QUIROGA: a MEXICAN Mtnsricipio — brajstd 



93 



physical characteristics appear in so-called mestizos 

 in many parts of Mexico. This is especially 

 noticeable in a certain dark skin coloration, flaring 

 nostrils and flattened nose, and in a crinldy type 

 of hair. Specifically for northern Michoacan, in 

 the middle of the eighteenth century, important 

 numbers of Negro and mulatto famihes are cited 

 for such towns as Tacambaro, Tzintzuntzan, 

 Indaparapeo, Tarimbaro, Santa Clara, Uruapan, 

 Huango, Chucdndiro, Acuitzio, Angamacutiro, 

 Charo, Maravatio, Taximaroa, Irimbo, Tuxpan, 

 Zitdcuaro, Tlalpujagua, Cuitzeo, Zamoi'a, Sahuayo 

 Jacona, Periban, Jiquilpan, Tlazazalca, La Piedad, 

 Ecuandurco, Atacheo, Patzcuaro, and Valladolid. 

 It should be noted that the Sierra Tarascan 

 villages had few or no negroid families. Appar- 

 ently, in the Negro-white-Indian blend, the negroid 

 characteristics tend to be obscured by those of the 

 other two races, and now the presence of Negro 

 blood normally is not noticeable. However, the 

 writer believes that the great majority of so-called 

 Mexican mestizos possess traces of Negro blood. 

 In this connection, it will be noted that the 

 above list of mulatto surnames in the Quiroga 

 area contains 33 family names which are still 

 current; and also, that several Indian names are 

 involved, such as Cuiris Ponce and Zacapu, and 

 perhaps Alexandre, Conejo, Domingo, Jacobo, 

 etc. The writer recalls some four or five indi- 

 viduals in Quiroga who showed possible negroid 

 physical traits. 



THE INDIAN ELEMENT 



One book in the parish register was set apart for 

 Indians alone. The earliest located covered the 

 years 1788 to 1815. Unfortunately, lack of time 

 prohibited our doing more than scamiing a few 

 pages. The family names ran the gamut from 

 Tarascan, such as Anitan, Querenda, and 

 Tzitziqui, to Spanish names, such as Barriga, 

 Flores, Le6n, Ontiveros, Pena, Rodriguez, and 

 Valdovinos. A third book was for Espaiioles, 

 Mestizos y Coyotes (Spaniards, mestizos, and 

 offspring of Indian-mestizo unions). The earliest 

 volume located for this group covered the years 

 1799 to 1822. 



By the nineteenth century and the end of the 

 Spanish colonial period, Quiroga had developed 

 a surname pattern quite similar to that which 

 obtains today. However, it was still considered 



to be a predominantly Indian pueblo, as indicated 

 in the magnificent report by Martinez de Lejarza 

 (1824), where San Diego Cocupao is termed a 

 village of Indians. During the remainder of the 

 nineteenth century important changes took place. 

 Tarascan ceased to be a live language in Quiroga. 

 The lower part of town was taken over by the 

 mestizos and whites; negroids ceased to be 

 recognized as such; and the old Repiiblica o 

 Comunidad de Indigenas (Republic or Com- 

 munity of Natives; i. e., Indians) lost all of its 

 lands and virtually ceased to exist. However, 

 despite predominance of Spanish surnames, and 

 in spite of the loss of communal lands and of their 

 mother tongue, a majority of the inhabitants of 

 the upper part of town (formerly the Barrio de 

 San Miguel, and now commonly referred to as El 

 Calvario) think of themselves as Indians, and are 

 so considered by the other town inhabitants. 

 Although physically nearly all of the people of 

 El Calvario resemble mestizos, and are no more 

 Indian than an equal or larger number of people 

 in the lower town, they are set apart from and 

 against the remainder of Quiroga in a number of 

 ways (economy, education, local pohtics, religion, 

 etc.) which are discussed in the sections of this 

 report dealing with those matters. 



Since the Madero Revolution, the agrarian 

 ejidal program has revived or strengthened the 

 feeling of apartness from the remainder of the 

 town. The details of this program are discussed 

 in the section on Land Ownership. This program 

 revived the legally extinct Comunidad de Indi- 

 genas. The heads of families who considered 

 themselves and were considered to be of the local 

 Indian stock were granted an agrarian ejido. 

 Practically all of these ejidatarios live in El 

 Calvario; that is, in cuarteles II and III above the 

 streets of El Cuerno and Manuel Doblado, and 

 especially along the Calzada Ramdn Corona. 

 Furthermore, in January of 1946, of the 73 heads 

 of family who are members of the Comunidad 

 Indi'gcna del Calvario, all but five participate in 

 the agrarian program and are ejidatarios. 



EL calvario residents 



We have attempted to show the families that 

 are considered now as Indian families in Quiroga. 

 This attempt is demonstrated in the following list. 

 The names are all of the surnames represented in 



