9S 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY— PUBLICATION NO. 



groom chooses a padr'ino and the bride a madrina, 

 who act as their sponsors at the church, and who are 

 often older persons. They usually give presents to 

 the couple. After the ceremony in the church, there 

 is a fiesta the first da}- in the house of the groom's 

 parents. The next day there is a fiesta in the house 

 of the bride's parents. The third day the fiesta con- 

 tinues wherever convenient, sometimes in the house 

 of the padriiio. Late at night on the third day the 

 couple go to their own house to live. There is no 

 ceremony of crossing the threshold nor any fiesta in 

 the form of a housewarming. If the house has been 

 recently built, the housewarming fiesta may take place 

 later. The heaviest expense of these celebrations falls 

 on the groom or his family. The feast at their house 

 should include the slaughter of a bullock. This and 

 expenses of clothes, feasts, and priest's fees amount to 

 at least 350 soles, while 500 soles is said to be closer 

 to the average. The economic requirements are suf- 

 ficient to encourage the postponement of many a mar- 

 riage. 



Following is an account of an atypical marriage, 

 which may serve to illustrate some of the attitudes and 

 motivations surrounding marriage. 



I did not get married in the regular way myself. I had 



lived seven or eight years with my coinfancra and had five 



children, when a sudden epidemic of imeumonia carried two 



of them off suddenly. My woman at the time was pregnant. 



She felt very sorrowful about the loss of the children, and 



one day she fainted in the chacra, the result of which was 



that the fetus {fcto) died inside her. She had to be rushed 



to the hospital in Trujillo, where the doctors opened her 



stomach and womb and extracted the dead babv\ It looked 



to me as if she were going to die and I wished to visit her 



and be with her in the hospital. But the nursing mothers 



would not allow me to enter because ! was not married to 



her. They told me that, if we got married, I could come to 



see her. It is said to be improper in the sight of God for 



a man to visit the mother of his children, even when she is on 



the point of death, if he is not married to her. (This was 



said with emotion.) I told them that I would be married 



then and there. That was about 10 a. m. I had to go out 



and get two witnesses {tcsliyos) and a padrino and madrina. 



The mothers got the certificate for me and the banns were 



waived. I got my uncle for padrino because I had no time. 



The priest married us at the side of mj- wife's bed that 



afternoon at 2 o'clock, with the regular service with ring 



and coins. It did not cost me anything, as it would have in 



church. Why didn't I get married before this? Well, I 



was always ashamed of being married in the church, and 



having all iny friends laugh at me as I marched in all dressed 



up. Then there was the question of expense as well. You 



have to have two sets of new clothes, one for the ceremony 



and the other into which you cliange after you leave the 



church. And the man is suj posed to buy the outfits for 



himself and the bride both. Then there is the question of the 



fiesta, the pisco, the chicha, the bullock to be killed, and so 

 on. Since I was left an orphan when I was three years old, 

 I never had any money. 



Marriage, of whatever variety, of course, increases 

 a man's or woman's social resources. In time of 

 trouble or need the "in-laws" will usually do what 

 they can to aid. An individual always is respectful 

 toward his or her parents-in-law but real intitriacy 

 of a cooperative type also often develops between the 

 individual and his in-laws. 



Xo cases of formal annultnent or divorce in Moche 

 are known to me. Effective divorce is accomplished 

 by one or other partner leaving the common dw^elling 

 and refusing to come back to it. Atteinpts are usually 

 made by the respective families and by the cereinonial 

 relatives, especially the marriage padrinos, to effect 

 a reconciliation. If this cannot be accomplished, the 

 estranged spouses usually form another household 

 with other partners in the course of time. 



FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD 



The Moche household normally consists only of a 

 pair of spouses and their untnarried children, who 

 constitute the family (or immediate family). This 

 family group is the only universal functioning group 

 in Moche which is based on blood relationship (actual, 

 potential, or putative). Although some households 

 exist, composed of an older couple or a widowed 

 parent and married children, they are distinctly in the 

 minority and will be discussed below. The woman, 

 as previously mentioned, has effective control of the 

 finances, but the man is always spoken of as "chief 

 of the house" (jcie dc la casa). However, there is 

 no tendency toward patriarchal control by the man, 

 and his formal position as head of the house seems 

 to be in the nature of a concession to Spanish customs. 

 On the contrary, if any tendency of dominance is to 

 be noted, it is in favor of the woman, since she con- 

 trols the finances and the operations of the dwelling 

 itself. Both parents discipline the children, although 

 infants are handled almost exclusively by women. 

 Physical punishment by slapping with the palm of the 

 hand or light switching is used, but not extensively. 

 My data on the everyday details of Moche family life 

 are not as coinplete as desired because I did not live 

 day in and day out, around the clock, with a Moche 

 family. However, informants and persona! observa- 

 tion lead to the impression that the typical family life 

 is tranquil, at least so far as surface manifestations 

 are concerned. There is generally an absence of loud 

 scolding of the children, and discipline would seem 



