34 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — ^PUBLICATION NO. 1 1 



ZIRANDANGACHO 



The former pueblo of Zirandangacho (Tziran- 

 dangacho, Tzirandangatzio, Cerandacho, Sirand- 

 agacho, Serandanguacho, etc., in various docu- 

 ments) at present scarcely deserves the title of 

 rancho. Situated less than a mile southeast from 

 Quiroga, at an elevation of 2,042 meters, Zirand- 

 angacho is hardly more than a slightly removed 

 suburb. All of the farmlands are owned by a 

 Quiroga family (the Barriga brothers) and a 

 Morelia family (the intermarried Villanueva- 

 Villasenor-Zamudio group), and the residents in 

 the rancho settlement are little more than the 

 laborers on the adjacent farms. The present 

 community of Zirandangacho is located where a 

 ridge extending south from the Cerro Tucurullo 

 intersects the Llano de Tzintzuntzan, and the 

 exact location along this line of intersection was 

 determined by the presence of an excellent spring 

 a few rods out from the base of the ridge. That 

 this area contained the former pueblo of Zu-and- 

 angacho is indicated by the many potsherds, 

 artifacts, and burials that occiu- along the slopes 

 and in the llano immediately to the north of the 

 present settlement. Fiu-thermore, the many little 

 springs and marshy areas between Zirandangacho 

 and the Aii'oyo del Cerro Azul toward the west 

 coincide with the 1603 complaint that the lands 

 of this pueblo were swampy or exhausted. This 

 Pueblo de Zirandangacho (under many variants 

 of the name) was the most mentioned in the records 

 of the sixteenth century of any of the settlements 

 within our area of study. Apparently a combina- 

 tion of loss of population from epidemics and loss 

 of lands tlu'ough encroachment of whites reduced 

 the community by 1 603 to a condition of insignifi- 

 cance from which it never has recovered. The 

 chapel which existed in the early colonial period 

 when Zirandangacho was a visita of Tzintzuntzan 

 has been in ruins for more than a century, and 

 little more remains to indicate its former existence 

 than an open rectangle at the margin of the llano 

 (La Plazuela de Zu-andangacho) outlined by large 

 and old ash, cypress, and avocado trees. There is 

 but one mulberry tree, and a predio known as El 

 Moral, to recall the presumptive origin of the 

 name ziran anacho (where there is the small mul- 

 berry tree). Since May 3 is the main day oi fiesta 

 for Zirandangacho, the assumption is that the 



avocation of the pueblo and chapel was Santa 

 Cruz. 



Since all the heads of family are either laborers 

 (4) or share croppers (5) for Barriga or Zamudio, 

 and only 3 own solares in Zirandangacho, it is 

 rather pointless to outline the boundary of the 

 rancho or to detail the economy. Koughly speak- 

 ing, the lands owned by the Barriga and the 

 Villaneuva-Villasenor-Zamudio which are imme- 

 diately around the settlement can be considered 

 a part of the rancho. The crops raised and the 

 livestock run on these holdings are considered 

 under Quiroga. The settlement itself consists of 

 the ruins of some 20 adobe and stone structures, 

 and 7 houses — all of which are 1 story of adobe 

 with tiled roofs of dos agus. Included in the 

 population are the 2 families of employees of 

 Leonardo Zamudio who live in a 2-story house 

 near some corrals at a distance to the southeast 

 and in a small house near the main storage barn 

 or jacal and a tlireshing floor. The total popula- 

 tion in 1945 was 52; in 1940, 24; in 1930, 34; in 

 1921, 24; and in 1900 it was 72. There is no 

 chapel, store or tendajon, or school, and all of the 

 inhabitants are illiterate. The water used is 

 carried from the sprmg, which has a strong run-off 

 and is used also to water hvestock, for washing 

 clothes, and to irrigate some nearby wheat fields. 

 Formerly Coronel Villanueva hrigated an alfalfa 

 patch with these waters. On and around their 

 small house plots the inhabitants keep a few 

 animals, such as 22 hens and roosters, 4 turkeys, 



2 pigeons, 4 cows and calves, 1 pig, 3 burros, 5 

 horses, 43 beehives, and 11 dogs and 2 cats. As 

 was true for La Tirimicua, these figures are too 

 low. In the settlement there are a number of 

 willow trees by the spring, a scattering of 29 

 peach trees, 6 lemons, 5 cypresses, 3 white zapotes, 



3 avocados, numerous ash trees around the plazuela 

 and along the highway, many agaves and cactuses 

 along the fences and over the hillside, etc. The 

 highway which passes between the settlement and 

 the spring formerly was of great importance, since 

 from 1886 until the revolution most of the move- 

 ment of goods into and out from Quiroga passed 

 along this highway which led to the railroad station 

 of Chapultepec some 7 miles distant. Among the 

 luxuries present in Zirandangacho were three sew- 

 ing machines, one wooden bed, one cot, one maize 

 mill, and about a dozen flower pots with 

 "geraniums." 



