MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNlT\'— GILLIN 



51 



gourd plate {mate). She was dressed in an embroidered 

 white blouse with a full dark-blue skirt, with an embroidered 

 petticoat of muslin under it, and she had yams of brown 

 cotton braided into her hair which was twisted around her 

 head in a sort of crown. She was barefoot. The two ladies 

 had to drink a glass of chicha with each of us in turn. 



After we had finished eating, the plates and spoons and 

 glasses were washed in a little cold water poured out into a 

 shallow gourd {male) and then they were dried with the 

 same dirty towel. The pots and pans were not washed. The 

 remaining food was just left in them. 



The Sra. P. and her comadre went next door to attend to 

 the ailing husband, so they brought over the 2-month-old 

 baby for me to play with. It was a fat, smiling, apparently 

 bright child, but dirtier than any I have ever seen. In her 

 ears the dirt was in great cakes, her face was black, and her 

 head was covered with scales. The ladies told me that a 

 baby should never be bathed during its first year. During the 

 second year it is never wise to bathe it in the winter. This 

 one had had one bath about a week before, and, so they said, 

 nearly caught pneumonia, so they would wait until warmer 

 weather or an older age. Its clothes were comparatively 

 clean, hut the child was filthy. 



About 1 :30 in the afternoon Sra. P.'s husband and my 

 husband returned. They brought with them Don V. Tlie 

 senora said that she must immediately prepare a causa, which 

 consisted of fish with onions (pescado enceboUado) . I helped 

 her, and, as a contribution to the entertainment, we sent one 

 of the daughters out for six bottles of beer. Before long, 

 three other men, all compadres of the family, of course, 

 wandered in and were invited to caiisear. By this time the 

 party consisted of the senora and me, her two daughters, her 

 sister, her comadre from next door and the baby, and the 

 three compadres who had dropped in. In addition to the 

 beer, I noticed that the bowl of chicha on the table was filled 

 four times before we left. Don V., who probably had a 

 few copitas before, was slightly drunk and started making 

 mock-serious speeches making fun of various people. We 

 managed to get away about 3 :30, by which time the caiua 

 was going strong and everyone was very merry indeed. 



BUTCHERING 



-Ml meat is supposed to be slaughtered and dressed 

 in the local slaughterhouse, called the carnal.'"' The 

 slaughterhouse is owned by the municipality, which 

 employs a municipal butcher (camalcro). A fee of 

 3 soles is charged for slaughtering and dressing a beef, 

 1 sol for a full-grown pig, and 40 centavos each for 

 sheep. There is a cement floor with a drain running 

 through the middle. Sheep are unceremoniously held 

 with their heads hanging over this drain, and the 

 throat is slit. Blood is collected in tin cans and used 

 to feed ducks as well as to make certain kinds of blood 

 pudding. Blood sausage is unknown here, I am told. 



*^ This word is a widely used terra in the country and appears to be 

 a Peruvianisra. See Arona (1938, p. 113). The Mocheros know the 

 word matadetv, but do not use it except when explaining to a gringo 

 what a carnal is. 



A beef is tied with a rope around the horns to an iron 

 ring set into the cement floor. The butcher sticks it 

 with the point of a sharp knife just behind the horns, 

 as in a method of despatching bulls in bull rings. This 

 seems to paralyze the animal, but docs not kill it. The 

 k-illing is done by slitting the arteries of the neck al- 

 lowing the animal to bleed to death, while the blood 

 is collected in tin cans. Sheep make no noise when 

 their throats are cut, other than three or four very 

 profound sighs as the air leaves the lungs. Pigs are 

 hamstrung before their throats are slit. 



Carcasses are immediately skinned and hung up. 

 The meat not needed in the owner's household is sold 

 to the local meat shops {carnecerias) and to vendors 

 in the markets. In both cases it is displayed, hung 

 from hooks over head, or laid out on wooden tables. 



Nothing is thrown away. Even the intestines are 

 sold for soup and meat {mondongo). The intestines 

 are frequently cut into thin slices or shreds and fried, 

 somewhat after the manner of making chitterlings. A 

 local meat seller said that bull's penis is particularly 

 good to eat if the animal is young, not when it is old. 

 When from a young animal it is "puro nerzno," and 

 gives one strength if he is run down or nervous. This 

 is a curious belief in the realm of contagious magic, 

 which, however, is not completely diflFused throughout 

 the community. Some persons had never heard of it. 

 Beef penis is, however, generally eaten, regardless of 

 its alleged powers, and most frequently appears in 

 saiKOchado. Bulls' testicles are much prized in san- 

 cocliado as well. 



In Moche — and this is true in most of Peru — there 

 is little attention given to butcher's cuts of meat. It 

 is generally cut or hacked into hunks, regardless of 

 the part of the carcass from which it is taken. Chops 

 or cutlets are unknown as such in Mochc. Lonto is 

 practically the only recognized "cut," but it is only 

 a flat piece of meat which can be fried or broiled like 

 a beefsteak. It may be taken from any part of the 

 animal, from the rump to the shoulders, and it may 

 represent either a cut across the fibers or along them. 

 Most meat is prepared either guizado or sancochado. 

 Both processes make use of hunks or cubes of meat, 

 regardless of cut. Thin slices of meat {came 

 mcchada) are cut from boiled joints and served cold 

 in sandwiches. 



So far as I know, there is no manufacture of ham 

 or bacon in Moche and no consumption of these prod- 

 ucts. Sausage is made, by a local jorastero butcher, 

 for sale in Trujillo, but little is consumed by 

 Mocheros. The only means of preserving meat of 



