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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL AxNTHROPOLOGV— PUBLICATION NO. 5 



causa and chicha near at hand. The standard court 

 is laid out on smooth, hard-packed earth and con- 

 forms to the measurements shown in figure 6. The 

 court is 12 m. long by 3 m. wide and the pla.ver 

 throws his quoit at a target area, made of adobe set 

 flush with the ground surface, whose closest point 

 is 8 m. from the throwing line. The target (raya) 

 itself may take one of four forms, shown in figure 6. 

 The most common is that appearing in the plan of the 

 court. It consists of a longitudinal line bisecting the 

 target area, with a cross line 10 cm. from the farther 

 end. If the disk lands within the target area with- 

 out touching its borders, the player scores one point ; 

 if it lands on the longitudinal line, he scores two 

 points ; and if it lands on the cross of the two lines, 

 he scores four points. Each player has two disks, 

 and part of the game is to prevent one's opponent 

 from scoring by knocking his disk out of the target 

 area while landing one's own disk in scoring position. 

 The game is much more difficult than it appears at 

 first glance. As in other sports, there are many 

 theories and usages regarding techniques : the stance, 

 the wrist motion, the arm motion, and so on, are 

 analyzed in detail by the experts. Individuals may 

 play, each winning his own score, or the game may 

 be played between teams of partners. 



Moche has its tcjos club, which has been granted 

 official recognition by the Prefectura in Trujillo, and 

 has organized a sort of league of clubs in haciendas 

 and communities in the Moche and Chicama Valleys. 

 Tournaments are played and the Moche club posses- 

 ses a collection of loving cups, diplomas, and other 

 trophies won in these tournaments (pi. 18, middle 

 (right)). Considerable pride is shown in the 

 successes of the team, because this is the one activity 

 in which the community possesses recognized leader- 

 ship and prestige throughout the region. During the 

 Peruvian national holidays of 1944, the Moche team 

 accepted a challenge from the team of the Hacienda 

 of Laredo. The preliminaries took on somewhat 

 more solemnity than one would have thought neces- 

 sary, not knowing the importance of tcjos in Moche. 

 The challenge was received in writing, signed and 

 sealed with a rubber stamp by the secretary of the 

 Laredo club. A meeting of the executive committee 

 of the Moche club was called, at which I happened 

 to be present, to discuss the matter ; and the accept- 

 ance was finally sent off, inscribed on the printed 

 letterhead of the Moche club, formally signed and 

 sealed. 



Small boys play marbles, using round choloque 



seeds or factory-made glass marbles. Top spinning 

 is also popular among the very young. The tops are 

 either bought or made at home ; they are of wood 

 with an iron point, and are spun by first winding 

 them around with a length of string, then throwing 

 the top to the ground while holding onto the end of 

 the string. Climbing trees, wrestling, playing on 

 rope swings hung from tree branches, etc., are also 

 among the childish amusements. 



Only males engage in sports. Women do not even 

 play tejos. 



Making string figures on the fingers is a favorite 

 past-time of children. Small girls have dolls, but 

 not invariably. There are probably other childish 

 games which I have not noted. After they are able 

 to walk, most small boys and girls are occupied part 

 of the time with baby watching. They carry the 

 babies about from one part of the arbor or garden 

 to another, using their arms, but one does not see 

 small nurses with babies tied to their backs in 

 blankets walking or standing about for hours at a 

 time as in the Sierra. (See pi. 14, upper (left), 

 for a group of children eating their midday meal 

 together on the ground under the trees.) 



THE CINEMA 



The town has a motion picture theater located 

 one-half block off the central plaza. It is served by 

 a traveling apparatus which comes to Moche about 

 once a month and gives shows every night for a week, 

 carrying its own electrical generating outfit. The 

 theater building is owned by a jorastero. It is a 

 plastered adobe building furnished with wooden 

 benches and chairs, and a booth for the projector. 

 Capacity is about 150 seated patrons. The hall is 

 also used for meetings. The screen is of white cotton 

 sheeting, torn and spotted in several places, and the 

 projector is said to be capable of improvement. 

 Perhaps more interest would be aroused in the 

 movies by better equipment, but at the present time 

 Mocheros are not "movie fans," generally speaking. 



:\IUSIC AND DANCING 



Music appears in the following forms, to consider 

 the instrumental types first. ( 1 ) There are two 

 brass bands in the community, composed of the 

 typical European instruments, such as cornets, tubas, 

 bass drum, etc. These organizations are hired by 

 niayordoinias to lead the parade on saints' days when 

 the image is paraded through the streets, and tliey 



