MOCHE: A PERUVIANI COASTAL COMMUXTTi'— GILLIN 



149 



delivered to the Devil in return for silver plate, of 

 ■. h formerly this house possessed a great deal. 



Young R. is said to have died after having met the Devil. 

 S. C, his cousin, was in an argument with him about land. 

 Young R. was in the disputed chacra on Good Friday. This 

 land he had acquired from S. C, but they were having an 

 argument about it. S. C, unknown to R. at the time the 

 deal was consummated, had previously promised the land to 

 the Devil in return for money which he had received some 

 years previously. On this Good Friday the term of the 

 pact with the Devil was ended and the Devil came to 

 obtain the land from S. C. Instead he found young R. on 

 the land and young R. saw him. He appeared in the form 

 of a well-dressed man. As soon as R. realized who it was 

 who was asking him for the land and why, he fell down 

 with a sitsto. He was sick for a long time thereafter. None 

 of the regular cures for susto did him any good, and in the 

 end he died. 



G. worked for J. A. as a herder and had taken some 

 animals to the winter pasture on the other side of the 

 Cerros. There is a water hole there which has to be dug 

 out repeatedly. One day G. started to dig for water in a 

 new place, only to find that the ground was solid rock. 

 Suddenly he looked up and saw an elegantly dressed white 

 man before him. G. was ashamed because he was so [xjorly 

 dressed in comparison with the stranger. The newcomer 

 told G. that he could not expect to find water there, but 

 that if G. would deliver to him his soul, he, the stranger, 

 would arrange ample water and pasture. G. realized that 

 he was talking to the Devil, and immediately rounded up 

 his animals and took them back to the Moche camp-iiia. 



DEATH IN MOCHE 



HARBINGERS OF DE.\TH 



The hooting of an owl near a house is an omen of 

 an impending death. "Le canto la pacapaca" 

 (Ouechua, owl) is a way of saying, "His hour has 

 struck." The Spanish word Icchiiza is also used. 

 The firefly {liicicrnaga) is likewise believed to 

 announce that someone is dying or is about to die. 

 The black cat, the tolcdo bird, the chicliy bird, and 

 the sparrow are also regarded as harbingers of death 

 or disasters. Apparently the association of the owl 

 with death goes back to Mochica times, according to 

 the material on display in the Museo Arqueologico 

 "Rafael Larco Herrera." Numerous vases with 

 representation of owls associated with what seem 

 to be cadavers are extant. 



PREPARATIONS FOR THE FUNERAL 



When a person succumbs, there are a number of 

 things to be done at once, and the relatives and 

 compadres of the deceased gather at the house to 

 assist. Death is announced by tolling the doblc from 

 the bells of the church — two short strokes together, 

 repeated over and over for about an hour. Small 



boys do this without pay. The word runs about the 

 town and countryside that so-and-so has died, and 

 those who feel obligated or wish to help gather at 

 the house. The body must be laid out. It is usually 

 not bathed completely, but the face, feet, and hands 

 are washed. It is laid on a wooden table in one of 

 the interior rooins of the house, on its back, either 

 dressed or wrapped in a blanket, feet together, hands 

 folded on chest, a white cloth over the face. A small 

 cross made of carrizo is placed upright in the folded 

 fingers of the hands. Embalming is not practiced in 

 Moche, and by law the dead must be entoinbed 

 within 24 hours after death. Next, word must be 

 sent to Don T., one of the local carpenters who 

 specializes in coffins and funeral trappings. He has 

 a supply of black hangings and coffin ornaments. A 

 good coffin in Moche costs about 80 soles. They can 

 be had as cheap as 30 soles. Don T. acts as funeral 

 director, and usually appears in a fresh white ill- 

 fitting cotton suit. As soon as the coffin is brought 

 to the house, a few old clothes are placed in the 

 bottom of it, the body is lifted in, and the coffin is set 

 on the table. It is no longer customary to bury all 

 the deceased's belongings with him as in former 

 times. By this time a fairly large group of friends 

 and relatives has gathered for the z'clorio or wake. 

 A black cloth with silver stars on it hangs on the wall 

 at the head of the coffin and eight candles are set 

 up on the table and lighted, one at each corner of the 

 coffin and one in the center of each side. The female 

 attendants have long since begun a inonotonous 

 weeping and wailing. There are no professional 

 mourners {lloronas) in Aloche, but older women 

 who come to wail will be provided with food and 

 drink. 



The ne.xt thing to plan is that the male relatives 

 and compadres organize themselves in a minga to 

 dig the grave or to prepare the tomb, if an adobe or 

 cement toinb belongs to the family. The surviving 

 spouse, or responsible head of the deceased's family, 

 has obtained a burial certificate from the Municipali- 

 dad (2 soles for adults, 1 sol for children), and will 

 provide food and drink for the gravediggers. The 

 night following the death the velorio is held in the 

 house. The guests speak of the character and per- 

 sonality of the dead person and imbibe clticha and 

 food. Sometimes the affair becomes rather animated. 



THE FUNERAL 



Next day at the hour the procession to the 

 cemetery is to take place, the dohlc is tolled once 



