15U 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY— PUBLICATION NO. 



more for about an hour. If it is a first-class funeral, 

 a coffin and hearse from Trujillo will be involved, 

 and the padre will accompany the procession to the 

 cemetery. If it is a second-class funeral, the coffin 

 will be carried by relatives and ceremonial kinsmen 

 of the deceased. In a second-class funeral the priest, 

 accompanied by a cantor to sing the responses and 

 an altar boy with a censor and a portable holy water 

 font, comes to the house at the appointed time. He 

 annoints the body with holy water dipped from the 

 font with a small wand. He repeats the Latin of the 

 service and the cantor intones the responses. During 

 the whole ceremony the wailing of the women con- 

 tinues, so that the words of the service are usually 

 inaudible. It is bad form for the male mourners to 

 wail ; if the dead person is a close relative a man may 

 allow tears to run down his cheeks, but he does not 

 "carry on" as do the women. 



The religious service in the house lasts about 10 

 minutes, after which the padre and his assistants 

 precipitously leave. Then the coffin is lifted to the 

 shoulders of the bearers — usually only four at a 

 time — and they carry it out of the house and up the 

 street, around the plaza to the door of the church, 

 followed by the mourners and those attracted by 

 curiosity. The general wailing ceases when the 

 coffin leaves the house. Frequently there is quite a 

 wait for the priest to come out of his dwelling. 

 During the whole time the sorrowful tolling of the 

 dobic continues. Finally the padre appears, the right 

 half of the church door is opened, and he reads, 

 book in hand, a few words over the coffin. During 

 the whole time the box has not touched the ground. 

 Then tlie procession starts off down the street for 

 the long walk to the cemetery. If the person is of 

 ordinary good reputation, there may be a crowd of 

 150 or more persons. Some people wear their better 

 clothes, others only workaday garments. The older 

 women wear black shawls around their shoulders 

 (nothing on their heads). The cross which will be 

 set up at the head of the grave is carried by relays 

 of small boys at the head of the coffin. It is a 

 wooden cross, painted black; on the upright arm is 

 painted the date of death, and on the cross arm the 

 name of the deceased. Four dots at each point com- 

 plete the ornament. Various men, relatives and 

 compadrcs, alternate as bearers of the coffin. 



In these processions, humble and quiet, one is 

 struck by the humility of manner, a certain stoicism 

 in the face of death, and a lack of expressed emotion, 



especially by the men. They are simple people fol- 

 lowing the coffin of one of their companions in life 

 to its final resting place. To be sure, there is usually 

 at least one female relative who keeps up a ritual wail- 

 ing: "Mamacita, ay-y-y, q'hc pcrdido mi mamacita," 

 or "Papacita. porquc tc has ido?" — a sorrowful phrase 

 repeated over and over again. 



At the graveside there is no ceremony, but there 

 is considerable delay while the carpenter removes all 

 the silver and tin adonws from the coffin. These 

 usuall}' include a metal crucifix on the top, an embos- 

 sed tin plate on the side reading, "Dcscaiiscs en Paz," 

 and 14 or 15 embossed tin plates of angels, doves, and 

 stars, and silver-looking handles on the sides. These 

 are used on other coffins, ad infinitum. This task 

 completed, the coffin is lowered into the grave. Two 

 men stand inside the grave and receive it from the 

 bearers. They cross themselves, set the box on the 

 bottom of the hole, and, with a hand offered from 

 someone along the margin, hoist themselves out. 

 Then everyone moves up and tries to cast a handful of 

 dirt on the coffin from the two piles lying on either 

 side of the excavation. After a few minutes the com- 

 padrcs get to work with their shovels and the humble 

 people straggle out of the Campo Santo, which the 

 priest did not visit. Some families have adobe or 

 cement vaults above ground, so that the grave digging 

 part of the sequence is not necessary. The older 

 vaults are in disrepair, with not a few loose bones 

 scattered about. (See pis. 25, lozvcr {right) ; 26, cen- 

 ter, upper and lower {right), lozvcr {left), for pic- 

 tures of funeral ;ind cemetery.) 



AFTER DEATH 



Survivors who can afford it usually pay for a mass 

 in the church on the eighth day following death. 

 There are few who pay for masses at regular intervals 

 thereafter, although some do. 



On the eve of All Souls' Day. November 1, the 

 survivors of the dead gather in the cemetery at the 

 respective graves to hold a vclorio. Wreaths of 

 flowers are placed on the graves, candles are set up, 

 and the night is spent in eating, drinking, and re- 

 calling the virtues of the departed. Although souls 

 are supposed to go to purgatory after death, in accord 

 with Catholic doctrine, not a few of the Mocheros en- 

 tertain somewhat hazy beliefs in the persistence of 

 the soul in the neighborhood after death. The house 

 is cleaned out, the walls brushed down or white- 

 washed, and the intimate articles of the deceased 



