MOCHE; A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY— GILI.IN 



97 



marry the noiw. Tlo Pedro and M. chimed in 

 assuring the father that it was true and thnt every- 

 thing had been done on a strictly honorable basis. 

 The father, enjo\'ing his position, proceeded to 

 harangue them for their secretive methods, their lack 

 of frankness and confidence with him, etc. After he 

 had held forth in this wise for some time, it was 

 next up to Tio Pedro to inquire whether he perceived 

 any objections to the proposed union. The father 

 called in the mother, and they retired into the house 

 for private conversation, leaving the young couple 

 and their agents in an embarrassed silence. Finally 

 the father came back, looking doubtful and annoyed. 

 The girl and her mother withdrew. There followed 

 a long discussion in which Tio Pedro and M. pre- 

 sented the fine points of the novio, his prospects, and 

 the advantages to be expected from so suitable a 

 union, while the father interposed objections and 

 doubts. Finally, there was an agreement on the 

 general proposition, involving also the practical 

 arrangements concerning presents to be made from 

 both families to the couple. The novio was pinned 

 down to commitments regarding his circumstances, 

 plans, and projects. After everything had been 

 agreed. Tio Pedro and M. brought forth their pisco 

 and everyone drank a capita to seal the agreement. 

 The atmosphere immediately changed to one of com- 

 plete good will and affability, the bottle was finished 

 off, and the meeting broke up about 7 :30 a. m. 



This is said to be the only decent way to get a 

 woman, although some couples merely set up house- 

 keeping without consulting the parents of the bride. 

 There is no formal dowry pattern, but the girl's 

 parents, if properly approached, usually expect to 

 contribute something to the impedimenta of the house, 

 and the boy's parents expect to contribute soinething 

 to the stock of tools needed. The question of land 

 and house site is also worked out. The interventors 

 for the groom may include his father, another blood 

 relative, or one of his cornpadres or padrinos. Rela- 

 tives are preferred, because only they usually have 

 authority to speak of economic arrangements involv- 

 ing the boy's family. 



Properly, such a proposal is followed by a formal 

 engagement fiesta with pmirinos. as described in the 

 section on ceremonial kinship (p. Ill), and ultimately 

 it is followed by a church marriage ceremony. In 

 many cases the betrothal and wedding ceremonies are 

 simply omitted or postponed and the couple proceeds 

 to set up housekeeping and to live together at once. 

 Until their own house is ready, they may live with 



either the boy's or the girl's parents, depending on 

 arrangements in each case. 



^rARRI.\GE 



An informal type of marriage, more common than 

 the formal, is accomplished by the couple simply start- 

 ing to live together, as previously mentioned. 



"Marriage" and its derivatives (casauticnto. casar, 

 casado, etc.) have the technical meaning in Moche of 

 a union formally sanctified by the Church. This 

 terininology is often difficult for a North .\merican to 

 grasp at first. He may inquire if Don Fulano is mar- 

 ried ; Fulano will reply that he is not married, that 

 he is a soltcro. Later the North American finds that 

 Fulano has lived in the same house with Maria for 

 the past 20 years and that they have eight children. 

 He begins to wonder whether he heard correctly in 

 the first place or whether his Spanish is failing him. 

 If. after Fulano had said that he was not married, the 

 North American or anyone else iiad asked, "Do you 

 have a compancra?" Fulano would have replied 

 readily in the aftTrmative and would have shown no 

 hesitation in supplying further details. This technical 

 purity in the use of the word "marriage" is, of course, 

 quite common throughout Latin America, and, having 

 passed through the stage of bewilderment in Ecuador 

 and Guatemala, I was prepared for something similar 

 in Moche. 



For sociological purposes, companeros publicly liv- 

 ing together on a permanent basis .-fre married, and in 

 the following section "Family and Household" I call 

 this type of arrangement "customary marriage," and 

 discuss the relation of the various types of marriage 

 to the family structure. Here I shall consider only 

 briefly the formal marriage with benefit of clergy, as 

 follows. 



First the couple must announce their intentions in 

 the gobcrnacion, await the period of the banns, pay 

 a small fee, and secure a certificate properly signed 

 and sealed. From the civil or legal point of view, they 

 are now married. Although some advanced persons 

 in other parts of Peru are satisfied with this, no one 

 in Moche is. The advantage of merely a legal mar- 

 riage is that one can be divorced, but in Moche a mar- 

 riage without the Church ceremony carries with it no 

 prestige and is not satisfying to the bride or her 

 family. The groom is obligated to buy the wedding 

 garments for both himself and the bride, as well as 

 another set of new clothes for the following fiestas. 

 He also pays the priest's fee, which is 12 to 14 soles 

 plus whatever the groom is inclined to add. The 



