MOCHE: A PERUVIAN COASTAL COMMUNITY— GILLIN 



111 



The type for which madrinas serve are blessed and 

 are bought from the Carmelite monastery in Trujillo. 

 People may be sitting around talking and one of the 

 women will notice a child of the house playing about. 

 She will say, "Voy a ser madrina de escapnlarios, 

 porque quiero echar escapularios a este cliico." She 

 then goes to Trujillo, returns with the scapulars, and 

 in a small fiesta drapes them around the child's neck. 

 There are usually two or more and they are supposed 

 to ward off various types of misfortune. 



Betrothals are announced at a fiesta at which the 

 couple exchange rings, and publicly plight their 

 troth, usually with the announcement of the date on 

 which the church ceremony will take place. The 

 man chooses the padrino and the girl chooses the 

 madrina who act as sponsors before the guests. The 

 padrinos are usually older than the betrothed couple. 

 Even when this ceremony is not followed by the 

 church ritual, the couple are regarded as having done 

 the honorable thing by thus publicly announcing 

 their intentions. 



A wedding performed by the priest is a serious 

 business because it is permanent and because it is 

 expensive. The groom chooses a padrino and the 

 bride a madrina, who function respectively somewhat 

 as do best man and bridesmaid or matron of 

 honor in North America. They have no obligations 

 other than to give presents to the couple and in case 

 of subsequent marital difficulty to try to patch mat- 

 ters up. The latter function, however, is apparently 

 often evaded. 



May is "the month of the crosses" during which 

 the crosses set up in the countryside for the past year 

 are taken down and renewed. Some crosses are 

 cared for by an individual and others by a small 

 group or mayordoinia, but in either case a padrino 

 and madrina are required to supervise the lowering 

 of the cross. The man in charge (dticno) places a 

 plate or mate before the cross, in which the padrino 

 deposits his contribution, followed by the madrina 

 and the other guests. After the lowering of the cross, 

 a party takes place at the house and at the expense 

 of the duefio or of him and his group. The funds 

 collected are supposed to be used for the refurbishing 

 of the cross. 



At Christmas time some houses set up small altars 

 in the house in front of which is laid out a miniature 

 tableau of the Nativity, composed of toy animals, 

 figures, a manger, etc., either made at home or, more 

 usually, bought in the Trujillo stores. This is called 

 the Altar del Xaciiniento del Hijo de Dins (Altar 



of the Nativity). On January 6 these altars are 

 taken down (bajan los al tares) and put away for 

 the next year. Padrinos and fiestas are required. 



The padrinos of the housewarming fiesta are usu- 

 ally expected to furnish chicha or a piece of furniture 

 for the house. Other guests likewise bring small 

 gifts. 



Occasionally a family wishes to have a party with- 

 out having to pay for it. They get a botiia full of 

 chicha and cover the mouth with paper or cloth. 

 Then the husband goes out to find a padrino or 

 madrina or both, and to gather in their friends. The 

 padrino pays a propina of a sol or two for the 

 privilege of broaching the botija, after which every- 

 one else present lays some change on the collection 

 plate and the party proceeds to become inebriated. 

 Anyone who serves as padrino becomes compadre 

 with the husband and wife of the house, but is usu- 

 ally referred to expressly as compadre de botija and 

 with a laugh of pleasant reminiscence. 



In the carnival type of compadres, there are no 

 padrinos. 



It should not be supposed that every individual of 

 proper age in Moche has padrinos, ahijados, and com- 

 padres of all the types mentioned above. Although 

 it confers great prestige to be a padrino often, it costs 

 monev and time. Likewise, many families cannot 

 afford to put all their children through all the crisis 

 ceremonies. The solution is to drop out some of the 

 ceremonies (baptism is, however, never omitted) and 

 to double up on others, i.e., to have 1 set of padrinos 

 and 1 fiesta for 2 or more children at the same time. 

 However, everyone has passed through some of these 

 ceremonies, and through the extension of the ter- 

 minology and behavior characteristic of the system he 

 is provided with a sizable group of ceremonial kins- 

 men. One of my informants is a poor man. He is an 

 orphan without land or other inheritance, and he 

 works in Salaverrj^ as a stevedore. Yet he is able to 

 call the names of 27 living compadres and comadres 

 without difficulty, and by thinking a w^hile can recall 

 1 1 others. He also has 7 padrinos and madrinas. 

 Among all his comadres and compadres, only 2 are 

 blood relatives (2 aunts) and none are affinal rela- 

 tives. Among his padrinos none are blood relatives, 

 and only 1 madrina (a godmother of baptism) is a 

 blood relative (an aunt). Among his comadres and 

 compadres are: The 2 midwives (partcras) who de- 

 livered his 7 children; 13 compadres-comadres de 

 baittiso (several of the children were baptized in pairs 

 to save money, the same padrinos serving both) ; 3 



