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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY— PUBLICATION NO. 3 



scandalized by the requirements and the costs which this 

 expert laid upon her. First and last it cost her about 100 

 soles ($15.30) to have her baby, and the profesora was always 

 coming around before the birth, prescribing clean sheets for 

 the bed, a mountain of paraphernalia for the delivery (which 

 took place in the house), many "useless" medicines, and so 

 on. In the opinion of the senora such fussiness is entirely 

 unnecessary and nothing but an aflectation and excuse for 

 getting money out of poor women. If she ever allows her- 

 self to get involved with a f-rofcsora again, she knows that 

 she will be ready for the manicomio (insane asylum). The 

 Moche midwivcs are (luite good enough for her or for any 

 self-respecting woman, she says. 



LAY CURING 



Many of the remedies in the list (p. 139) are used 

 by ordinary laymen and women just as North Ameri- 

 cans use household or old wives' remedies. We shall 

 omit further description of these therapeutic meas- 

 ures, contenting ourselves with a brief discussion of 

 chucaqtic and secrctos. 



CHUCAQUE 



A certain complex of rather vague symptoms is 

 called chucaqitc. In general, it is a feeling of "being 

 out of sorts"; one feels a slight stififness in the mus- 

 cles, may have an upset stomach with a feeling of 

 nausea, a slight headache, and the like. It generally 

 appears after a shock of some sort which produces ego 

 deflation or an upset of the emotional balance. For 

 example, one of my informants fell ofl: his horse while 

 riding with me and some other men back from a visit 

 to the \cainpma. This embarrassed him. Next day he 

 felt bad until given the treatment for chucaque. 

 Although it is described in the literature as precipi- 

 tated by "shame" {vergiicnca),''^ the word was never 

 used in describing or discussing the condition by my 

 friends in Moche. 



In Moche all adult men are able to cure chucaque, 

 although some are better at it than others. The 

 treatment which might be called the native version of 

 chiropraxis or osteopathy is as follows : ( 1 ) The 

 patient is given a general massage of the face, back 



" Camino Calderon (19^2, p. 201) states; "In Arequipa they call 

 Trocadura that which in the north is called Chucaque. It consists in 

 the malaise (malcslar) produced by a feelinjj of shame (,z'crgiie7ica)." 

 In Lima it is called pa''0 (fear). According to Valdizan and Maldo- 

 nado (1922, vol. 1, p. 102), chucaque is especially widespread in the 

 north, in the Departments of Piura, Lambayeque, La Libertad, and 

 Cajamarca. They speak of it as a syndrome found in a person who 

 has suffered strong shame ivergiienza) : vomiting, diarrhea, pains in 

 the stomach. They give the treatment as follows. Head is massaKcd 

 with open palms of the curer. He spits on the hair of the patient 

 several times in several directions. Then he rolls a lock of hair in 

 thumb and index hair and pulls it out with a cracking noise, which 

 "breaks the chucaque." Then both ears are jerked downward. After- 

 ward the patient drinks an infusion of the leaves of chileiw and the 

 ashes of toccryu dissolved in water. 



of the neck, shoulders, arms and trunk, without 

 removing his clothes. The curer uses only his bare 

 hands. (2) The patient's arms are folded across 

 his diaphragm tightly, so that a hand protrudes on 

 each side. The operator stands behind the patient. 

 With his right hand, he grasps the patient's left, and 

 with his left hand grasps the patient's right hand. 

 Now he pulls hard with both arms so that the 

 patient's folded arms are pulled tightly across his 

 trunk. Then with a swift series of jerks the patient 

 is lifted off his feet and bent backward sharply by the 

 operator. Usually the operator places his knee in 

 the small of the patient's back and continues jerking 

 until there is a cracking sound in the patient's 

 vertebral column. (3) Next the operator, still 

 standing behind the patient, places his right palm 

 open against the lower right jaw of the patient and 

 his left hand is held in position to steady the patient's 

 head while, in a series of quick jerks, the right hand 

 rotates the patient's head sharply several times to the 

 left until a cracking noise comes from the neck. This 

 is repeated in complementary fashion on the other 

 side until the "neck cracks." 



Brutal as this treatment may sound, it has a sooth- 

 ing and relaxing effect, as I can personally testify. 

 Psychologically speaking, I can only surmise that the 

 treatment serves to shock the patient out of his 

 feeling of inferiority or anxiety by reducing his 

 internal tensions. Whatever may be the internal 

 neurological and physiological mechanisms involved, 

 the patient usually loses his physical symptoms as 

 well as his anxiety feeling. He drinks a glass or two 

 of pisco with his curer and the whole thing is for- 

 gotten. Men perform these cures for each other 

 without payment. However, it is believed that 

 chucaque must be cured without delay ; otherwise it 

 will persist and become worse. 



SECRETOS 



Secrctos are of two types, children's and adults'. 

 They are made of woolen yarn. Small babies have a 

 red yarn tied around the left ankle. It is believed 

 to prevent empiijes, such as those which produce 

 umbilical hernia. Such strains are caused by a 

 particular type of evil influence which menstruating 

 women, especially, exude, and the secreto prevents 

 the entrance of this power into the child's body. 

 Cords of any color are worn by grown persons on the 

 wrist or above the elbow to prevent "cramps" (ca- 

 lambres), and it is stoutly maintained that they are 

 very effective. 



