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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY— PUBLICATION NO. 3 



reversal of the evil influence which he has produced 

 in the health of the patient. It is partly for this reason 

 that seances are held at night and in secrecy, so that 

 the rival brujos and the individuals who have em- 

 ployed them to do harm to the patients may not learn 

 that their evil work is about to be undone. 



Seances may be held for the benefit of two or 

 more patients, but the following description is in 

 terms of one patient. These affairs can take place 

 only on Tuesday or Friday. 



The seance may take place either in the house or 

 in the open. In the former case, the brujo sets up 

 the iiu-sa so that he is facing the door which is left 

 wide open, so that he may see the approach of the 

 shadowy forms of the counter influences, and with 

 his back against the wall. In the open the affair 

 takes place in a secluded spot. The brujo is called 

 the maestro de la mesa or simply maestro (master), 

 and is aided by two assistants, called alcadorcs 

 (literally "raisers"). The latter are sometimes 

 vnung men "studying" to be brujos themselves. The 

 assistants and the master form a team which always 

 works together, and the assistants each are paid an 

 agreed sum from the fees obtained by the master for 

 the treatment. In the team I know personally, one 

 of the assistants is a man in his fifties who has been 

 working with this master for the past 20 years. The 

 other is his son, about 20 years old, who has been 

 working at this profession for about 3 years and 

 hopes to become a master himself in the course of 

 time. The older assistant is the father of the woman 

 with whom the master lives, but was the master's 

 assistant before this household was set up, and in 

 the affairs of brujeria at least, is thoroughly sub- 

 ordinated to the master at all times. 



The mesa must be set out and ready to operate at 

 9 p. m. The master kneels on the floor or ground 

 with his back against a wall, if possible. First he 

 says the phrase of invocation in a pious voice, "Al 

 noinbre del Padre, del Hijo y del Espiritu Santo." 

 Then he begins the proceedings by laying out the 

 white cloth and sticking the protective dagger 

 (pnilal) in the ground at the opposite end and with 

 the blade facing outward. Then he proceeds to take 

 the various articles which compose the content of 

 the mesa one by one from an alforja and to set them 

 out in their proper places on the cloth. The two 

 pictures of the saints are first set up against a bottle 

 of alcohol, and the other articles are then laid out in 

 their proper places. The two assistants stand, 

 crouch, or kneel facing him on the other side of the 



mesa. All three members of the team should have I 

 lit-en on a diet for 3 days previous to the seance. , 

 They cannot eat cow meat during this period, only: 

 mutton, garbancos, rice, and vegetables which stand 

 up off the ground, nothing which touches the ground 

 while growing, such as potatoes, sweetpotatoes, etc. 

 They are not to eat bread or pastry made with 

 shortening, or to drink milk. The patient likewise is 

 su]>posed to have dieted for 3 days during which he 

 eats no meat and partakes only of "cold" foods. ( See 

 classification, pp. 53-54). Also, great care must be 

 taken that the patient's food is prepared separately 

 from that of other persons. The pot must be con- 

 tinually watched, for, if any of the contents boils over 

 or spills on the ground or in the fire, the patient will 

 l)e seriously harmed. 



The patient lies or sits facing the master and 

 behind and to one side of the assistants, alone or 

 accompanied by one or two friends or relatives. The 

 affair begins with the light of a candle, and the first 

 step is for the assistants to "raise the table" (levan- 

 tar la mesa). This "raising" procedure is the 

 principal activity of the assistants and recurs at 

 intervals throughout the seance. It consists of 

 snuffing up through the nostrils an alcoholic liquid 

 contained in a flat sea shell. The master takes two 

 of the smooth sea shells (Xos. 30-32; see list, p. 124, 

 and fig. 8) and places them before him. He pours 

 into each about a tablespoonful of canaso from the 

 bottle (No. 3). Then he pours in about a teaspoon- 

 ful of agua de fiorida (No. 47) and finally adds a 

 few drops of jasmine perfume (No. 50). This 

 process of mixing is repeated each time a "raising" 

 takes place during the seance. The assistants now 

 proceed to "raise the table, one hand to each side." 

 They both kneel on the floor and place their respec- 

 ti\-e shells full of the mixture before them. Then, in 

 unison, each takes his shell in his right hand, bows 

 down with his face to the ground so as to place his 

 nose against the edge and takes a large sniff through 

 the right nostril. Then, in unison, they raise the 

 head and the shells about 6 inches and take another 

 sniff, thus continuing in a slightly higher position 

 each time until they are kneeling upright. Then, 

 each raises his right knee, with his left knee still on 

 the ground, and takes another sniff; then they get 

 to their feet, and so on until they are completely 

 upright and all the liquid has been snuffed into the 

 right nostril and swallowed. The process is then 

 repeated, using the left nostril, the left hand, and 

 raising the left knee before the right knee. This 



