake hands among ourselves, that the 

 guest wishes to have no social relations with the 

 offerer of the drink. After swallowing the liquor, 

 the host or proposer again fills the cup and passes it 

 to the invitee or guest. The latter then makes a 

 similar proposal to someone else present ; the latter 

 person, after draining the cup, then proposes to 

 another, and the process is repeated. If one is a 

 guest at a home or a fiesta, one must "drink with" 

 every other person present in this manner ; and 

 minor quarrels sometimes occur because one person 

 has overlooked this salutation to someone else 

 present. The customary reticence of the Mocheros 

 disappears as the bowl makes the rounds, and singing 

 and dancing begin, together with the constant eating 

 and drinking. Food is spread on the table and, after 

 everyone has sat down to eat, there is usually a good 

 deal of toasting. The general effect is often 

 heightened by a few small glasses (co pitas) of pisco 

 brandy, or, more commonly, canaso (drinking alco- 

 hol distilled from sugarcane juice). Among the 

 more common toasts are the following : 



.4 I'yoporcion del Intrro son tos capach.os. 



(The capachos — rawhide containers fastened on pack 

 saddles — are selected in proportion to the size oC 

 the donkey, i. e.. Sfmie people can drink more than 

 others.) 



3^ T!ie botija "lias .i y.Trd .Tilil a half of hci.yht anil a half-yard wi<lcst 

 dianietcr; it lias the form of an inverted cone; it contains 23^3 regular 

 fia5k.> (fiascos), and in tliem (the botijas) are sent to the kingdoms 

 of Tierra Firine, GuatemahH and New Spain, the wine, agtiardiente, 

 olives and other things." Quoted by Valdizdn (1938, vol. 2, p. 187) 

 from Alcedo. Diccionario de Pcruanismos. Guanian Poma de Ayala 

 (I'j'.) also u-e- the word. 



Paz para el alma, salud para el cuerpo. 



(Peace for the spirit and health for the body.) 



Jesus, te ini-oco que eslo para mi es poeo. 

 (This is not too much for me.) 



SahV compd'. Mi amor se va con listed. 



(Healtli, compadre, my love goes with you.) Reply: 

 Esta y otra, lo que siento es la demora. (This one 

 and another, what I don't like is the delay.) 



Tres cantos tiene la aicula. 



(The do\e has three songs, i. e., the woman serving 

 the drink has three drinks for me.) 



Tomar y toniemos 



con gran placer y contento, 



y si no juere asi, 



sc Ic fusile al moiuento. 



(To drink, let us drink with great pleasure and happi- 

 ness, and, if it were not so, one would be shot im- 

 mediately.) 



Lsta capita de chiinoy 



tome ahora porque contigo me voy. 



(Chimoy is said to be the old name for Trujillo; 



translation: take this cup of Trujillo liquor, because 



I am going away with you now.) 



No hay primara sin scgunda. 

 (One is no good without a second.) 



A man arriving at a house and wanting a drink 

 will often use the phrase, "Seco, lavao, y voltedo," 

 (I am dry, washed, and upset). 



The present writer is not sufficiently acqtiainted 

 with rural drinking customs in other parts of Peru 

 to know, but he believes that these toasts, except for 

 the pronunciation, are not unique to Moche, but are 

 fairly common throughout the country. 



A strong prejudice against factory-made beer 

 (ccrveza) exists in Moche. There is a brewery in 

 Trujillo which produces both light beer and dark 

 beer, which experts say are of good quality and 

 which sell for about 50 centavos (7)-2 cents in United 

 States money) per liter in bottles. This price com- 

 pares with 10 to 15 centavos per bottle for chicha 

 and may have something to do with the prejudice, 

 which in the main, however, seems to be a matter 

 of taste reinforced by traditional beliefs. As a sign 

 of ostentatious spending and to humor a foraslero 

 friend, a Mochcro will order some beer from the 

 shop and will drink it, but he actually does not like 

 it as well as cliicha. Not only is beer felt to be 

 tasteless or disagreeable, but it is believed to be 

 dangerous. ]\Iany ailments are said to be brought on 

 by light beer, colds and other respiratory troubles in 

 particular. Added to this is the general belief that 

 brewery beer contains arsenic as a preservative. 



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