MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY'— GILLIN 



95 



there are no restrictions when a woman is nursing 

 a child. 



Mechanical and chemical means of birth control arc 

 unknown, and pregnancy is not uncommon among un- 

 married women. Means are known, however, of pro- 

 ducing abortions. One method explained to me bj- 

 a respected citrandera is the following (reference to 

 some other methods will be found in the cliapter on 

 medicine). A plant called zavarriala, which comes 

 from the Sierra but which can be obtained from herb 

 sellers in the Trujillo market, is used. After about 

 a quart of water has been brought to a boil, a handful 

 of zavarriala is put into it and allowed to steep. The 

 resulting tea is mixed with bees' honey and all of it is 

 swallowed by the patient. This is alleged to ''make 

 the period come when it is stopped" and will produce 

 abortions up to the fifth month, after which any 

 method is unsafe. Quinine is said by this source to be 

 too strong. ''It breaks up the child inside the mother" 

 (Sancoclia la criatura dcntro de la mujer). This 

 woman says she is consulted quite frequently in these 

 matters and that many women and girls know the 

 techniques themselves. If abortion is practiced, it 

 seems to be kept secret from the men, for the latter 

 profess to know little about its methods or the extent 

 to which it occurs. 



There are various indications of the accretion of 

 European attitudes on a simpler, perhaps older cul- 

 tural complex having to do with sex. For example, 

 the disapproval of masturbation seems to be more 

 half-hearted than real. People do not talk about it 

 with the affect so often displayed by Europeans and 

 North Americans. The basic attitude seems to be 

 that it is natural if no other release for the sex drive 

 is present, and informants said it was common among 

 boys under 6 and over 12, the latter sometimes per- 

 forming in groups. Children are not corrected for 

 acts evidencing autoeroticism, but a concession is 

 made to Europeans mores. "Of course it is bad," 

 they say, but children are not lectured on its baleful 

 effects nor hounded to desist. The official attitude is 

 negative, but the basic attitude is one of indifference. 

 The same is true regarding premarital intercourse. 

 Officially, it is disapproved by married people, and 

 there are certain forms of behavior that are supposed 

 to guard against it. But very few parents think that 

 an affair will ruin their daughter's life. As a result 

 of these affairs not a few girls have children, called 

 ninos dc la calle, "children of the street." They are 

 not thrown out of the house or disowned by outraged 

 fathers, nor, in fact, is any serious obstacle put in the 



way of their continued normal social development. If 

 the father of the child is economically suitable to the 

 girl, her parents will try to force the pair into setting 

 up a household together ; if not, the girl and her child 

 continue to live with her parents. Practically all such 

 girls eventually settle down with some man and form 

 a famil}' without any great social stigma attached 

 either to them or to the child. IMen do not disdain to 

 marry or set up a household with an unmarried 

 mother. The main bar to illicit unions is Church dis- 

 approval. The guilt felt on this score, however, is 

 somewhat assuaged by having illegitimate children 

 properly baptized in the church. 



LOVE MAGIC 



There are methods in use for attracting a member 

 of the opposite sex. This procedure is spoken of as 

 cnguayanchar, or simply as bnijar. A professional 

 witch (bnijo) may be employed either to attract the 

 love or desire of a given person to his client, or in 

 cases of unrequited love and jealousy to cause harm 

 to befall the faithless or indifferent lover. I am not 

 completely acquainted with the methods used for at- 

 traction, because the curanderos and briijos with 

 whom I established good contact claimed not to prac- 

 tice it. The baleful love magic uses the same general 

 techniques used to cause harm to anyone, described in 

 tiie section "Native Medicine and Magical Curing." 

 It is said, however, that one can cnguayanchar a piece 

 of clothing of the beloved or other intimate article and 

 thereby arouse his or her desire. A plant called yerba 

 de la scnorita is said to be used in this process.^" 

 Further reference to love magic and similar matters 

 will be found in the section on medicine. 



The standard aphrodisiac in use in Moche and the 

 whole north coast is Imanarpo (Jatropha macran- 

 tha).^^ I have been shown specimens a few times 

 in Moche, but believe that it is relatively Uttle used 

 here. In the general market of Chiclayo I saw 

 several specimens on sale. I do not know what this 

 plant looks like in nature, but the specimens kept in 

 houses or for sale look like a species of dried mush- 

 room. There are two kinds, male and female 

 (macho and hcmbra). The male type has a rather 

 shriveled stalk with a penislike head. The female 

 type has a very short stalk and a large soft head with 

 a fold in the middle, suggestive of a vulva. The 



^*' See Cainino Calderon (l'?42, p. 202, and passiml for reference 

 to this matter in the region of Lamhayecjue. Tlie plot of. this novel 

 turns on love magic whereby a jealous .'Stepmother induces her hus- 

 band's son to commit incest with his half->ister. 



^ Identification given by Valdizan and llaldonado, 1922, vol. 3. 



