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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — ^PUBLICATION NO. 1 1 



part of the jaripeos (something like a rodeo of the 

 Southwestern United States) held in a plaza 

 between Ram6n Corona and La Have. Formerly 

 Quiroga had an elaborate arena or pit for cock 

 fighting, but now the sport is in a decline and only 

 occasional matches are held between local birds 

 and with foreign birds in connection with the more 

 important festivals and fairs of the region. There 

 are several owners of fighting cocks in Quiroga. 



Sporadic entertainment is provided by traveling 

 theaters, carnivals, circuses, and other shows, 

 although most of the traveling shows stop in Morelia, 

 Patzcuaro, and Zacapu, and consider Quiroga too 

 small to justify even a one day or night stand. 

 The schools, religious gi-oups, and other local 

 organizations put on a number of pageants and 

 plays each year — mainly in connection with the 

 leading religious and patriotic festivals. There is 

 one cinema which was opened about 1941. It had 

 ceased to function by 1944, but was reopened under 

 new management in June of 1945. 



Among the rustic pleasures are picnics, bathing 

 parties, and boat rides. These were more indulged 

 in prior to the revolution than at present. Since 

 Quiroga lacks a pier and a bathing beach, the 

 inhabitants must go to Patzcuaro for boat rides, 

 and to the lake beach at Chupicuaro near Santa 

 Fe and to such thermal springs as Cointzio and 

 Zinapecuaro for bathing. Occasionally groups 

 go on picnic excursions to the fir-clad heights of 

 Tzirate, to the extinct volcano of the Cerro Hueco 

 (whose conduit and lateral tunnels are local 

 curiosities), and to other nearby localities of scenic 

 and other attractions. The leadmg sedentary 

 games are dominoes, chess, checkers, and various 

 card games. In a number of the stores are chess 

 boards and sets, and it is not uncommon to see 

 the proprietor and a friend, or a couple of erst- 

 while customers, engaged in a carefully played 

 game. Both the frequency and the caliber of 

 chess play seemed to be above what obtains in 

 communities of comparable size in the United 

 States. 



HEALTH AND SANITATION 



As mentioned previously, the annual mortality 

 rate in Quuoga was 22.5 per thousand inhabitants 

 on the average during the period 1937-45; and the 

 chief immediate causes of death have been dis- 

 eases of the gastrointestinal tract, respiratory 

 diseases, and the "debility-anemia" group. The 



evidence indicates that polluted water, insect- 

 infested foods, improper housing and clothing, and 

 nutritional lacks are the chief factors in propagat- 

 ing these diseases. The entire water-supply 

 systems of the town and the ranchos require 

 extensive expansion, repair, and improvement. 

 Protection of foods from insects by screening of 

 shops, markets, restaurants, and kitchens is 

 practically lacking. Disposal of human wastes, 

 garbage, and other refuse is quite primitive. The 

 commonly dirt-floored and partially open kitchens 

 are quite unhygienic. Most of the quarters in 

 which people sleep either are closed too tightly at 

 night for proper ventilation, or are entirely too ex- 

 posed to drafts of cold night air. Most of the 

 "beds" are comfortless and do not allow for real 

 rest. There is a common tendency to bundle up 

 too much about the head and chest (with scrapes, 

 rebozos, etc.), and to expose the lower portion of 

 the body excessively. Malnutrition is evident, 

 but only an extensive analysis of the local foods 

 could determine the precise nutritional lacks. 



Little by little practical education in the schools 

 and the work of the private resident physician and 

 of the Servicio Medico Social and the earlier 

 Servicio Medico Ejidal and other governmental 

 agencies are improving living conditions and the 

 general health of the people of the Quiroga area. 

 However, the physicians of the present as well as 

 of the past have devoted most of their attention to 

 curing the results rather than eliminating the 

 causes of ill health. Since most of the causes are 

 associated with deeply rooted customs and with 

 the economic situation, it will take years of educa- 

 tion and a marked rise in the standard of living 

 before the general health ot the population can be 

 greatly improved. Figures are available on one 

 factor involved, the sleeping accomodations of the 

 Quiroga area. According to the 1940 census 

 2,916 people slept on some sort of bed (cama), 782 

 slept on a mat laid directly on the ground (listed 

 in the census as yetate, and suelo), 136 slept on a 

 cot {catre, usually a folding framework of wood 

 covered with canvas), and 65 persons slept on a 

 tapexco (usually this term means a bed of canes or 

 otates covered with a mat and often supported on 

 two horses). Actually the bed or cama is fre- 

 quently no more than some boards or canes sup- 

 ported by a couple of benches, stools, or horses. 

 Also it is certain, from observation and from the 

 general lack of water and of bathing facilities in 



