MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUMTi— GILLIN 



107 



nurse is usually an unmarried woman or girl. Ex- 

 cept for herself and the child, all the other statuses in 

 the system are occupied by adults. The relationships 

 of all to one another are signalized by the use of 

 terminology. Thus to the child, the nurse is ama 

 de pila. and to the nurse the child is niilo de pila. 

 The godfather is padrino to the child and the god- 

 mother is madrina. To both godparents the child is 

 ahijado (ahijada, if female). To the godfather, the 

 godmother is cotiiadre compaiicra de pila, and to the 

 godmother, the godfather is conipadre companero de 

 pila. In everyday address these terms are sometimes 

 shortened to coinpadre and comadre, but the fact is 

 made plain that this is a special type of compadracgo. 

 A joking relationship exists between these two 

 statuses. The jokes turn on the fact that the two 

 persons can "almost" be considered husband and 

 wife. "Compailero" and "compafiera" mean not 

 only "companion," but in local usage mean "lover" 

 and "mistress" respectively. 



In addition to this coinpadre and this comadre, the 

 system contains a number of other relationships 

 recognized by the ordinary, unadorned terms, co- 

 madre and coinpadre. Thus the godfather and the 

 father are compadres to each other; the godmother 

 and the mother are comadres to each other ; the god- 

 father is coinpadre to the mother, and she is co- 

 viadrc to him ; the godmother is camadre to the 

 father and he is coinpadre to her. The same terms, 

 sex differences considered, then extend to include 

 the godmother's husband, the godfather's wife, and 

 the parents of the nurse. The nurse herself is co- 

 madre to the parents of the child, but her comadre 

 relationship does not extend to other statuses in the 

 system. It will be noted that the child is ahijado 

 only to the actual godparents, not to their spouses or 

 to other stauses of the system. The godfather's wife, 

 when speaking of the child, will usually say, "He is 

 my husband's (or my companion's) godch'.ld (ahi- 

 jado)," but will not attempt to claim the status for 

 herself. 



Finally, the compadrazgo terms generalize to blood 

 relatives of the parents and of the godparents. Thus, 

 brothers and sisters of the parents always stand in 

 this relationship to the godparents and also to the 

 latters' respective brothers and sisters. The relation- 

 ship even extends to cousins of the some generation. 

 Some informants say that it also extends to the 

 grandparents of the child, but in testing this I have 

 never heard a godfather spontaneously call his god- 

 child's grandfather, "compadre." 



We may sum up this matter in our own terms as 

 follows : The baptism of a child creates a sociocul- 

 tural subsystem which we may think of abstractly as 

 a system of statuses. So far as the patterns and 

 customs are concerned, they fall into three groups. 



I. The mental customs consist of the customary 

 ways of "thinking" about the statuses involved, e.g., 

 "what a godparent should be in relation to all the 

 other statuses in the system." 



II. The representational aspects of the system con- 

 sist of a series of ceremonial kinship terms. These 

 terms are used in reciprocal pairs, with sex of the 

 occupant of the status recognized in the terminology. 

 The terms (representational patterns) fall into three 

 general categories, reflecting three types of relation- 

 ships between the statuses involved : ( 1 ) padriiiazgo 

 terms, referring to the relationship between god- 

 parents and godchild: (2) nurse-child terms, refer- 

 ring to the relationship between these two statuses; 

 and (3) coinpadracgo terms. The latter are divided 

 into several subclasses according to falling degrees of 

 intimacy, right, and obligation: (a) first-degree 

 compadre-comadre terms are those in use between 

 the godparents and the mother and father of the child ; 

 {b) second-degree terms refer to the relationships 

 between godfather and godmother; (c) in the third 

 degree are compadre-comadre terms used between 

 parents and godparents, on the one hand, and other 

 statuses in the "core" of the system as represented in 

 figure 7, except the status of child and nurse; {d) 

 fourth-degree terms are those in use between statuses 

 in the core of the system and statuses defined with 

 respect to the core statuses in terms of blood relation- 

 ship, which latter may be considered the "fringes" of 

 the system. 



III. The actional patterns and customs will now be 

 discussed briefly. Individuals are invited to serve as 

 godparents either directly by the father or both 

 parents of the child, or .by an intermediary, usually a 

 brother or close cousin of the father. There is no 

 fixed ceremony of invitation, but it is always done 

 solemnly with a sense of responsibility on both sides, 

 and if the godparent accepts, the parties drink a 

 "copita" of pisco brandy together at the expense of 

 the parents to seal the arrangement. Godparents may 

 be blood relatives, but usually the attempt is made to 

 secure persons who are not relatives of either of the 

 parents. Not only Mocheros, but in these days, 

 trusted jorasteros are chosen. From the point of view 

 of the parents, it is desirable to choose godparents 

 who are financially responsible, if not rich, and also 



